Panevėžys Mechatronics Center (PMC) is happy to announce a new breakthrough technology – PANDRONE – air pollution measurement system with the mobile drone. The project is designed for Panevezys municipality. Visualisation can be seen at panevezys4.lt.
Every year European Union experience 400 000 premature deaths from air pollution and hundreds of billions of euros in external health costs. According to the European Court of Auditors’ Report (No. 23, 2018), the number of years of healthy life lost per 1000 population in Lithuania due to ambient air pollution is 1.47 (in 2016), twice the EU average.
Although the population of Panevezys is decreasing (-7.9% from 96.3 thousand in 2014 to 88.7 thousand in 2018), the number of operating entities is growing (+ 14.4% from 3235 entities in 2014 to 3701 entities in 2018) and most unpleasantly, emission of pollutants in the atmosphere increased from stationary sources by 29.8%, from 1387.5 tons in 2012. to 1800.8 tonnes in 2017, well above the Lithuanian average (+ 3.3% in the same period).
The purpose of the proposed solution is to develop an airborne (drone) based air pollution measurement sensor system that can be used in Panevezys to periodically and on request provide accurate air quality assessment.
The mobile air pollution measurement system measures the concentrations of PM10, NO2, SO2, CO and O3 in the air. The operator lifts the airplane to a height of 20 meters and orbits the trajectory according to the prepared map. An on-board sensor system measures concentrations of airborne pollutants. The collected information is processed in real-time and the results are placed in an interactive environment with a map of Panevezys city and marked pollutant concentrations.
Project results are here: panevezys4.lt.
The mobile air pollution measurement solution enables to measure pollution and its dynamics more accurately and operationally, regardless of weather conditions and territorial nuances. So far, pollution has been measured in a stationary manner and theoretically reflects larger area data, but very often weather conditions and buildings reduce the accuracy and reliability of the data.
The system allows to calculate the main parameters of gas emissions that are harmful to the environment and man. These are mainly particles, especially the small dust particles we inhale, such as PM10 – particles up to 10 microns in size. Currently, the main five elements are being measured, but if required, the other elements in the table can be optionally measured.