A 3D Simulation Platform for Gas Source Localization with Quadrotor

The turbulent airflow introduces chaotic and random characteristics to gas plume dispersion processes, rendering gas source localization experiments hardly reproducible in outdoor environments. To address this challenge, this paper develops a 3D gas source localization simulation platform integrated with Hector rotorcrafts. Built upon a simulator named GADEN and adopting the ROS modular development framework, this platform enables validation of gas source localization algorithms for single/multiple UAVs or mobile robots. Furthermore, to enhance 3D data visualization capabilities, the simulator incorporates a customized octree mapping component derived from OctoMap for displaying user-defined 3D occupancy grid maps. This work also establishes an organizational framework for gas source localization strategies. Simulation validation through UAV gas source search and gas concentration mapping processe demonstrates the practical applicability of the developed simulation platform.