Autonomous Multi-Robot Search for a Hazardous Source in a Turbulent Environment

Finding the source of an accidental or deliberate release of a toxic substance into the atmosphere is of great importance for national security. The paper presents a search algorithm for turbulent environments which falls into the class of cognitive (infotaxi) algorithms. Bayesian estimation of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Branko Ristic, Daniel Angley, Bill Moran, Jennifer L. Palmer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2017-04-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/17/4/918
Description
Summary:Finding the source of an accidental or deliberate release of a toxic substance into the atmosphere is of great importance for national security. The paper presents a search algorithm for turbulent environments which falls into the class of cognitive (infotaxi) algorithms. Bayesian estimation of the source parameter vector is carried out using the Rao–Blackwell dimension-reduction method, while the robots are controlled autonomously to move in a scalable formation. Estimation and control are carried out in a centralised replicated fusion architecture assuming all-to-all communication. The paper presents a comprehensive numerical analysis of the proposed algorithm, including the search-time and displacement statistics.
ISSN:1424-8220