UAV Emission Monitoring With Sensor-Triggered Leak Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Detecting, locating, and controlling emissions at industrial, manufacturing, agricultural, or mining sites is difficult, time-consuming, and potentially dangerous due to site size, remoteness, and complexity, requiring manual coordination by personnel.
Innovation Solution
A system using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) triggered by sensors to autonomously detect emission levels exceeding thresholds, with machine learning algorithms determining UAV deployment and route planning for efficient leak verification and control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual detection methods are used by personnel, then detection accuracy can be maintained, but safety risks and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as an intermediary device between the monitoring system and the emission source. The UAV carries sensors to detect emissions remotely, eliminating the need for personnel to physically approach hazardous locations while maintaining detection accuracy through sophisticated sensor arrays and data processing systems.
2Device complexity
If manual coordination of emission detection is performed, then system complexity remains low, but productivity and response time deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service automation where the emission monitoring system automatically triggers UAV deployment based on sensor data analysis. Machine learning algorithms process emission level data in real-time and autonomously decide when and where to dispatch UAVs, eliminating manual coordination while significantly improving detection speed and response time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates continuous feedback loops where sensor data from fixed monitoring stations feeds into machine learning models that analyze emission patterns. The system uses this feedback to automatically generate UAV mission parameters, creating a closed-loop system that improves productivity without requiring complex manual intervention.
3Reliability
If comprehensive site monitoring is implemented, then detection coverage improves, but resource consumption and operational cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs partial monitoring by deploying UAVs only to specific locations where emissions are detected or suspected, rather than continuously monitoring entire sites. This selective approach maintains comprehensive detection coverage through targeted inspections while significantly reducing operational costs and energy consumption compared to full-site continuous monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the monitoring task into segments: fixed sensors provide broad area monitoring, and UAVs provide focused detailed inspection only where needed. This segmentation allows the system to maintain high detection coverage through the combination of wide-area sensor networks and targeted UAV deployments, optimizing resource utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
Continuous emission level monitoring and detection using unmanned aerial vehicles is described herein. One embodiment includes capturing, by a plurality of sensors located at a site, emission levels at the site, receiving, by a computing device, the captured emission levels from the plurality of sensors, determining, by the computing device based on the emission levels received from the plurality of sensors, whether to trigger an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to fly to a location at the site to detect whether an emission level at the location exceeds a pre-determined threshold, and triggering, by the computing device responsive to a result of the determination, the UAV to fly to the location at the site to detect whether an emission level at the location exceeds the pre-determined threshold.