On Latency Bounds for ROS Messaging in Cloud-Enabled Mobile Robots.

Cloud robotics faces challenges in the communication network, specifically for critical applications in platforms such as the Robot Operating System (ROS). This paper introduces the use of network calculus theory to analyze the end-to-end latency bounds with respect to the size and period of ROS messaging over communication networks used to reach a robotic application sitting in an edge-cloud. By assuming off-the-shelf hardware, a case study considering different messaging flow characteristics and cross-traffic scenarios is presented. The goal is to determine whether 5G-like requirements for robotic application latency can be attained by regular networking in an edge-cloud scenario.