Creating true gas concentration maps in presence of multiple heterogeneous gas sources

Gas distribution mapping is a crucial task in emission monitoring and search and rescue applications. A common assumption made by state-of-the art mapping algorithms is that only one type of gaseous substance is present in the environment. For real world applications, this assumption can become very restrictive. In this paper we present an algorithm that creates gas concentration maps in a scenario where multiple heterogeneous gas sources are present. First, using an array of metal oxide (MOX) sensors and a pattern recognition algorithm, the chemical compound is identified. Then, for each chemical compound a gas concentration map using the readings of a Photo Ionization Detector (PID) is created. The proposed approach has been validated in experiments with the sensors mounted on a mobile robot which performed a predefined trajectory in a room where two gas sources emitting respectively ethanol and 2-propanol have been placed.