Patent ID: 8190376

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for predicting a release location for a substance released into a surrounding medium, the method comprising: identifying, by a computer device, a plurality of search zones for the release location based on meteorological data provided by a meteorological sensor coupled to the computer device, each of the plurality of search zones being associated with one of a plurality of substance sensors; narrowing the search zone, by the computer device, to a common zone in which two or more of the plurality of search zones intersect; segmenting the common zone, by the computer device, into a plurality of nodes, each of the plurality of nodes being associated with location information; identifying, by the computer device, a local minimum for each of a plurality of trial release rates, wherein each identified local minimum is a difference between a predicted concentration and a measured concentration of the substance by the plurality of substance sensors that generates a least error for a plurality of trial release locations associated with the plurality of nodes, wherein each identified local minimum is associated with a particular one of the plurality of nodes and a particular one of the plurality of trial release rates; selecting, by the computer device, a smallest one of the plurality of local minima as a global minimum value; identifying, by the computer device, the location information of the node and the trial release rate associated with the global minimum value; and outputting, by the computer device, the identified location information and release rate as the predicted release location and release rate for the hazardous substance.