Effectiveness of Infotaxis algorithm for searching in dilute conditions

Both tracking scents and locating odor sources are challenges in robotics. The odor plume is not a continuous cloud but consists of intermittent odor patches dispersed by the wind. Far from the source, the probability of encountering one of these patches vanishes. In such dilute conditions, the Infotaxis algorithm is first ‘explore’ the environment and gather information, then ‘exploit’ current knowledge and direct toward the estimated source location. We quantitatively analyze its success probability, mean path length, percentage of oriented-movements, and average search time with different initial distances from the source. Through comparison with the Dung Beetle algorithm, we show the effectiveness of Infotaxis algorithm for the scenario with a single source and a single searcher in a dilute condition.