UAVs Will Study Californian Smog

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."

Hmmm

The goal is to study smog and its consequences as well as better understand the sources of air pollution.

Airplanes?

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If you've ever been around the LA area, you know that it's mostly CARS. There are a LOT of cars out there, sitting idle in traffic frequently.

Good work defining the acronyms!

Although I must say, the nested acronyms just about blew my mind.

Re:Good work defining the acronyms!

You must be GNU here.

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*pop*

And why?

Are UAVs better for this job then conventional manned aircraft?

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

Re:And why?

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.

Re:And why?

They're cheaper to operate, they can stay aloft longer, and they pollute less. What's not to like?

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With the pilot sitting on the ground, and possibly flying multiple AV's at once, how likely are they to be using the same level of awareness of the airspace around the vehicle?

As these are restricted to solely military airspace, I'm not as worried...

FTA:

Because of Federal Aviation Administration regulations that prohibit unmanned aircraft from flying in public airspace, the flight paths will be limited to military airspace, which is exempted from FAA rules.

What I'm curious about is how those police departments that recently bought UAVs can legally use them in public airspace....

"goals"

"The goal is to study smog and its consequences as well as better understand the sources of air pollution"
<tinfoilhat>
Oh, that's what they say...  But let's just see if they don't get used for citizen surveillance as well...  If they're already flying there, you know someone in power will ask for it.
</tinfoilhat>

Heisenberg -- UAV create smog

The irony is heavier than the air: UAVs have small, high intensity [low bypass] jet-turbine engines which create a fair bit of NOx [smog] themselves.

Re:Heisenberg -- UAV create smog

these uavs are using a 2-stroke reciprocating gasoline engine

http://www.acrtucson.com/UAV/manta/index.htm [acrtucson.com]

great. just what we need in so cal..

more crazies seeing UFOs

Uh...

...So why not study the air pollution in a place where there's more of it?

You have plenty of options.

COD4

Our UAV is online!

The first flights started in April 2008

Good ol' slashdot, always first with the scoop! What month is it again?

sure, you've earned my trust

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

Correction:

UAVs Will Study Californians [slashdot.org].

For more, see my post here [slashdot.org].

Why UAVs?

IANAM(Meteorologist), but why do they need UAVs? Couldn't they just rig up a series of regular weather balloons?

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and how do you limit the height of a weather ballon?

you either tie it to the ground, or remotely operate it like a blimp.

Planes can cover a larger area which is more useful for taking a variety of air samples with a smaller number of craft.

I see they are using pusher configuration

That's good, so they can mount the sensors ahead of the engine. Otherwise they might collect data on their own emissions rather than what they are flying thru.

Re:Smog is way down, why is this needed?

You must not live in LA. Yes, most days are ok here (at least a vast improvement over the 70s), but there are still days you can see a visible brown haze. Improvements have been made but the problem is definitely not "solved".

California smog can make your lungs bleed

Los Angeles has it good compared to the entire San Joaquin Valley, Fresno in particular.

Walking out of the house at 5:30 in the morning (exercise to beat the heat), one notices that the air smells like someone just lit a firecracker. During the day, the

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You may notice they are studying air pollution in California where it is a problem? That other cities in the US have "clean" air is a happy circumstance of their location. California has the some of the strictest emissions standards of anywhere in the US

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...t fly into an LA area airport on many days, and your will actually descend through a yellowish-brown layer...

The actual number of days in "many days" is in the 20-30 range now. That's down from 200+ days in the past.

I live in the Inland Empire which gets the smog from LA. Lately, I've been in the habit of taking a morning walk at a park in the foothills of the mountain range that forms a northern border of the greater LA area. That puts me at about the same elevatio