Moth-inspired plume tracing via multiple autonomous vehicles under formation control

The moth-inspired plume-tracing strategies on a single REMUS underwater vehicle successfully tracked a Rhodamine dye plume over 100 m and declared its source location in near-shore ocean environments that are characterized by turbulence, tides, and waves. This paper expands moth-inspired plume tracing via a single vehicle to multiple vehicles. The new strategy includes a mechanism determining a leader vehicle to perform moth-inspired plume-tracing maneuvers and a formation algorithm controlling non-leaders to follow the leader during plume-tracing missions. The Monte Carlo studies evaluate the strategy in a virtual environment where a simulated plume with significant filament intermittency and meander is developed. Considering our application, our simulation studies address an autonomous underwater vehicle’s kinematics and dynamics. The results demonstrate plume-tracing performance achieved by multiple vehicles, which automatically switch their roles superior to the single vehicle.