Investigating the practicality of hazardous material detection using unmanned aerial systems

Recently, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) have been implemented by the Melbourne Fire Brigade (MFB) in Australia. UASs are being utilised as a means to improve situational awareness in fire fighting operations. The goal of this work is to investigate if these systems can have their role extended to include hazardous material detection and monitoring. The practicality of sensing gases with a UAS needs to be assessed, given that any aerodynamic effect or system will influence the environment it is operating in, changing airflow and mixing. This is very important for rotor wing aircraft, and the UAS that is being operated by the MFB is the Cyberquad, a quad rotor aircraft. In this work we conducted a controlled field experiment in a quasi-controlled environment, in which a Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) was released. The concentration was then measured at various locations with conventional handheld VOC sensors, one of which was attached to the UAS. The height of the sensors was varied, and measurements were taken with the rotors on and off. Preliminary results suggest that the UAS can be used to monitor hazardous materials, and when the rotors are on, the efficiency of the measurement may be improved, with the UAV located very close to ground level.