Gas Dispersal Simulation in ROS

This work presents a 3-D gas dispersal simulation and olfactory detection system implemented in ROS. Gas dispersal simulation integrates OpenFOAMflow simulation and a filament-based gas propagation model to simulate gas dispersion for compressible flows with a realistic turbulence model. The olfactory detection system models the response of metal oxide gas sensor to the simulated gas. Olfaction related experiments in mobile robots can be highly complex and hazardous due to the involvement of flammable and toxic gases. Moreover, the results of mobile olfaction task depends on the characteristics of environment and on the characteristics of odor detection system. The precision of results of this task is usually effected due to the variability of interrelationships between these characteristics which can create complications to focus on task aspect. The motivation behind the development of this simulation package is to make environment and odor detection system controllable, where experiments can be repeated under identical conditions, bypassing the environmental hazards so that the research work can concentrate on task aspect. The simulation package is validated through the results obtained by various tests including constant concentrations in ideal conditions as well as changing concentration in turbulent environment.