Creating gas concentration gridmaps with a mobile robot

This paper addresses the problem of mapping the features of a gas distribution by creating concentration gridmaps from the data collected by a mobile robot equipped with an electronic nose. By contrast to metric gridmaps extracted from sonar or laser range scans, a single measurement of the electronic nose provides information about a comparatively small area. To overcome this problem, a mapping technique is introduced that uses a Gaussian density function to model the decreasing likelihood that a particular reading represents the true concentration with respect to the distance from the point of measurement. This method is evaluated in terms of its suitability regarding the slow response and recovery of the gas sensors. The stability of the mapped features and the capability to use concentration gridmaps to locate a gas source are also discussed.