Bacterial Foraging Applied to the Mine Detection Problem

Author: James Harris (Rochester Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering)

Abstract

This paper focuses on a comparison between bacterial foraging and ant foraging for the mine detection problem. The problem with mines is simple: no one knows where they are around the world; and because of that, people fear that they might walk right on top of one. In the mine detection problem, the agents (E. coli) must effectively and optimally move to a mine in order to defuse it. And in the end, the agents must verify whether the given field is cleared of mines in least amount of time. Obviously, the bacterial colony system is studied in order to solve the mine detection problem. It is then tested and advanced in order to make it comparable to ant foraging.