Single and multiple odor source localization using hybrid nature-inspired algorithm

In this paper, optimization-based approach has been adopted to localize the odor source in an unknown environment. Two scenarios taken into consideration, first single odor source (SOS) with a point source emission at a constant rate and four multiple odor sources (MOS) with point source emissions and different release rates constant in time. In context to SOS, four environments that have distinct dimensional layout have been generated with slight variation in wind velocity and diffusion constant. In case of MOS, there are five environments with same layout but different contributing factors such as wind velocity, placement of odor sources and emission rates which are considered to demonstrate its impact on success rate of algorithms. A recent optimization technique called hybrid teaching learning particle swarm optimization (HTLPSO) has been adopted and implemented in all the arenas, namely SOS and MOS, where mobile robots AKA virtual agents (VAs) are working in collaboration. There are group of VAs deployed in this operation ranging from {3-15}. To investigate the effectiveness of the algorithm, results of HTLPSO are compared with classical particle swarm optimization (PSO) and teaching learning-based optimization (TLBO). It is observed that HTLPSO outperforms TLBO and PSO in arenas with larger dimensions while utilizing few iterations in comparison with other algorithms in case of SOS. HTLPSO also performs best in case of MOS, surviving the effect of wind velocity and change in emission rates. Only when odor sources are placed differently and scattered, TLBO gives the best result. Another highlight of HTLPSO is convergence with high accuracy even with less number of VAs.