Convergence of Multi-Agent Systems to Unknown Source of an Odor

This study is aimed at investigating a solution to the problem of odor source localization by multi-agent systems. It has been assumed that the agents are homogeneous having uncertain dynamics. A hierarchical cooperative control has been proposed as a solution to the problem. In the first layer, information about wind and concentration has been utilized using a measurement model and swarm intelligence to predict the probable location of source. Trajectory mapping has been done in the second layer, followed by distributed cooperative control in the third layer. The control layer attempts to drive the agents into consensus to locate the odor source, wherein a sliding mode controller has been designed owing to its inherent robustness and powerful disturbance rejection capabilities. Numerical simulations have been presented to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme.