August 2021 – Flying high: Mobile measurements from the sky

Whether on drones, balloons or other flying objects – small and lightweight measuring instruments make it possible!

Mobile air measurements on flying objects open up new possibilities. Much larger areas can be investigated and urban centers can be compared to less densely populated areas. This also allows conclusions to be drawn about how e. g. aerosols spread in real time. Measurements can happen more flexibly and independent of local conditions. It might even be possible to identify previously undetected emission sources that would not have come into such focus with a stationary installation.

The German mesSBAR research project makes use of these possibilities. This project brings together representatives from seven renowned institutions, including BASt (Federal Highway Research Institute), TROPOS (Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research) and UBA (Federal Environment Agency), among others. Their goal is to equip drones with sensors that measure particulate matter, soot, NOx and ozone in the near-earth atmosphere and thus to develop a novel flexible air quality measurement system that will help to better describe air quality in urban regions and emission sources.

We offer several mobile measuring devices that are well suited and frequently used for just such purposes:

POM™: The POM™ (Personal Ozone Monitor) from the U.S. manufacturer 2B Technologies is a handy pocket-sized ozone meter. Despite its small dimensions of 10.2 x 7.6 x 3.8 cm and a weight of only 340 g, the POM™ uses the ozone reference method (UV absorption at 254 nm).

MA200: The microAeth® MA200 is a handy soot measuring instrument, which is especially suitable for mobile and personal measurements. It operates at 5 wavelengths and uses small filter band cassettes. The microAeth® MA200 is part of the microAeth® MA series from AethLabs.

DePS™-Go: The Dekati® DePS™-Go (Dekati® electrical Particle Sensor) is a compact, real-time particle measurement instrument. It allows direct monitoring of particle LDSA concentration and the measurement signal can be easily correlated with particle count or mass concentrations. Measurement data can be stored on an SD card or transferred via a USB port. Power is supplied via a built-in rechargeable battery or via the USB socket. This makes the Dekati® DePS™-Go perfect as a portable or even stationary measurement tool.

ACCESS: Brechtel‘s ACCESS (Aerosol Counting, Composition, Extinction and Sizing System) line is an ideal measurement solution on flying objects that require small size, light weight and low power consumption without sacrificing high measurement accuracy – i.e. perfect for drones, balloons or UAVs. The line includes several miniaturized modules that can be used either individually or together as a package. Among them are specially modified versions of the Mixing Condensation Particle Counter MCPC, the Tricolor Absorption Photometer TAP and the Scanning Electrical Mobility Spectrometer SEMS.

We will be able to present you more information about the ACCESS line soon – stay tuned!

Are you interested in our measuring instruments or do you have further questions? Contact us!