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UAVs Will Study Californian Smog

Posted by timothy on from the with-their-little-UN-logos dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "The California Energy Commission is funding a research effort named CAPPS, short for California AUAV Air Pollution Profiling Study. CAPPS will use autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (AUAVs) to gather meteorological data as the aircraft fly through clouds over Southern California. The goal is to study smog and its consequences as well as better understand the sources of air pollution. The first flights started in April 2008 and data collection will continue until January 2009. But read more for additional references and photos of these autonomous unmanned aircraft."

5 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. And why? by FreeBSD+evangelist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are UAVs better for this job then conventional manned aircraft?

    UAVs make sense where the flight is into harms way, but this?

    1. Re:And why? by MBCook · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I assume it's primarily a cost type thing. Flying 4 small automated UAVs is probably cheaper than even 1 manned craft.

      There are other possible reasons too. At their size, it's relatively easy to fly the UAVs at low alititudes (like 1 or 2k feet). They are going to be quiet (unlike a small Cessna) when close to the ground. They could be run 'round the clock, and if they can hold a charge (or they put solar panels on 'em) they could stay up for 12+ hours at a time.

      I can see some real good points for why you may want a UAV.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
  2. sure, you've earned my trust by frovingslosh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pay no attention to the government aircraft constantly above your heads. They are only there to study smog.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  3. Re:Smog is way down, why is this needed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Succeeded? I don't think so. The sky is brown. The sky is not supposed to be brown. Maybe you have gotten used to it gradually, and you think it is okay. It is not. The smog in LA is awful, I'm changing jobs to get out of it.

  4. Re:Smog is way down, why is this needed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Not all US cities have clean air. Ozone is higher than the EPA's air quality standard in many areas. Here's a map of areas that don't meet the 1-hour criterion:



    http://www.epa.gov/air/oaqps/greenbook/mapo3n.html


    and here's one for the 8-hour criterion:


    http://www.epa.gov/air/oaqps/greenbook/map8hrnm.html



    California suffers from the double whammy of having large cities, plus a range of mountains that traps large masses of air in the valleys where the pollutants build up, but you can see that any largely populated area can have problems with ozone. Because the density of population is much higher in these non-attainment areas, a large portion of the population is affected.