MRI: Development of an Integrated Gas Monitoring and Source Identification Unmanned Aircraft System for Exploration, Compliance and Assessment

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This project, developing an integrated gas monitoring and source identification unmanned aircraft system (UAS), aims to explore, check environmental compliance, and assess critical activities to enable a wide range of appropriate multi- and inter-disciplinary activities with emerging developments in UAS and sensor technologies. These activities address regional and national oil and gas industry needs. Gas exploration and environmental compliance and assessment are critical activities for the energy industry. New sensor technologies for detecting emissions from land and water have improved the ability to detect gases and flux (such as helium, methane, carbon dioxide, and oil). Unfortunately, use of these technologies in gas exploration and source identification by the energy industry and regulatory agencies is limited (due to operation, deployment and effectiveness issues). The proposed instrument addresses these issues by integrating advanced gas sensing and imagery (SAR and EO-IR) technologies on a UAS. The instrument features flexible operation and configuration on an aerial platform that can be rapidly deployed and can easily survey large and remote areas. The UAS-based instrument enables predetermined surveying missions and provides a more effective detection based on a combined geocoded imaging-sniffing data that is presented in a user friendly format including overlay maps. The instrument will enable the - Energy industry to make well-informed decisions for efficient and cost-effective exploration, environmental compliance and assessment, and - Research and academic community with a novel and effective sensing platformThe institution, located in a socio-economically and educationally isolated region, has one of the six Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) test sites in the nation, the Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation (LSUASC). Moreover, the institution is committed to expanding research and academics among HSIs in these critical fields by enhancing infrastructure, faculty, and scholarship. This instrumentation promotes the social and economic development for the region enabling researchers to capitalize in the expanded opportunities offered by the center, RCN CE3SAR and industries in the Gulf. The project broadens the participation of and provides research and training opportunities for a large number of underrepresented students).