A Cooperative Control Framework for a Collective Decision on Movement Behaviors of Particles

This paper deals with the problem of odor source localization by designing and analyzing a cooperative control framework (CCF) for the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The CCF consists of three items: 1) a position coordination item; 2) a velocity coordination item; and 3) a movement direction coordination item. The position coordination item is used to coordinate relative positions between particles and to improve the exploration and exploitation capabilities of particles. The velocity coordination item enables the velocities of particles to reach consensus in order to realize orderly movement behaviors of particles. The movement direction coordination item guides particles to trace plumes and to locate odor sources. Stability of dynamic systems of particles with the proposed CCF is analyzed and the corresponding stability conditions are given such that the functions of three items in the CCF are realized. The orderly movement behaviors of particles under the CCF are also investigated based on benchmark functions. Finally, the effectiveness of the PSO algorithm with the proposed CCF is illustrated for the problem of odor source localization.