Concert Framework/Network Robustness

= Network Robustness =

Overview
Communication at the concert level is typically done on tcp/udp (though may also include some kind of multicast protocol in the future) between resources providers and consumers which may have very different mediums through which they must pass. In order of increasing latency this includes 1) internal (on the same machine), 2) ethernet (over a lan with wired connections) 3) wireless and 4) internet (wired or wireless).

This raises two issues of paramount importance in a networked robotic solution:


 * 1) Autonomous robots with a wireless connection will drop in and out of network range.
 * 2) Resource providers and consumers need to know the distance (as measured by latency) between their end points.

In short, the concert needs to robustly handle clients dropping in and out, and it also needs to expose the information about connectivity and distance between two end-points so higher level solutions can intelligently reason and plan in various situations.