  This paper proposes a framework to measure the important metrics (throughput,
delay, packet retransmits, signal strength, etc.) to determine Wi-Fi network
performance of mobile robots supported by the Robot Operating Systems (ROS)
middleware. We analyze the bidirectional network performance of mobile robots
through an experimental setup in an indoor environment, where a mobile robot is
communicating vital sensor data such as video streaming from the camera(s) and
LiDAR scan values to a command station while it navigates an indoor environment
through teleoperated velocity commands received from the command station. The
experiments evaluate the performance under 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels with
different placement of Access Points (AP) with up to two network devices on
each side. The framework is generalizable to vehicular network evaluation and
the discussions and insights from this study apply to the field robotics
community, where the wireless network plays a key role in enabling the success
of robotic missions in real-world environments.
