Sniffer drones for fugitive emission detection, localization, and quantification

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The objective of this NSERC Discovery project is to develop and test new analytical methods that create intelligent ‘sniffer' drones for detecting, localizing, and quantifying fugitive methane emissions. This project is motivated by new policies and regulations seeking to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry and the corresponding need for new, cost-effective and scalable measurement technologies to support mitigation. This is a new research area at the intersection of meteorology and geoinformatics, where spatially- and temporally-spaced methane concentration measurements are acquired from a drone and synchronized with other onboard measurements to locate fugitive sources and estimate emission rates. The resulting geotemporal data are profoundly different from conventional methods and require new approaches to convert measurements into actionable information. The project is designed to advance the full life cycle of drone-based methane emission sensing from pre-survey planning and optimization, to inflight measurements, and post-survey processing. A combination of simulation modeling and field testing using controlled (metered) releases of natural gas will be used to develop and mature new analytical methods. The potential outcomes and impacts of the proposed project include: (i) new tools and techniques to enable an emerging clean technology, (ii) clarification of the limitations and niche applications of drone-based emission measurement, (iii) HQP development through applied, problem-driven research in the growing field of environmental analytics, and (iv) reduction of fugitive methane emissions through future scaling and implementation of drone-based methane sensing technology. While the project focus is fugitive methane from the oil and gas sector, the analytics developed will be applicable to other industries and air pollutants.