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Systems and methods for drone tracking of airborne materials

  • US 10,065,739 B2
  • Filed: 06/22/2015
  • Issued: 09/04/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2015
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An unmanned aerial vehicle for monitoring airborne materials in a plume, the vehicle comprising:

  • a tracer dispenser that ejects tracer materials;

    a sensor that detects;

    a substance of interest within a plume, andthe ejected tracer material; and

    a control unit in operable communication with the sensor and the tracer, the control unit configured to;

    pilot the unmanned aerial vehicle alongside the plume,instruct the tracer dispenser to eject the tracer material into the plume based on the sensor detecting a first concentration of the substance of interest greater than a pre-defined threshold within the plume, wherein one or more properties of the ejected tracer material change in response to the substance of interest within the plume,monitor the ejected tracer materials for which the one or more properties changed in response to the substance of interest within the plume,compute a concentration of the substance of interest in the plume based on information from the sensor detections of the ejected tracer material for which the one or more properties changed in response the substance of interest, andevaluate the computed concentration of the substance of interest based on information from the sensor detections of the ejected tracer material in the plume, the evaluation used to characterize the substance of interest and the plume.

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