Towards the Development of a Gas Sensor System for Monitoring Pollutant Gases in the low Troposphere using small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The world is facing problems of increased atmospheric pollution, climate change and global warming effects. Innovative technologies to identify, quantify and assess fluxes exchange of the pollutant gases between Earth’s surface and atmosphere are required. This paper proposes the development and integration of an inexpensive airborne system capable of monitoring pollutant gases collecting data and geolocating where the sample was taken. The prototype has two principal systems, a light portable gas sensor and an optional electric–solar powered UAV. The prototype is capable of flight in the lower troposphere (100-500m), collect samples every two minutes, time stamp and geo-locating each sample. One limitation of small UAVs is the limited power available therefore a careful tradeoffs between the energy needed to power the airplane, the electronics and the gas sensor is needed and studied in this research. The specific gases targeting in this research are NO2 mostly produce by traffic and NH3 from farming, which concentration above 0.05 ppm and 35 ppm respectively are harmful to human health. Wind tunnel and flight testing was conducted to evaluate the performance of the system. The data gathered and the developed prototype is a useful tool for scientists to analyse the behaviour, tendencies and to produce more realistic models of pollutant gases. Furthermore, this research gives support and direction to enhance small electric or solar powered UAV designs and to encourage the industry to use these types of vehicles to monitor other important gases. Keywords— Environmental monitoring, Gas sensing, nanotechnology, pollutants, UAV.