To Design a Network Communication Algorithm for Teleoperation Setup Over Wide Area Network (WAN).

Project Title

To Design a Network Communication Algorithm for Teleoperation Setup Over Wide Area Network (WAN).

Project Area of Specialization RoboticsProject Summary

In recent years, with the rapid development of computer technology, communication technology and control technology, teleoperation systems integrating these technologies have gained more and more attention. Teleoperated systems allow human beings to interact with remote environments by having tactile feedback. Stimulating human touch with complete sensory feedback is provided with a haptic interface. Haptic interfacing provides a real sense of remote environment through force feedback using touch sensation of the human body. This project is mainly based on wireless data transmission through Haptic Devices (using Novint Falcon) over WAN. It is observed that whenever Haptic devices are connected over Local Area Network, they tend to work more smoothly and efficiently as compared to when they are connected over Wide Area Network, mainly because WAN experiences packet losses, jitters, variable delays and latency during wireless transmission due to which users experience disruptions such as slow feedback or instability of overall teleoperation system. The main objective is to counter these issues by developing an efficient algorithm which will make WAN transmission smooth and significant.

Project Objectives

Objective 1: To design and develop an stable network connection for teleoperation setup.

Objective 2: To rectify the impact of delay, jitter and data loss on the performance of haptic teleoperation systems.

Objective 3:  To develop an stable setup for the applications such as tele-handshaking, disaster management using force feedback. 

Objective 4: Develop an intelligent buffer for stable teleoperation over wide area network to counter the problem of variable (asynchronous) network delays and latency.

Project Implementation Method

The project is to accomplish the task of tele-handshaking. It is achieved by connecting the prosthetic hands to the haptics devices and using kinesthetic feedback to control. The handshake algorithm uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol) protocol with Wide Area Network (WAN). The programming language used for algorithms is C++ which lies among best suited language for hardware interface while the platform for programming is Visual Studio. A network interface is also constructed by the combination of haptics, networking and controlling algorithms.

Benefits of the Project

• It is used to experiment stable force feedback in the presence of time delay for remote real and virtual world.

• It can be used under those condition where human reach is difficult like, remote area, area of explosion, in military and marine applications.

• This project will be the benchmark toward a mega industrial project of controlling the robots operating far away from the host continent.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Expected outcomes of our final year project includes:

• Stable network design for telepresence solving problems of jitter and data loss.

• Teleoperate multiple devices over LAN, WAN e.g., Falcon to Falcon, Falcon to Touch, Touch to Touch etc.

• Teleoperate industrial robot from far place using haptic device such as Falcon and Touch.

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry TelecommunicationOther Industries Others Core Technology RoboticsOther Technologies OthersSustainable Development Goals Decent Work and Economic Growth, Partnerships to achieve the GoalRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	70000
Novint Falcons	Equipment	2	35000	70000