Design of an Automated Sensor Deployment Mechanism for Autonomous Robotic Swarms in Space-Analogue Environments

Kurzfassung

The investigation of lunar underground structures has become a major focus of scientific research due to their potential of sheltering astronauts from radiation exposure and temperature fluctuations. However, the inaccessibility and signal propagation characteristics of such environments necessitate autonomous exploration technologies capable of conducting efficient environmental surveys. Robotic swarms with the ability to deploy communication sensors can be used to establish a radio network inside cave structures, enabling continuous transmission of position information and environmental data. Therefore, the development of a functional sensor deployment mechanism requires a systematic method for selecting suitable characteristics from existing applications. Building upon the proposed selection framework and project-specific requirements, two mechanisms for sensor deployment are designed, implemented, and experimentally evaluated. A deployment success rate of 90% across heterogeneous ground structures is demonstrated through a series of tests. This yields that the established systematic selection logic for deployment mechanisms is successfully applied in the context of autonomous cave exploration, leading to the development of two distinct system designs. Based on the obtained results, a contribution toward advancing the realisation of fully autonomous exploration for subsurface environments is made and a foundation for future technological improvements and mechanism designs in comparable applications is established.