Odor localization using swarm intelligence

Odor localization is regarded as the base for many applications using olfactory mechanism. Different from traditional centralized ways, we propose a design using swarm intelligence, in which the odor sensors are distributed to a group of robots. Therefore the robots need to cooperate with each other to localize odor source. Based on a simple individual motion strategy, a mathematical model describing the spatio-temporal dynamics of the swarm is proposed. The simulation for comparing the dynamic process of a swarm and dynamic of the mathematic model associated with the swarm reflects that the model is valid. Finally several simulations are provided to investigate how parameters of the swarm affect the performance