Unmanned aerial system for air quality and atmospheric pollutants in the lower troposphere

Abstract

In Colombia there are populated areas near cities that show accelerated industrial growth. The demographic distribution divides the residential zones from zones with the presence of industries. However, there are no studies on the impact of emissions on the population. It is necessary to know the behavior of anthropogenic emissions when interacting with air currents. For this reason, AeroTech Research Group of the University of San Buenaventura is developing a two-stage project for pollution research around industrial facilities. First stage determines the capabilities of a platform to fulfill the mission in high altitude and high temperature conditions. This article describes the integration of the automatic control system, the simulation and flights of the AQUILA aircraft. The flights were developed to configure the gains of the PID controllers and thus validate the performance using a pixhawk control system. The results are used to validate stability and control calculations and test the equipment developed by the University of San Buenaventura Medellin and the University of Medellin in the second stage. This research showed that the use of aircraft is essential to support government entities in the evaluation and control of air quality by flying in an air column with a diameter of 300 m and a maximum height of 1km.