Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
Dokumenttyp
- Beitrag zu einem Tagungsband (19) (entfernen)
Sprache
- Englisch (17)
- Deutsch (1)
- Mehrsprachig (1)
Referierte Publikation
- nein (19) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- Nano aerial robot (5)
- Swarm (4)
- Gas source localization (3)
- Hazardous scenarios (3)
- Mobile Robot Olfaction (3)
- Chemical sensing (2)
- Condition monitoring (2)
- Data-fusion (2)
- Gas sensing (2)
- Gas sensors (2)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
This work presents first results from repetitive CO2 injection experiments performed on a recently built-up 400 m² soil test field with gas injection system. The test field contains 48 membrane-based linear gas sensors that were installed in several depths of the test field. Sensors for measuring meteorological parameters (e.g., wind / rain) and the parameters soil temperature, soil moisture, and groundwater level were installed additionally.
Monitoring and maintenance of civil infrastructure are of great importance, as any undetected damage can cause high repair costs, unintended deadtime, or endanger structural integrity. The inspection of large concrete structures such as bridges and parking lots is particularly challenging and time-consuming. Traditional methods are mostly manual and involve mapping a grid of measurement lines to record the position of each measurement. Current semi-automated methods, on the other hand, use GPS or tachymeters for localization but still require trained personnel to operate. An entirely automated approach using mobile robots would be more cost- and time-efficient. While there have been developments in using GPS-enabled mobile robots for bridge inspection, the weak signal strength in indoor areas poses a challenge for the automated inspection of structures such as parking lots. This paper aims to develop a solution for the automated inspection of large indoor concrete structures by addressing the problem of robot localization in indoor spaces and the automated measurement of concrete cover and rebar detection.
BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, in cooperation with the company MeGaSen UG carries out a research project to enhance and validate an innovative approach for distributed subsurface monitoring of gas storage areas. The concept combines different measurement technologies to one multifunctional sensor: membrane-based gas measurement technology for in-situ monitoring of gases in soil and fiber optical sensing of temperature and strain (as a measure for structural change). Key aspect of the research project is the first-time validation of the system in an application relevant dimension. For this purpose a 20 x 20 m2 test field is build. A comprehensive validation of the system is carried out by systematic variation of different parameters like position-dependent gasinjection, temperature and mechanical impact.
This presentation gives an introduction to the gas-sensitive aerial robots developed at BAM, including various application examples in the field of mobile robot olfaction: gas source localization and gas distribution mapping.
Comprehensive monitoring of pipelines over their full length is technically difficult and expensive. Considering a cost-benefit ratio it is reasonable to implement monitoring solutions in pipeline segments, which bear a high risk potential, like residential areas, construction sites, slopes, street or river crossings. Still such segments can measure up to several hundred meters in length, demanding for monitoring solutions that extend along such distances and enable fast response. Point wise sensing and periodical surveillance have clear drawbacks, particularly regarding early damage detection. Fibre optic sensors enable distributed sensing of temperature and strain, but they offer very limited possibilities for measuring gas concentrations. Linear membrane-based gas sensors enable the monitoring of gas concentrations alongside a pipeline. Such line-sensors are implemented in form of flexible tubes and can be arranged inside or outside the pipeline (also underwater or within the subsurface), corresponding to the technical requirements. The measuring method combines the gas specific diffusion rates through a membrane with Dalton’s law of partial pressures and enables the calculation of gas concentrations or the detection of a change of the gas composition. The objective is to detect gas leakages fast and with high reliability. Furthermore, the calibrated system enables to estimate the spatial extent of a leakage. So far the gas concentration measurement is tested for oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane; further gases should follow, e.g. hydrogen, carbon monoxide or mixtures like natural gas. The paper introduces in the different operating modes of line-sensors. A near real-time approach will be demonstrated to quantify the impact of a gas leak on the near environment. This approach is based on a critical length describing the expansion of the leaking gas.
In preliminary work, gas sensors in linear form based on the measuring principle of gas selective permeability through a membrane were developed and introduced for the detection and quantification of gas concentrations. In this study, first experimental results are presented for adapting the technology for measuring methane (CH4). A material with suitable selective permeability was identified and utilized in a sensor setup containing the gas selective membrane and a reference membrane, both integrated in a measuring cell, to which a gas stream with defined CH4 concentrations was applied. The results prove the sensor's capability for measuring methane and indicate further application potential of the method, e.g., as a robust field monitoring technology, since CH4 is the major component of natural gas, town gas, and fracking gas.
Using a swarm of copter-based gas-sensitive aerial nano robots for monitoring indoor air quality is challenging due to, e.g., limited air space in buildings. To avoid an over-regulation of the available indoor air space (e.g., prohibit copters to fly above each other), a safety region around each copter must be defined to guarantee a safe operation of the swarm.
The key contributions of this paper are the realization of experiments that investigate the influence of the rotor downwash on flying vertically displaced nano robots and the development of a model describing the above-mentioned safety region.
In this paper, we introduce a nano aerial robot swarm for Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) monitoring applications such as occupational health and safety of (industrial) workplaces. The robotic swarm is composed of nano Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), based on the Crazyflie 2.0 quadrocopter, and small lightweight Metal Oxide (MOX) gas sensors for measuring the Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC), which is a measure for IAQ. An indoor localization and positioning system is used to estimate the absolute 3D position of the swarm similar to GPS. A test scenario was built up to validate and optimize the swarm for the intended applications. Besides calibration of the IAQ sensors, we performed experiments to investigate the influence of the rotor downwash on the gas measurements at different altitudes and compared them with stationary measurements. Moreover, we did a first evaluation of the gas distribution mapping performance. Based on this novel IAQ monitoring concept, new algorithms in the field of Mobile Robot Olfaction (MRO) are planned to be developed exploiting the abilities of an aerial robotic swarm.
In this paper, we introduce a nano aerial robot swarm for Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) monitoring applications such as occupational health and safety of (industrial) workplaces. The robotic swarm is composed of nano Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), based on the Crazyflie 2.0 quadrocopter, and small lightweight Metal Oxide (MOX) gas sensors for measuring the Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC), which is a measure for IAQ. An indoor localization and positioning system is used to estimate the absolute 3D position of the swarm similar to GPS. A test scenario was built up to validate and optimize the swarm for the intended applications. Besides calibration of the IAQ sensors, we performed experiments to investigate the influence of the rotor downwash on the gas measurements at different altitudes and compared them with stationary measurements. Moreover, we did a first evaluation of the gas distribution mapping performance. Based on this novel IAQ monitoring concept, new algorithms in the field of Mobile Robot Olfaction (MRO) are planned to be developed exploiting the abilities of an aerial robotic swarm.
Insect behavior is a common source of inspiration for roboticists and computer scientists when designing gas-sensitive mobile robots. More specifically, tracking airborne odor plumes and localization of distant gas sources are abilities that suit practical applications such as leak localization and emission monitoring. Gas sensing with mobile robots has been mostly addressed with ground-based platforms and under simplified conditions and thus, there exist a significant gap between the outstanding insect abilities and state of the art robotics systems. As a step towards practical applications, we evaluated the performance of three biologically inspired plume tracking algorithms. The evaluation is carried out not only with computer simulations, but also with real-world experiments in which, a quadrocopter-based micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle autonomously follows a methane trail towards the emitting source. Compared to ground robots, micro UAVs bring several advantages such as their superior steering capabilities and fewer mobility restrictions in complex terrains. The experimental evaluation shows that, under certain environmental conditions, insect like behavior in gas-sensitive UAVs is feasible in real world environments.
QI-Digital is a joined project aiming at digitalising Quality Infrastructure (QI) processes involving standardization, conformity assessment, accreditation, metrology, and market surveillance [1]. Federal institute of material research and testing (BAM) is working on the creation of a digital calibration certifi-cate (DCC) to achieve digital metrological traceability and conformity assessment. The utilisation of machine readable and executable DCCs in the XML format is demonstrated on an example of a tem-perature measurement at a hydrogen refueling station. The certificates will be retrieved and analysed automatically at a Process Control System or at a Digital Twin.
In industrial environments, airborne by-products such as dust and (toxic) gases, constitute a major risk for the worker’s health. Major changes in automated processes in the industry lead to an increasing demand for solutions in air quality management. Thus, occupational health experts are highly interested in precise dust and gas distribution models for working environments. For practical and economic reasons, high-quality, costly measurements are often available for short time-intervals only. Therefore, current monitoring procedures are carried out sparsely, both in time and space, i.e., measurement data are collected in single day campaigns at selected locations only. Real-time knowledge of contaminant distributions inside the working environment would also provide means for better and more economic control of air impurities. For example, the possibility to regulate the workspace’s ventilation exhaust locations can reduce the concentration of airborne contaminants by 50%.
To improve the occupational health and safety of (industrial) workplaces, this work aims for developing a swarm of gas-sensitive aerial nano robots for monitoring indoor air quality and for localizing potential emission sources.
This paper presents a sampling strategy for mobile gas sensors. Sampling points are selected using a modified artificial potential field (APF) approach, which balances multiple criteria to direct sensor measurements towards locations of high mean concentration, high concentration variance and areas for which the uncertainty about the gas distribution model is still large. By selecting in each step the most often suggested close-by measurement location, the proposed approach introduces a locality constraint that allows planning suitable paths for mobile gas sensors. Initial results in simulation and in real-world experiments with a gas-sensitive micro-drone demonstrate the suitability of the proposed sampling strategy for gas distribution mapping and its use for gas source localization.
This paper presents first advances in the area of aerial chemical trail following. For that purpose, we equipped a palm-size aerial robot, based on the Crazyflie 2.0 quadrocopter, with a small lightweight metal oxide gas sensor for measuring evaporated ethanol from chemical trails. To detect and localize the chemical trail, a novel detection criterion was developed that uses only relative changes in the transient phase of the sensor response, making it more robust in its application. We tested our setup in first crossing-trail experiments showing that our flying ant robot is able to correlate an odor hit with the chemical trail within 0.14 m. Principally, this could enable aerial chemical trail following in the future.