A Multipollutant Smoke Emissions Sensing and Sampling Instrument Package for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Development and Testing

Abstract

Poor air quality arising from prescribed and wildfire smoke emissions poses threats to human health and therefore must be taken into account for the planning and implementation of prescribed burns for reducing contemporary fuel loading and other management goals. To better understand how smoke properties vary as a function of fuel beds and environmental conditions, we developed and tested a compact portable instrument package that integrates direct air sampling with air quality and meteorology sensing, suitable for in situ data collection within burn units and as a payload on multi-rotor small unmanned aircraft systems (sUASs). Co-located sensors collect carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter data at a sampling rate of~0.5 Hz with a microcontroller-based system that includes independent data logging, power systems, radio telemetry, and global positioning system data. Sensor data facilitates precise remote canister collection of air samples suitable for laboratory analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other major and trace gases. Instrument package specifications are compatible with common protocols for ground-based and airborne measurements. We present and discuss design specifications for the system and preliminary data collected in controlled burns at Tall Timbers Research Station, FL, USA and Sycan Marsh Preserve, OR, USA.

Vertical Distribution of Particulate Matter and its Relationship with Planetary Boundary Layer Structure in Shenyang, Northeast China

“…The lowcost PM sensors had good performance in field studies, compared to some scientific grade instruments (e.g., TEOM, Thermo Fischer Scientific Inc., USA) (Kelly et al, 2017;Zheng et al, 2018;Bulot et al, 2019;Sayahi et al, 2019). They have been also used for research on air quality and health risk assessment in different regions and countries, such as India, China, and the United States, in recent years (Masic et al, 2017;Sakhnini et al, 2018;Camprodon et al, 2019;Nelson et al, 2019).…”

Accessing the Life in Smoke: A New Application of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to Sample Wildland Fire Bioaerosol Emissions and Their Environment

“…The sampling inlet was covered until immediately prior to lift off. The impactor was positioned directly below the body of the UAS to reduce down wash effects (Figure 1: see [31] for further discussion). The median cut point diameter, or D50, for the Biostage 200 is 0.6 µm at a flow rate of 14.15 L min -1 .…”

“…A lightweight measurement device designed for use on UAS was employed to collect air samples and monitor particulate matter and meteorology [31]. The microcontroller-based device includes a data acquisition system that records particulate matter and meteorology sensor data at~0.5 Hz.…”

“…Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) capable of hovering (e.g., rotary-wing aircraft) present an advantage for targeted sampling of visually or chemically identifiable air masses, such as point pollution sources or smoke columns, because they can be intentionally positioned within the mass [30,31]. In this case, active pump-based sampling is required to sample known volumes of air; however, small UAS and commonly used pump and sampling apparatus have not been available until recently due to technical constraints including weight and availability.…”

“…In this case, active pump-based sampling is required to sample known volumes of air; however, small UAS and commonly used pump and sampling apparatus have not been available until recently due to technical constraints including weight and availability. Concerns about rotor downwash have also been expressed, although the positioning of sampling devices can minimize or mitigate undesired effects of rotor downwash [30,31]. Finally, apprehension about positioning UAS and instruments in smoke plumes and columns from even low-intensity fires may have posed challenges to their deployment.…”