Autonomous Systems for Rescue Missions: Design, Architecture and Configuration Validation

In the context of disaster management, the intervention of Autonomous Systems brings many benefits to human rescuers. Autonomous Systems can quickly reach regions that may be inaccessible for humans. In addition, they can perform a rapid mapping of the impacted area and therefore enhancing the human knowledge. However, it is necessary to choose the best Autonomous Systems according to (i) mission environment and (ii) mission objectives. In this article, we describe our work on ArcTurius rover, a wheeled Autonomous System in support to disaster management. We validated its design through simulation and formal verification. A first simulation step occurs during the system definition. This allows to formally verify the design choices. A second type of simulation is performed to check the adequacy of the rover with respect to a specific mission. Thus, an Autonomous System can be adapted prior to a real mission to enhance its level of performance.