Decentralized collaborative simultaneous localization and mapping (C-SLAM) is essential to enable multirobot missions in unknown environments without relying on preexisting localization and communication infrastructure. This technology is anticipated to play a key role in the exploration of the Moon, Mars, and other planets. In this article, we share insights and lessons learned from C-SLAM experiments involving three robots operating on a Mars analogue terrain and communicating over an ad hoc network. We examine the impact of limited and intermittent communication on C-SLAM performance, as well as the unique localization challenges posed by planetary-like environments. Additionally, we introduce a novel dataset collected during our experiments, which includes real-time peer-to-peer inter-robot throughput and latency measurements. This dataset aims to support future research on communication-constrained, decentralized multirobot operations.

翻译：去中心化协同即时定位与建图（C-SLAM）技术对于实现多机器人在无先验定位与通信基础设施的未知环境中执行任务至关重要。该技术预计将在月球、火星及其他行星的探测任务中发挥关键作用。本文分享了在火星模拟地形中由三台机器人通过自组织网络进行通信的C-SLAM实验所获得的见解与经验。我们研究了有限且间歇性通信对C-SLAM性能的影响，以及类行星环境带来的独特定位挑战。此外，我们发布了实验过程中采集的新型数据集，其中包含机器人间实时点对点通信的吞吐量与延迟测量数据。该数据集旨在为未来通信受限条件下的去中心化多机器人系统研究提供支持。