Abstract
The network-centric applied research team (N-CART) is continuing its work on an ambitious project known as the network-enabled powered wheelchair adaptor kit (NEPWAK). It introduces techniques for modifying and using powered wheelchairs as mobile platforms enabling communication and remote control. The wheelchair is equipped with a laptop computer, a CCD camera and a wireless network interface card (NIC) for 802.11b Internet access. The laptop acts as a server allowing network clients to gain access through a custom control interface on the chair. The remote controlling client receives a video and audio feed from the chair and sends control signals for maneuvering. While traveling, the chair is able to change its network association from one access point (AP) to another within the same subnet-the process is known as handoff. However, there is no inter-network handoff mechanism presently available in IP networks. This restricts the mobility of the wheelchair to within the coverage area of the subnet APs. This paper shows that the Internet engineering task force’s (IETF) network layer mobility protocol—Mobile IP suffers from large handoff latencies that can hinder communication between the client and the wheelchair during handoff. Mobile IP alone is not a sufficient solution for a mobile telebotic system such as NEPWAK. An interesting solution to the handoff latency problem comes from the Fast-handover protocol described in Section 4.4 with simulation results in Section 6.2.
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Alexander Ferworn received his B.Sc in Computer Science from Ryerson University, Canada in 1988, MASc in Computing and Information Science from The University of Guelph in 1992, and Ph.D. in Systems Design Engineering from The University of Waterloo in 1998. He joined Ryerson as a tenure track Assistant Professor in 1996 after ten years in the telecommunication industry, predominantly with Bell Canada affiliated companies.
He is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at Ryerson University where he is also the Director of Research of the Network-Centric Applied Research Team (N-CART). His research interests include Telepresence, Autonomous Agents and Intelligent Network Services where he has published numerous papers.
Ankit Arora received B.Tech from Punjab Technical University, India in 2002. He is currently pursuing MASc in Electrical and Computer Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Alexander Ferworn from Ryerson University, Canada. He teaches micro-controllers (MC68HC11) at Centennial College, Canada. He also works a research assistant in Ryerson University’s Network-Centric Applied research Team (N-CART). His research interests include mobile telerobotics and tele-presence over the Internet and 802.11b/g WLANs.
He is currently working on the project “Network Enabled Powered Wheelchair Adapter Kit” (NEPWAK) that introduced techniques for modifying powered wheelchairs to allow tele-operation over the Internet.
Muhammad Jaseemuddin received B.E. from N.E.D. University of Engg. & Tech., Karachi, Pakistan, in 1989, M. S. from The University of Texas at Arlington in 1991, and Ph.D. from The University of Toronto in 1997. Then, he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Network Architecture Lab at The University of Toronto on Network Management using Virtual Network.
From 1998 to 2001, he worked in Advanced IP group and Wireless Technology Lab (WTL) at Nortel Networks on QoS, Routing and Handover issues in mobile wireless IP access network. After that, he worked on Wireless Service Delivery Platform and UMTS VHE prototype for mobile service delivery and contributed to the development and implementation of Open IP suite of IP protocols. He has been Associate Professor at Ryerson University since 2002. His research interests include IP mobility, IP traffic engineering, routing protocols, overlay ad-hoc network, transport issues in ad-Hoc network, and network autonomics.
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Ferworn, A., Arora, A. & Jaseemuddin, M. IP mobility issues for a mobile tele-robotic system—NEPWAK. Int J Automat Comput 1, 10–16 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-004-0010-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-004-0010-0