2025/05/06 by Jose Fernando Contreras-Monsalvo, Contreras-Monsalvo, Jose Fernando, Victor Dossetti +3
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Engineering · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Insect Pheromone Research and Control #Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) #Optical Wireless Communication Technologies #Robotics (cs.RO) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.03920
openalex publication_date 2025/05/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In this work, we fabricated and studied two designs for omnidirectional vision sensors for swarm robotics, based on catadioptric systems consisting of a mirror with rotational symmetry, eight discrete infrared photodiodes and a single LED, in order to provide localization and navigation abilities for mobile robotic agents. We considered two arrangements for the photodiodes: one in which they point upward into the mirror, and one in which they point outward, perpendicular to the mirror. To determine which design offers a better field of view on the plane, as well as detection of distance and orientation between two agents, we developed a test rail with three degrees of freedom to experimentally and systematically measure the signal registered by the photodiodes of a given sensor (in a single readout) from the light emitted by another as functions of the distance and orientation. Afterwards, we processed and analyzed the experimental data to develop mathematical models for the mean response of a photodiode in each design. Finally, by numerically inverting the models, we compared the two designs in terms of their accuracy. Our results show that the design with the photodiodes pointing upward resolves better the distance, while the other resolves better the orientation of the emitting agent, both providing an omnidirectional field of view.