Single odor source declaration in outdoor time-variant airflow environments

This paper addresses the problem of single odor source declaration in outdoor time-variant airflow environments using a mobile robot. The airflow velocity (including the magnitude and direction) changes fast in outdoor environments, so it is not easy to determine whether a possible source is the true source or not. To identify the possible source under the uncertainty caused by the chaotic dispersion of the odor, a logic rule based on statistics is proposed, and a circular route surrounding the possible source is planned for the robot to collect the airflow velocities and odor concentrations. The possible source is declared when the circular motion is complete. Experiment results show that the possible source can be identified with a high success rate by using the proposed method.