Abstract
The robotics industry is evolving from single-robot operation toward the coordinated deployment of heterogeneous multi-robot systems in manufacturing, logistics, defense, and disaster response. This transition requires an integrated communication framework that can collect real-time robot status and sensor data while efficiently utilizing limited communication and computational resources. However, heterogeneous robotic systems based on different communication platforms, such as RTOS, ROS, and ROS 2, typically require protocol converters or middleware for interoperability. These additional components increase computational overhead and communication latency while complicating system architecture. This study proposes a Scalable Heterogeneous Interoperable Communication Framework (SHICF), which adapts the messaging and interoperability concepts of STANAG 4586 to unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) systems. SHICF converts status data from UGVs using heterogeneous communication protocols into a unified binary message format and transmits the data to a Ground Control System (GCS). Its lightweight design and real-time communication performance were evaluated against native ROS topic-based communication in environments containing UGVs with different communication protocols. Experimental results demonstrated that a single GCS could reliably identify heterogeneous UGVs and collect their status data in real time. In addition, SHICF reduced the average packet loss rate by approximately 70.74% compared with the native method, significantly improving message delivery reliability. These results demonstrate that SHICF enables ROS-version-independent monitoring of heterogeneous UGVs and provides a scalable communication framework for integrated ground control systems.