Towards a Multi-peclet Number Pollution Monitoring Algorithm

Environments can range from low peclet numbers in which diffusion is predominant to high peclet numbers in which turbulence and advection occur. Control algorithms deployed on robotic platforms to monitor spatiotemporal distributions are often very specific to a particular peclet number environment and suffer reduction in efficiency when used in another peclet number environment. This paper investigates this issue and proposes the development of a pollution monitoring controller that can be used in various environments possessing different peclet numbers. A diffusion based controller and a controller that uses velocity flow information present in the environment are used as candidates for investigation. Even though the diffusion based controller lacks the ability to find a pollution source in a high turbulent environment, it still possess a desirable characteristic that could be used to map a pollution plume in a seaport environment. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.