UCR-Caltrans UAV Research

Developed autonomous UAV to sample air during a pollution research study conducted jointly by UCR and Caltrans. SF6 tracer gas was used by the research team to track wind dispersion patterns, which was sampled by an internal pump and sample bag housed within the UAV fuselage. A wing-mounted meteorological sensor sampled atmospheric conditions, and a Matlab script was used to derive local wind patterns from GPS ground track and aircraft velocity data.