Hybrid Strategy Improved Grey Wolf Optimization Algorithm for Plume Tracking and Localization Method in Indoor Weak Wind Environment

Abstract

Reliable tracking of the plume by the robot is the key to achieving plume source localization. To address the problem of low success rate and long search time of robot source location due to the unavailability of reliable information on gas diffusion flow direction and flow velocity in an indoor weak wind environment, a hybrid strategy is proposed to improve the grey wolf optimization algorithm for robot plume tracking and location. The plume is modeled using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in a two-dimensional indoor weak wind environment, and the plume concentration value is used as the individual adaptation degree of the algorithm. Without carrying plume velocity and flow direction sensors, the source-finding robot simulates the grey wolf population’s social mechanism and hunting behavior to update its position. The improved Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm is compared with the traditional Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO), Particle Swarm Algorithm (PSO), and Genetic Algorithm (GA) in simulation experiments. The simulation experiments show that the average number of iterations of the improved GWO is 7, 108, and 118 times shorter than the four source finding algorithms of GWO, PSO, and GA. The average planning path is reduced by 0.91 meters, 2.35meters, and 2.90 meters. 3s, 10.3s, and 9.3s reduce the average running time. The average positioning success rate is improved by 30%, 32%, and 40%. The applicability and Stability of the improved GWO algorithm in solving the plume tracking and localization problem in an indoor weak wind environment are verified.