Mobile Pollution Data Sensing Using UAVs

Abstract

Nowadays, the impact of global warming is causing societies to become more aware and responsive to environmental problems. As a result, pollution sensing is gaining more relevance. In order to have a strict control over air quality, the use of mobile sensors is becoming a promising alternative to traditional air quality stations. Mobile sensors allow to easily perform measurements in many different places, thereby offering substantial improvements in terms of the spatial granularity of the data gathered. Pollution monitoring near large industrial areas or in rural areas where transportation facilities are poor or inexistent can complicate the mobile sensing approach. To address this problem, in this paper we propose endowing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with pollution sensors, allowing them to become autonomous air monitoring stations. The proposed solution has the potential to quickly cover a target region at a low cost, and providing great flexibility.