Application of Miniaturized Sensors to Unmanned Aerial Systems, A New Pathway for the Survey of Polluted Areas: Preliminary Results

Abstract

With the aim to have risk mitigation for people and first responders, active remote sensing standoff detection is a fruitful technology, both in case of accidental (natural or incidental) or intentional dispersion in the environment of volatile chemical substances. Nowadays, several laser-based methodologies could be put in place to perform extensive areal monitoring. The present study regards the proposal for a new system architecture derived from the integration of a low-cost laser-based network of detectors for pollutants interfaced with a more sophisticated layout mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) able to identify the nature and the amount of a release. With this system set up, the drone will be activated by the alarm triggered by the laser-based network when anomalies are detected. The area will be explored by the drone with a more accurate set of sensors for identification to validate the detection of the network of Lidar systems and to sample the substance in the focus zone for subsequent analysis. In this work, methodologies and requirements for the standoff detection and the identification features chosen for this integrated system are described. The work aims at the definition of a new approach to the problem through the integration of different technologies and tools in the operative field experiments. Some preliminary results in support of the suitability of the integration hypothesis proposed are presented. This study gives rise to an integrated system to be furtherly tested in a real environment.

Numerical Fluid Dynamics Simulation for Drones’ Chemical Detection

“…The rise of new technologies, such as drones, and the improvement of their capabilities, nowadays allows to potentially design and develop useful detection and sampling systems that may be aimed at limiting the exposure to hazardous agents of the workforce and of the population following a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNe) event. Factors such as early detection and alarms are primary requirements to consider when designing and deploying new technologies in the field of CBRNe events' management [1][2][3][4].…”

Drones and Sensors Ecosystem to Maximise the “Storm Effects” in Case of CBRNe Dispersion in Large Geographic Areas

“…The main problems of this type of instrument are the relatively high cost, the low specificity, and their inability to detect compounds with high ionization energy Usually, MOXs sensors are one of the most used in robotics olfactory applications for its low-cost, low time of response and simplicity in its usage, thus represent a useful candidate on board to a drone platform. In our research group (QEP Quantum Electronics and Plasma Physics Research Group [48]), a preliminary study of chemical sensors suitable for drone has been performed in the last year ( [49][50][51]). A combination of different technologies such as LIDAR for preliminary dispersion detection has been evaluated with a drone equipped with a multisensor chemical platform.…”

HMDCS-UV: A concept study of Hybrid Monitoring, Detection and Cleaning System for Unmanned Vehicles

“…The present version of the fluorosensor system could only be used at night time, which is a clear drawback compared to pulsed lidar systems with range gating, allowing daytime use, while again still functioning better in low ambient light level conditions. Also, a new system architecture derived from the integration of a low-cost laser-based network of detectors for pollutants interfaced with a more sophisticated layout mounted on an UAV was proposed in [29] to identify the nature and the amount of a release. Once this system is in place, the drone will be activated by the alarm triggered by the laser-based network when anomalies are detected.…”

“…Another sensor integrated into a commercial drone, called fluorosensor, was built in [28] for monitoring laserinduced fluorescence from the aquatic environment and also at night which is an obvious drawback compared to pulsed LiDAR systems with beach porting. Thus, the authors of (c) [29] proposed a new system architecture derived from the integration of a low cost laser array of pollutant detectors mounted on a UAV to identify the nature and amount of a release. The authors of [12] proposed an adaptive decision-making algorithm based on sensory information from autonomous vehicles that provides complete coverage of the search area for oil spill cleanup.…”