Communication is a vital component for all swarm robotics applications, and even simple swarm robotics behaviours often break down when this communication is unreliable. Since wireless communications are inherently subject to interference and signal degradation, real-world swarm robotics applications will need to be able handle such scenarios. This paper argues for tighter integration of application level and network layer behaviour, so that the application can alter its behaviour in response to a degraded network. This is systematised through the implementation of a mixed-criticality system model. We compare a static application behaviour with that of an application that is able to alter its behaviour in response to the current criticality level of a mixed-criticality wireless protocol. Using simulation results we show that while a static approach is sufficient if the network conditions are known a priori, a mixed-criticality system model is able to adapt application behaviour to better support unseen or unpredictable conditions.

翻译：通信是所有群体机器人应用的关键组成部分，当通信不可靠时，即使是简单的群体机器人行为也常常会失效。由于无线通信本质上会受到干扰和信号衰减的影响，现实世界的群体机器人应用需要能够应对此类情况。本文主张在应用层与网络层行为之间实现更紧密的集成，使得应用程序能够根据网络退化情况调整自身行为。这一理念通过实现混合关键性系统模型得以系统化。我们比较了静态应用行为与能够根据混合关键性无线协议当前关键级别调整自身行为的应用。仿真结果表明，虽然在网络条件已知的情况下静态方法已足够，但混合关键性系统模型能够自适应地调整应用行为，以更好地应对未知或不可预测的环境。