Mobile sensor networks for modelling environmental pollutant distribution

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. This article proposes to deploy a group of mobile sensor agents to cover a polluted region so that they are able to retrieve the pollutant distribution. The deployed mobile sensor agents are capable of making point observation in the natural environment. There are two approaches to modelling the pollutant distribution proposed in this article. One is a model-based approach where the sensor agents sample environmental pollutant, build up an environmental pollutant model and move towards the region where high density pollutant exists. The modelling technique used is a distributed support vector regression and the motion control technique used is a distributed locational optimising algorithm (centroidal Voronoi tessellation). The other is a model-free approach where the sensor agents sample environmental pollutant and directly move towards the region where high density pollutant exists without building up a model. The motion control technique used is a bacteria chemotaxis behaviour. By combining this behaviour with a flocking behaviour, it is possible to form a spatial distribution matched to the underlying pollutant distribution. Both approaches are simulated and tested with a group of real robots. 1. Introduction Environmental pollutant distribution is a spatial phenomenon. Modelling spatial phenomena requires a distributed sensing capability of wireless mobile sensor networks. There has been a number of research projects in climatology, forestry and oceanography for modelling environmental spatial phenomena Leonard et al. 2007). The distribution nature of mobile sensor agents in the natural environment could be used to monitor pollutants more efficiently and reliably, and could also be used to form a visual representation of the pollutant. The importance of forming a visual representation of the pollutant becomes more obvious if the pollutant is invisible and hazardous to human health. Such visual information could enable …