Autonomous Chemical Vapour Detection by Micro UAV

Abstract

The ability to remotely detect and map chemical vapour clouds in open air environments is a topic of significant interest to both defence and civilian communities. In this study, we integrate a prototype miniature colorimetric chemical sensor developed for methyl salicylate (MeS), as a model chemical vapour, into a micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and perform flights through a raised MeS vapour cloud. Our results show that that the system is capable of detecting MeS vapours at low ppm concentration in real-time flight and rapidly sending this information to users by on-board telemetry. Further, the results also indicate that the sensor is capable of distinguishing “clean” air from “dirty”, multiple times per flight, allowing us to look towards autonomous cloud mapping and source localization applications. Further development will focus on a broader range of integrated sensors, increased autonomy of detection and improved engineering of the system.

Keywords

• vapour
• UAV
• sensor
• airborne
• detection
• real-time