Drone Solutions for Toxic Gas Detection

Gas Leak Detection with Drones: From Visual Inspection to Invisible Risk Detection .. In oil & gas operations, not all risks are visible. Gas leaks, especially methane and volatile compounds, can go undetected using traditional visual inspection methods. This is where drone technology is changing the game. How Drone-Based Gas Detection Works Modern UAV systems can be equipped with advanced sensors such as: • Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) cameras • Laser-based methane detectors (TDLAS) • Thermal cameras for indirect anomaly detection These technologies allow inspection teams to visualize and detect gas leaks in real time, even when they are invisible to the naked eye. Why It Matters Undetected gas leaks can lead to: • Safety hazards for personnel • Environmental impact (especially methane emissions) • Product loss and inefficiencies • Regulatory compliance issues Using drones significantly improves the ability to detect leaks early and respond quickly. Key Operational Advantages Drone-based gas leak detection enables: • Inspection of hard-to-reach or hazardous areas • Reduced need for shutdowns or confined space entry • Faster inspection cycles across large facilities • Improved data collection with geo-referenced results The Real Value: Actionable Data The real benefit is not just detecting a leak… It’s integrating that data into maintenance workflows. When gas detection data is: ✔ Time-stamped ✔ Georeferenced ✔ Tracked over time It becomes part of a predictive maintenance strategy, not just a one-time inspection. The Future As sensor technology and AI continue to evolve, drone-based gas detection will become: • More accurate • More automated • More integrated into digital asset management systems In the near future, inspections won’t just detect leaks… They will predict them before they happen. 💬 Curious to hear your thoughts: Are you currently using drone-based gas detection, or still relying on traditional methods? #OilAndGas #GasDetection #DroneInspection #UAV #Methane #OGI #AssetIntegrity #EnergySector

I had no idea this was possible until I saw it for myself… These sensors record the amount of methane in the air directly below them 🤯 The science behind the sensor is referred to as TDLAS, it stands for Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy. Here’s how it works (in a nutshell): The emitted laser beam frequency is tuned so that methane molecules (CH4) absorb some of it’s energy as it passes through them. The reduction in the return pulse intensity is proportional to the number of CH4 molecules it encounters on the way! The green laser is used for ranging, having both PPM and distance allows us to calculate CH4 PPM per meter. It’s brilliant because it ONLY detects methane and works in any lighting condition up to 100 meters away. The sensitivity can be as low as 1 part per million! We’re on day 3 of scanning landfills across Canada for an exciting research project with the Canadian government and industry partners to determine how this technology can be deployed to fight climate change. We’re testing various scenarios, conditions and sensors including thermal and multispectral to see which works best and at what operational efficiency. Almost immediately we found that the #drone TDLAS method already smokes the traditional way of doing it; sweeping huge areas on foot and hand sweeping with a sniffer instrument. I’ll share what the data looks like and some more details as we wrap this stinky part up!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about drones and methane. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) sites are enormous, with countless points where methane leaks can happen. Ground crews armed with handheld methane detectors spend weeks inspecting the LNG site for leaks, but still miss some. Ileron took a different approach — DJI M300 + SPH Engineering SkyHub + PERGAM Group Laser Falcon. Result? A map of methane distribution across the entire site in just one day!

[Read more on how robotics will change the mining industry!] Our work "Safety Inspections and Gas Monitoring in Hazardous Mining Areas Shortly After Blasting Using Autonomous UAVs" lead by Samuel Nordström (fd. Karlsson) has been published in the Journal of Field Robotics. Nikos Stathoulopoulos, Christoforos Kanellakis, Niklas Dahlquist, Björn Lindqvist, Ilias Tevetzidis. Link: https://lnkd.in/dPE5QZW5 This article presents the first ever fully autonomous UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) mission to perform gas measurements after a real blast in an underground mine. The demonstration mission was deployed around 40 min after the blast took place, and as such realistic gas levels were measured. We also present multiple field robotics experiments in different mines detailing the development process. The presented novel autonomy stack, denoted as the Routine Inspection Autonomy (RIA) framework, combines a risk-aware 3D path planning , with 3D LiDAR-based global relocalization on a known map, and it is integrated on a custom hardware and a sensing stack with an onboard gas sensing device. In the presented framework, the autonomous UAV can be deployed in incredibly harsh conditions (dust, significant deformations of the map) shortly after blasting to perform inspections of lingering gases that present a significant safety risk to workers. We also present a change detection framework that can extract and visualize the areas that were changed in the blasting procedure, a critical parameter for planning the extraction of materials, and for updating existing mine maps. As will be demonstrated, the RIA stack can enable robust autonomy in harsh conditions, and provides reliable and safe navigation behavior for autonomous Routine Inspection missions.

Viridor Pioneers Drones Approach to Monitoring Methane Viridor is demonstrating its ambition to tackle climate change by supporting the development of new technologies for measuring and reporting methane emissions across its UK landfill sites. Using the latest UAV laser sensor technology, Viridor will gain timely and insightful information to enable the business to meet the industry specific challenges identified by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) in respect of landfills. Last year, Viridor published the report: Decarbonising Our Waste: Viridor’s Roadmap to Net Zero and Net Negative Emissions. This details the company’s commitment to reach net zero by 2040 and net negative by 2045. The company established a project team to plan a series of methane measurement surveys across several UK sites. These surveys commenced in the summer of 2021 and utilised an innovative UAV-based methane measurement system. Visit here to learn more about drones and sensors for methane detection: https://lnkd.in/ekkukHrk Full Press Release here: http://ow.ly/SuWb50FJYyY #dronesurvey #dronesurveying #dronesforgood #dronenews #droneinspections #sustainability #landfillgas #landfills #dronetechnology #methanedetection #methane