Water Plume Temperature Measurements by an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
2
Alden Research Laboratory, Inc. 2000 S. College Ave Suite 300, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Felipe Gonzalez Toro
Sensors 2017, 17(2), 306; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17020306
Received: 20 December 2016
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Revised: 24 January 2017
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Accepted: 1 February 2017
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Published: 7 February 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue UAV-Based Remote Sensing)
We report on the development and testing of a proof of principle water temperature measurement system deployed on an unmanned aerial system (UAS), for field measurements of thermal discharges into water. The primary elements of the system include a quad-copter UAS to which has been integrated, for the first time, both a thermal imaging infrared (IR) camera and an immersible probe that can be dipped below the water surface to obtain vertical water temperature profiles. The IR camera is used to take images of the overall water surface to geo-locate the plume, while the immersible probe provides quantitative temperature depth profiles at specific locations. The full system has been tested including the navigation of the UAS, its ability to safely carry the sensor payload, and the performance of both the IR camera and the temperature probe. Finally, the UAS sensor system was successfully deployed in a pilot field study at a coal burning power plant, and obtained images and temperature profiles of the thermal effluent.
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Keywords:
thermal plume; unmanned aerial system; unmanned aerial vehicle; infrared; infrared imaging; temperature profile
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MDPI and ACS Style
DeMario, A.; Lopez, P.; Plewka, E.; Wix, R.; Xia, H.; Zamora, E.; Gessler, D.; Yalin, A.P. Water Plume Temperature Measurements by an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). Sensors 2017, 17, 306. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17020306
AMA Style
DeMario A, Lopez P, Plewka E, Wix R, Xia H, Zamora E, Gessler D, Yalin AP. Water Plume Temperature Measurements by an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). Sensors. 2017; 17(2):306. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17020306
Chicago/Turabian StyleDeMario, Anthony, Pete Lopez, Eli Plewka, Ryan Wix, Hai Xia, Emily Zamora, Dan Gessler, and Azer P. Yalin. 2017. "Water Plume Temperature Measurements by an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)" Sensors 17, no. 2: 306. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17020306
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