UAV-based Semi-Autonomous Data Acquisition and Classification

Abstract

Air pollution is a major issue contributing to global warming that threaten the quality of life on Earth. Numerous research disciplines are combining their efforts to combat air pollution by developing new methods to monitor and control pollution. For this to happen, researchers need to have instant access to new data. In this paper, we have developed a Semi-Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) loaded with sensors to measure different quantities indicating air pollution, in particular: temperature, humidity, dust, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and ozone. The purpose of this UAV is to automatically patrol high altitudes to obtain sensor readings, and transmit raw data to a centralized server via mobile network for visualization and storage. Actual measurements and data collection is carried out in Qatar. This combination of the UAVs' mobility, remote sensing, and networking facilities allows concerned parties such as researchers, smart city administrators and crowd managers, to view and visualize relevant data with significant ease via a web interface, or an android app.