Application of UAV-mounted Sensors in Monitoring Atmospheric Pollutants

In tropospheric atmosphere, atmospheric pollutants mostly diffuse vertically or horizontally from the ground, while solar radiation, as an important driving force of atmospheric chemical reactions, transmits from top to bottom. Therefore, the study of atmospheric environmental chemistry should not only focus on near-surface pollution, but also on the changes of atmospheric structure and composition in a certain height range (especially in the boundary layer), otherwise it is difficult to fully reveal the actual atmospheric chemical reaction process in the troposphere.
Previously, many vertical monitoring methods of atmospheric environment have been applied, such as atmospheric boundary layer tower, manned aircraft, balloons and airships. However, the boundary layer tower is fixed, usually below 300 meters in height, and built in urban areas; manned aircraft can only fly at altitudes of hundreds of meters or more; balloons or balloons have poor wind resistance and mobility, and need to be filled with large amounts of helium, and the cost of a single operation is high. These methods have been unable to meet the needs of air pollution research in the new era.
The maneuverability and flexibility of UAV can effectively remedy the above shortcomings and make the previously inaccessible areas easy to reach. Combining the atmosphere monitoring sensor with UAV, and establishing the sensor system monitoring through the network, UAV has the advantages of three-dimensional monitoring, fast response, wide monitoring range and small terrain interference. It will be used to identify and concentrate the pollution sources of atmospheric emergencies in the future. Monitoring is one of the important development directions.
The standard monitoring parameters of UAV atmospheric monitoring system include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, volatile organic compounds and particulate PM2.5, PM10, etc. The UAV collects data after arriving at the target site, and transmits the collected data to the ground data processing system through GPRS for processing and analysis.
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UAV atmospheric monitoring system mainly includes UAV, gas detection sensor, data transmission/GPRS, ground station/server, data processing software and so on.
The detection methods of sensor components in monitoring module mainly include electrochemical detection (measuring SO2, CO, NO2, O3 and other conventional gases), photoelectric particle detection (measuring VOCs, etc.), laser scattering detection (measuring PM2.5, PM10, etc.).