A simulation framework for plume-tracing research

Abstract

The recent increasing threat of chemical weapon technologies has highlighted the need for an efficient detection of hazardous emission sources. One promising area of technological development is odour source detection using plume-tracing mobile robots. Using plume-tracing mobile robots has the potential to detect emissions caused by dangerous sources such as early stage fire, toxic gas and explosives, without endangering human life during the detection and source localisation process. Simulation has been popular and useful for researchers in various researches. Similarly, simulation is also good for developing and testing plume-tracing algorithms before being realised in real robots. This study presents the development of a simulation framework for plume-tracing research. This simulation framework integrated the plume data produced using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software with a simulated mobile robot in Matlab to simulate a more realistic scenario for plume-tracing research. Preliminary simulation had been conducted in this framework and it demonstrated this simulation framework is appropriate to be used for the simulation of plume-tracing research.