Towards 3-D Distributed Odor Source Localization: An Extended Graph-Based Formation Control Algorithm for Plume Tracking

Jorge Miguel Dias Almeida Rodrigues Soares, Jonathan Giezendanner, Anil Augustin Kodiyan, Ali Marjovi, Alcherio Martinoli, António Pedro Rodrigues de Aguiar
IEEE, 2016
Article de conférence

Résumé

The large number of potential applications for robotic odor source localization has motivated the development of a variety of plume tracking algorithms, the majority of which work in restricted two-dimensional scenarios. In this paper, we introduce a distributed algorithm for 3-D plume tracking using a system of ground and aerial robots in formation. We propose an algorithm that takes advantage of spatially distributed measurements to track the plume in 3-D and lead the robots to the source by integrating three behaviors -- upwind movement, plume centering, and Laplacian feedback formation control. We evaluate this strategy in simulation and with real robots in a wind tunnel. For a source close to the ground, results show that a team of robots running our algorithm reaches the source with low lateral error while also tracing the horizontal and vertical plume shape.

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https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/220223?ln=fr

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