Extended Environmental Monitoring via Intelligent, Autonomous Airships

为有效管理人类活动而制定政策的环境科学家常常因缺乏关于环境状况的准确信息而受挫。在某些情况下，正确的政策并不明确，因为人类活动和环境之间的关系没有得到很好的理解。更多的环境数据可以增进这种了解，并为制定有效的政策提供手段。在其他情况下，提出了有效的政策，但需要额外的数据来证明实施的政治和经济成本是合理的。然而，更多的数据本身并不是解决方案。解析和分析数据所需的人力资源比可用的数据少。所需要的是智能，以这样一种方式积极采样，以最大限度地利用数据中的有用内容。拟议的跨学科项目将研究长期环境监测的方法。具体来说，该项目旨在赋予太阳能飞艇智能，以进行长时间的自主环境采样。我们将探讨在天气模式下的配置和设计、路径规划和控制以及智能环境监测所需的算法等问题。预期的结果是一个仪器平台，有效地收集准确标记的环境数据，可以无限期地保持在空中。飞艇非常适合环境监测任务，然而，它们在这方面的潜力尚未实现。作为空中监测平台，它们比固定翼飞机和直升机具有许多优势。它们更安全、更稳定、更便宜。它们不消耗电力，并且能够扩展运行。鉴于飞艇具有自主操作的智能和适当的传感硬件，飞艇提供了一个传感平台，对于寻求理解、修复和管理环境的各种环境科学家来说，这将是一笔财富。这项技术的潜在应用包括森林和作物管理、湿地调查、土地利用评估、危险废物场地监测和水土流失量化。通过与卡内基梅隆大学的成本分摊条款，我们将在一个原型上展示我们的结果，仪器飞艇产生空气污染的特征。该项目将与最近资助的美国环保署位于匹兹堡的超级站点合作，利用飞艇生成空气污染和环境颗粒物的三维轮廓。由此产生的数据集将为空气污染的垂直分布和运输机制提供新的见解。新技术不能让生态时钟倒转，但它们可以帮助环境科学家突破知识的前沿，帮助普通公民认识到保护自然世界的紧迫性。现在有可能使用以前从间谍卫星上分类的图像，在宏观尺度上显示环境退化的程度。这一提议将创造一种以更精确的分辨率、更有效的方式收集密集环境数据的方法。

Environmental scientists who develop policies for the effective management of human activity areoften thwarted by a lack of accurate information about the state of the environment. In somecases, the correct policy is not clear because the relationship between human activity and theenvironment is not well understood. Additional environmental data could improve such under-standingand provide the means to develop effective policies. In other cases effective policieshave been proposed but additional data is required to justify the political and economic costs ofimplementation. However, more data by itself is not the solution. The human resources neces-saryto parse and analyze the data are scarcer than available data. What is necessary is intelli-genceto actively sample in such a way as to maximize the useful content in the data.The proposed inter-disciplinary program will investigate means of extended-term environmentalmonitoring. Specifically, this project seeks to endow a solar-powered airship with the intelligenceto conduct extended-duration, autonomous environmental sampling. We will explore issues ofconfiguration and design, path planning and control in the presence of weather patterns, andalgorithms necessary for intelligent environmental monitoring. The intended result is an instru-mentedplatform for efficiently gathering accurately tagged environmental data that can stay aloftindefinitely.Airships are well suited for environmental monitoring tasks, however their potential in this capac-ityremains unfulfilled. As aerial monitoring platforms, they exhibit numerous advantages overfixed wing aircraft and helicopters. They are safer, more stable, and less expensive. They con-sumeless power and are capable of extended operation. Given the intelligence to operate auton-omouslyand the proper sensing hardware, an airship provides a sensing platform that would bean asset to a diverse range of environmental scientists who seek to understand, remediate, andmanage the environment. Potential applications of this technology include forest and crop man-agement,wetland surveys, land use assessment, monitoring of hazardous waste sites, and ero-sionquantification.Through a cost-sharing provision with Carnegie Mellon University, we will demonstrate ourresults on a prototype, instrumented airship to generate a characterization of air pollution. Work-ingtogether with a recently funded EPA Supersite in Pittsburgh, this project will employ an airshipto generate 3-D profiles of air pollution and ambient particulate matter. The resulting data set willprovide new insights into the vertical distribution and transport mechanisms of air pollution.New technologies cannot turn back the ecological clock but they can help environmental scien-tistspush back the frontiers of knowledge and help ordinary citizens grasp the urgency of pre-servingour natural world. It is now possible to use previously classified images from spysatellites that show the extent of environmental degradation at a macro scale. This proposal willcreate a means of gathering dense environmental data at a much finer resolution, in a more effi-cientmanner.