Characterising the performance of a drone-mounted real-time methane imaging system

Abstract We demonstrate a methane gas imaging system mounted to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is shown to perform real-time detection at distances up to 10m whist airborne. Laser diodes that switch between on- and off- resonance with a $${1.6}{{\upmu \hbox {m}}}$$ 1.6 μ m methane absorption...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Angus G. MacGruer, Steven D. Johnson, Simon P. Mekhail, Kyle J. Nutt, Miles J. Padgett, Graham M. Gibson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-03-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-93186-z
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Summary:Abstract We demonstrate a methane gas imaging system mounted to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is shown to perform real-time detection at distances up to 10m whist airborne. Laser diodes that switch between on- and off- resonance with a $${1.6}{{\upmu \hbox {m}}}$$ 1.6 μ m methane absorption line are used to flood-illuminate a scene. The scene is imaged with an infrared InGaAs camera and the differential of the on-resonance and off-resonance back-scatter images are used to reveal the gas distribution. The performance of the system was characterised against a range of back-scatter surfaces, showing promising applicability to realistic gas sensing environments. We demonstrate that the system is capable of detecting a gas concentration of 5000 ppm.metre up to a range of 13.6m.
ISSN:2045-2322