Visual Cooperative Drone Tracking for Open-Path Gas Measurements

TL;DR

This paper introduces a robotic system that autonomously tracks a drone with a reflector to perform open-path gas measurements, enabling efficient, non-invasive monitoring of gas concentrations over large outdoor areas.

Contribution

The novel system combines ground-based visual tracking with drone-mounted reflectors to automate open-path gas sensing, overcoming previous challenges related to reflection surface alignment.

Findings

Successful autonomous tracking of drone up to 60 meters

Accurate CO2 measurements without drone propulsion interference

Demonstrated system's effectiveness in outdoor gas plume measurement

Abstract

Open-path Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy offers an effective method for measuring, mapping, and monitoring gas concentrations, such as leaking CO2 or methane. Compared to spatial sampling of gas distributions using in-situ sensors, open-path sensors in combination with gas tomography algorithms can cover large outdoor environments faster in a non-invasive way. However, the requirement of a dedicated reflection surface for the open-path laser makes automating the spatial sampling process challenging. This publication presents a robotic system for collecting open-path measurements, making use of a sensor mounted on a ground-based pan-tilt unit and a small drone carrying a reflector. By means of a zoom camera, the ground unit visually tracks red LED markers mounted on the drone and aligns the sensor's laser beam with the reflector. Incorporating GNSS position information provided by the drone's flight controller further improves the tracking approach. Outdoor experiments validated the system's performance, demonstrating successful autonomous tracking and valid CO2 measurements at distances up to 60 meters. Furthermore, the system successfully measured a CO2 plume without interference from the drone's propulsion system, demonstrating its superiority compared to flying in-situ sensors.