1. Mechanical layer Logic layer Sensors layer Poll for sensor state Return polled state & also do interrupts in immergency situations Sensors checking suspension, fuel or battery state, engine state etc. Send motion & direction commands

2. Logic layer Have separate «electrical layer» next to mechanical one? + Separate electronics from engine and power architecture (can exchange the electric motor for a small combustion motor in the future) - would need extra team for the «electrical layer» Solution? Still have 3 teams & separate power architectures for the motor and for the electronics (sensors/logic) part (2 subcomponents)

3. Mechanical layer Logic layer Sensors layer Electrical power architecture for Logic and Sensors Engine & its power architecture (electrical or combustion or whatever) Possibly recharge using engine’s power

4. Mechanical layer See the «Mechanics» team’s material on the web: http://www.mech.upatras.gr/~robgroup/teams/mechanics/index.html

5. Sensors layer See the «Sensors» team’s material on the web: http://www.mech.upatras.gr/~robgroup/teams/sensors/index.html Define sensor classes Find info about available sensors & order them in classes Design a plug & play architecture for sensors Possibly design & build some custom sensors

6. Logic layer See the «Logic» team’s material on the web: http://www.mech.upatras.gr/~robgroup/teams/logic/index.html Implement microcontroller logic for detecting available sensors (getting an id & their class) and talking to them, plus receiving interrupts in special (immergency) cases Implement logic and architecture for wired and/or wireless communication with an external logic module (for example a Personal Computer) Design & implement path-planning algorithms on the external logic module

7. Wireless communication Bluetooth: - too expensive for cheap/amateur projects - quite complex space setting, arround 10m range - many devices in the same space cause problems + discovery architecture, ready-made modules implementing all the needed protocols (plus video/voice codecs etc.) Other standards: - steep learning curve - expensive implementation of not needed features

8. Suggested solution for wireless communication: use Radiometrix (http://www.radiometrix.co.uk) chips transceiver (BiM2) + long range (100m) + low cost (1-10 pieces: 31.78 euros [academic price]) communication controller (RPC) + contains hardware logic to connect to PC via parallel port (printer) + carries BiM2 on it - implement Aloha or similar Multiple-Access protocol for many robots/base(s) sharing a radio frequency channel

9. Aloha logic similar to radio taxis one: + originally designed & implemented at the university of Hawai to link university departments scattered among various islands + logic is: 1) listen silence for silence 2) if no one transmits, wait a while (random), then transmit (add signature to where you are sending data, possibly encrypt too) 3) When finished sleep for a while (random), then go back to (1) Can’t use FDMA (Frequency-Division-Multiple-Access) cause we can’t grab many frequencies, one for each communication link (government doesn’t allow it, plus there’s a limited number of available radio frequencies)