You're conducting environmental monitoring with drones. Which sensors are the most effective?

Visual sensors are widely used and adaptable sensors for drones. They capture images or videos of the surface or the atmosphere using visible or near-infrared light. These sensors find applications in diverse environmental monitoring tasks, including mapping land cover, assessing vegetation, analyzing soil, monitoring water quality, tracking erosion, observing wildlife, and detecting fire. Visual sensors are valuable for detecting changes over time, such as deforestation, urbanization, or climate-related effects.

For effective environmental monitoring with drones, employ multispectral cameras, LiDAR for terrain mapping, thermal sensors for temperature variations, and gas sensors for air quality. These sensors provide comprehensive data, enabling detailed analysis of ecosystems, vegetation health, terrain topography, and environmental conditions.

Heat sensors are devices that detect the infrared radiation emitted by objects or surfaces, indicating their temperature. These sensors play a vital role in environmental monitoring, uncovering hidden features like hotspots, leaks, or water sources that might not be apparent visually. Heat sensors find applications in wildlife monitoring, especially during the night, and in identifying fire or volcanic activity.

Distance-measuring lasers are tools that release laser pulses and gauge the time and distance of their bounce back, forming a detailed three-dimensional point cloud of the object or area. These lasers prove highly efficient in environmental monitoring, capable of penetrating vegetation and clouds to deliver precise measurements of elevation, slope, biomass, or canopy structure.

The most significant advantage of UAS LiDAR is its ability to access and accurately map difficult or dangerous terrain, minimizing human risk. Additionally, it's faster and more detailed compared to traditional survey methods. Over time, as drone and LiDAR technologies have advanced, their costs have reduced considerably. This cost reduction is due to improvements in manufacturing, increased market competition, and technological advancements, making UAS LiDAR more accessible to a broader range of users. Consequently, this has led to wider adoption and more innovative applications, further driving research and development in the field.

Color-capturing sensors are devices that take pictures or measure the intensity of light in various narrow bands of colors, covering the visible to near-infrared spectrum. These sensors prove valuable in environmental monitoring, as they can identify slight changes in how different materials or substances reflect or absorb light, such as chlorophyll, water, minerals, or pollutants.

Hyperspectral sensors on drones greatly enhance mapping by providing high spectral resolution, crucial for identifying materials in agriculture, geology, and environmental monitoring. They offer precise, detailed data for accurate mapping and analysis, leading to better decision-making. These sensors enable early detection of plant health issues, pollution, and mineral identification, vital in fields like precision agriculture and resource exploration. Their ability to cover large areas quickly makes data collection more efficient and cost-effective. Additionally, integrating this rich data with other sources like LiDAR enhances overall understanding and analysis, making hyperspectral-equipped drones a powerful tool in various applications.

In addition to the sensors listed in the previous sections, your environmental monitoring can significantly benefit from the advanced airborne sensors such as: - echo sounder for water depth profiling. This sensor is indispensable for shore and river environmental monitoring as it helps monitor water depth, map bottom profile, and measure sediment thickness - TDLAS sensors for methane detection come in handy for landfill and pipeline monitoring - current velocity profiler estimates river discharge and helps predict flooding

Let’s talk about drones the other way. A drone is an ecosystem that consists of Flight Controller, Electric Speed Controls (ESCs), Positioning System (GPS), Vision System, Remote Control System and Add-ons Systems. Each of the systems has its own responsibilities and works together in the same body to complete tasks. Flight Controller and ESCs are the most important to get it fly in the air. For safety purpose, hardware/software designers won’t let it handle uneccessary tasks, because if these systems die, the drone will drop. Positioning/Navigation will be done by Positioning System and Vision System. In case, these systems are somehow dead, the drone can still fly with manual control. Next, let discuss on sensors used in each system.

Drone payload research and development is growing rapidly. Now we can mount the air quality sensor on the drone. This breakthrough in the measurement method brings possibilities for more accuracy since the drone can be set to fly at a designated altitude. This also collects the data and distributes it for better visualization e.g.: heat map. The best thing about this is the possibility of doing routine air quality monitoring efficiently.

One of the promising method for analyzing the state of glaciers and other ice covers is Albedo measuring, using the dual sensors system. You can monitor, analyse and predict, how quickly ice melts depends on its reflective characteristics.