| Humboldt-University of Berlin | Institute of Computer Science |
Within context of the larger teleteaching project "DIANA - Distant Learning in the Gigabit-Testbed" we investigate the management of multimedia equipment via CORBA. Reliability and (re-) configuration is an issue, as well as QoS adaptation for the pure video/data transmission. The whole project is supported by German research network community (DFN-Verein). The interconnect is a 2.4 Gigbit-link between Berlin's universities and Technical University Munich, teleteaching will be the main application.
In conjunction with DIANA the students' project "CORE - The Controlled Robot" has been defined.CORE emphasizes on real-time robotics and process control and uses Windows 98/NT as its main platform. The CORE projects links research activities at multiple chairs within the Department of Computer Science:
We have set up a testbed to demonstrate multiple aspects of real-time control and management for multimedia equipment. Our in-house testbed has the structure depicted here.
The following behavior shall be demonstrated: Users will be able to use a force-feedback joystick to drive the little robot. The robot has a couple of proximity sensors which will deliver feedback to the joystick if the robot approaches any obstacles. This is a real-time control problem.
Position information delivered by the robot will be used to control a camera which follows the robot. The camera's video data is transmitted via ATM to a display. However, since the robot may slip, it may deliver wrong position information to the camera. Therefore, the camera can also be controlled manually (re-calibration). Control of the camera and video streaming are two more real-time problems.
Finally, since the controlled devices are not necessarily fail-silent, we have to implement a lower-level fault-tolerance layer. A higher level layer shall allow for reconfiguration and online switching between the left/right display+joystick. This is the place where Simplex' online replacement would be an ideal fit.
The LynxOS & Win NT/98 machines on the right could be seen as integrated into a manufacturing tool (the robot+camera), whereas the Win NT/98 machines on the left could be seen as operator's console. The workstation at the lower end of the figure serves as platform for network management.
For our experiments we have used the Khepera mini-robot depicted on the left.
| System Analysis Group | System Architecture Group | Computer Architecture and Communication Group |