Paper ID: 2410.16686

SERN: Simulation-Enhanced Realistic Navigation for Multi-Agent Robotic Systems in Contested Environments

Jumman Hossain, Emon Dey, Snehalraj Chugh, Masud Ahmed, MS Anwar, Abu-Zaher Faridee, Jason Hoppes, Theron Trout, Anjon Basak, Rafidh Chowdhury, Rishabh Mistry, Hyun Kim, Jade Freeman, Niranjan Suri, Adrienne Raglin, Carl Busart, Timothy Gregory, Anuradha Ravi, Nirmalya Roy

The increasing deployment of autonomous systems in complex environments necessitates efficient communication and task completion among multiple agents. This paper presents SERN (Simulation-Enhanced Realistic Navigation), a novel framework integrating virtual and physical environments for real-time collaborative decision-making in multi-robot systems. SERN addresses key challenges in asset deployment and coordination through a bi-directional communication framework using the AuroraXR ROS Bridge. Our approach advances the SOTA through accurate real-world representation in virtual environments using Unity high-fidelity simulator; synchronization of physical and virtual robot movements; efficient ROS data distribution between remote locations; and integration of SOTA semantic segmentation for enhanced environmental perception. Our evaluations show a 15% to 24% improvement in latency and up to a 15% increase in processing efficiency compared to traditional ROS setups. Real-world and virtual simulation experiments with multiple robots demonstrate synchronization accuracy, achieving less than 5 cm positional error and under 2-degree rotational error. These results highlight SERN's potential to enhance situational awareness and multi-agent coordination in diverse, contested environments.

Submitted: Oct 22, 2024