Methodology for automated greenhouse gas data collection and transmission to cloud repository using low-cost drones

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Demonstrates a proof-of-concept for automated drone-based GHG monitoring that could be extended to various biomes; researchers can build on the reference model for further validation.

🏢実務担当者:Companies seeking low-cost methods for continuous emissions monitoring at remote sites may explore this approach, but should assess accuracy requirements for reporting.

🏛政策担当者:Policymakers interested in expanding monitoring coverage in hard-to-reach areas could consider such low-cost drone solutions as supplementary to existing networks.

Abstract Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are crucial for monitoring and mitigating climate change and the degradation of sensitive biomes. Such demand motivates the search for automated processes to collect and manage GHG emissions data, with open access to researchers and institutions working with sustainability. This work proposes an automated data collection process using low-cost drones, with direct data transfer to a cloud-based data space. Low-cost drones were equipped with onboard sensors to measure $$\varvec{CO}_{\varvec{2}}$$ CO 2 and methane emissions. The focus was not on data accuracy but on automating data collection and transmission, drone design specifications, and testing, exploring the balance between data accuracy and low-cost sensors. The first practical proof-of-concept experiments demonstrating the system’s capabilities used a drone prototype with simple sensors in an outdoor campus environment, sending data to a cloud-based data space called Digital Amazon (intended to store GHG emissions from the Amazon Forest), via 4G internet communication network. The system’s design addressed aspects such as avoiding interference during data collection and trajectory adjustment, data transfer, and finalizing dataset composition in the cloud. The results provide initial evidence supporting the feasibility of the proposed system in an outdoor environment. However, its application to more complex scenarios, such as forests, other biomes, or urban areas, will be explored in subsequent research based on the reference model presented and will require further validation under diverse environmental and operational conditions. Enhancements to accommodate future communication based on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellite systems would help reduce transmission latency, but this issue was not assessed in the present study.

• crossref https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-026-15478-9first seen 2026-05-27 05:10:31