@article{WeberHewelingFischeretal.2017, author = {Weber, Konradin and Heweling, Georg and Fischer, Christian and Lange, Martin}, title = {The use of an octocopter UAV for the determination of air pollutants - a case study of the traffic induced pollution plume around a river bridge in Duesseldorf, Germany}, series = {International Journal of Environmental Science}, volume = {2}, journal = {International Journal of Environmental Science}, issn = {2367-8941}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-50805}, pages = {63 -- 66}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Emissions of air pollutants from the road traffic are still a major problem in Germany. It is well known that traffic induced fine particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, PM1), ultrafine particles (UFPs) and gaseous air pollutants, like e.g. NOx, are adverse to human health. Therefore it is important to monitor these air pollutants in the cities. In this study an octocopter UAV is used as a carrier for measurement systems for UFPs, fine particulate matter and soot. This instrumented octocopter was used for studying the vertical and horizontal variation of the air pollution plume, which originated from the traffic on a river bridge, connecting two parts of Duesseldorf in Germany. This octocopter UAV had been especially designed and built at the Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences for measurements of air pollutants. It was featuring eight 900 W electric propeller drives and was equipped with a pixhawk flight control. Its lift off weight was about 10.5 kg. About 60 measurement flights were performed by the instrumented octocopter throughout this study. These measurement flights could clearly determine the traffic induced air pollution plume originating from the bridge. Moreover, the dispersion of UFPs within the pollution plume could be monitored with the octocopter flights.}, subject = {Flugk{\"o}rper}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{PieriDiazBlandetal.2014, author = {Pieri, D. C. and Diaz, J. A. and Bland, G. and Fladeland, M. M. and Abtahi, A. and Alan, A. Jr. and Alegria, O. and Azofeifa, S. and Berthold, R. and Corrales, E. and Fuerstenau, S. and Gerardi, J. and Herlth, D. and Hickman, G. and Hunter, G. and Linick, J. and Mardigal, Y. and Makel, D. and Miles, T. and Realmuto, V. J. and Storms, B. and Vogel, A. and Kolyer, R. and Weber, Konradin}, title = {Systematic observations of Volc{\´a}n Turrialba, Costa Rica, with small unmanned aircraft and aerostats (UAVs): the Costa Rican Airborne Research and Technology Applications (CARTA) missions [Abstract]}, series = {American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2014}, booktitle = {American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2014}, year = {2014}, abstract = {For several years, the University of Costa Rica, NASA Centers (e.g., JPL, ARC, GSFC/WFF, GRC) \& NASA contractors-partners have made regular in situ measurements of aerosols \& gases at Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica, with aerostats (e.g., tethered balloons \& kites), \& free-flying fixed wing UAVs (e.g., Dragon Eye, Vector Wing 100, DELTA 150), at altitudes up to 12.5Kft ASL within 5km of the summit. Onboard instruments included gas detectors (e.g., SO2, CO2), visible \& thermal IR cameras, air samplers, temperature pressure \& humidity sensors, particle counters, \& a nephelometer. Deployments are timed to support bimonthly overflights of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) onboard the NASA Terra satellite (26 deployments to date). In situ observations of dilute plume SO2 concentrations (~1-20ppmv), plume dimensions, and associated temperature, pressure, \& humidity profiles, validate detailed radiative transfer-based SO2 retrievals, as well as archive-wide ASTER band-ratio SO2 algorithms. Our recent UAV-based CO2 observations confirm high concentrations (e.g., ~3000ppmv max at summit jet), with 1000-1500ppmv flank values, and essentially global background CO2 levels (400ppmv) over distal surroundings. Transient Turrialba He detections (up to 20ppmv) were obtained with a small (~10kg) airborne mass spectrometer on a light aircraft—a UAV version (~3kg) will deploy there soon on the UCR DELTA 500. Thus, these platforms, though small (most payloads <500gm), can perform valuable systematic measurements of potential eruption hazards, as well as of volcano processes. Because they are economical, flexible, and effective, such platforms promise unprecedented capabilities for researchers and responders throughout Central and South America, undertaking volcanic data acquisitions uniquely suited to such small aircraft in close proximity to known hazards, or that were previously only available using full-sized manned aircraft. This work was carried out, in part, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology under NASA contract. We are grateful to the Universidad de Costa Rica, the NASA Airborne Science and Earth Surface \& Interior Programs, the Direcci{\´o}n General de Aeron{\´a}utica Civil de Costa Rica, and FH D{\"u}sseldorf for their support.}, subject = {Vulkanismus}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{GonzalezRialDinardoPadillaetal.2024, author = {Gonz{\´a}lez Rial, Gabriel and Dinardo, Daniel and Padilla, Germ{\´a}n D. and Barrancos, Jos{\´e} and Hern{\´a}ndez, Pedro A. and P{\´e}rez, Nemesio M. and Weber, Konradin and Fischer, Christian and Amend, Detlef}, title = {Remake of the low cost carbon dioxide sensor of the carbon dioxide network deployed by INVOLCAN in the urban areas of Puerto Naos and La Bombilla, La Palma, Canary Islands}, series = {European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14-19 Apr 2024}, booktitle = {European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14-19 Apr 2024}, number = {EGU24-19641}, publisher = {Copernicus}, doi = {10.5194/egusphere-egu24-19641}, year = {2024}, abstract = {An anomalous CO2 degassing appeared by the end of Tajogaite eruption (North-West flank of Cumbre Vieja volcano ridge, La Palma, Canary Islands), in the neighborhoods of La Bombilla and Puerto Naos at about 6 km distance from the volcanic vent. The areas affected by the anomalous CO2 degassing were not directly affected by lava flows during the eruptive period. After the eruption, and due to this strong volcanic-hydrothermal carbon dioxide emissions (CO2 5-20\%) were included in the exclusion zone. CO2 is an invisible toxic gas, as well as asphyxiating, and may be lethal when is present in concentrations higher than 14\%. During the post-eruptive period, INVOLCAN deployed its own indoor and outdoor CO2 monitoring networks in collaboration with other institutions, with the aim of delimitating the anomalous CO2 degassing areas, paying attention to those areas where CO2 air concentration exceeds hazardous thresholds. The number of monitoring stations were increasing to cover most of the homes, garages, basements, and local businesses. The first monitoring network were based on a LILYGO; TTGO T-SIM7000G electroniccard, previously programmed with an unstable algorithm that caused problems during the measurements. After some implementations to enhance the stability of the sensor, a new algorithm was developed that consists of the acquisition of ambient values every 5 seconds, applying a Moving Average Filter in every measurement to avoid outliers. The SIM card integrated in the hardware allows the data transmission to an MQTT broker where the values are published every 5 minutes, recollecting them in a unique Raspberry Pi 4 Model B located at the INVOLCAN headquarters, that reads and stores the data in two databases (InfluxDB and Google Sheets). The visualization of the values are done through Grafana Cloud, recollecting the data from InfluxDB and showing them distributed as tables and a geographic map that illustrates the concentration in the measurement points. The difference between this and the last storing is the flexibility when visualizing the data, that can be transformed to different kind of plots as mentioned. Moreover, an API for the management of each subsystem is created using PyQT, allowing to the user the calibration of the sensors in remote, as well as executing a soft reboot, or the integration of deeper parameters like the sensor mode (manual polling, streaming or command mode) or pressure data. Two of the 20 devices have been successfully installed and they are working correctly in La Palma, meanwhile an amount of 18 devices are being tested and recollecting properly with better stability in CO2 concentration measurements at our laboratory and will be installed indoor in different locations soon. The remaking of the algorithm allows to forget previous problems of wrong data and disconnections, obtaining accurate data compared to commercial sensors and helping the operator to configure and control the sensors without moving to conflicting locations.}, subject = {Vortrag}, language = {en} } @article{WeberFischerPohletal.2015, author = {Weber, Konradin and Fischer, Christian and Pohl, Tobias and B{\"o}hlke, Christoph and Lange, Martin and Scharifi, Emad and Eliasson, Jonas and Yoshitani, Junichi}, title = {The Application of Light Research Aircraft for the Investigation of Volcano Eruption Plumes, Industrial Emissions and Urban Plumes}, series = {WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development}, volume = {11}, journal = {WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development}, publisher = {WSEAS}, issn = {2224-3496}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-50892}, pages = {89 -- 94}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Airborne measurements have proved to be an important tool for the investigation of volcanic emission plumes, industrial pollution plumes, fugitive emissions and urban pollution plumes. In this paper several examples are demonstrated, how these investigations can be performed by light and microlight propeller aircraft. Throughout the last years innovative aircraft were developed in the light and microlight class showing an excellent flight performance. This enables airborne measurements, which were performed in former years normally by big jet engine driven research aircraft. Moreover, these light and microlight aircraft are equipped with piston motors, which are sturdy enough to operate even in adverse and harsh flight conditions, e.g. in volcanic plumes with high ash concentration. Additionally, turbo charged versions of these airborne piston motors are available, which allow flight altitudes of 7000m - 9000m enabling a large variety of research missions. Another advantage of light and microlight research aircraft is that they are quite cost effective and have a comparatively short certification process for the installation of new measurement equipment. This made it possible to respond fast to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallaj{\"o}kull 2010 and Grimsv{\"o}tn 2011 with research flights in volcanic ash plumes over Germany and Iceland. In this way it was possible to deliver real airborne measurements additional to the ash plume model calculations of the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC). In this paper examples of airborne measurements in the volcanic plumes of the recent eruptions of Icelandic volcanoes are given. Moreover examples are presented, which highlight the outstanding capabilities of these aircraft for pinpointing industrial emissions and for characterizing urban pollution plumes.}, subject = {Vulkanismus}, language = {en} } @article{PohlFischerHewelingetal.2017, author = {Pohl, Tobias and Fischer, Christian and Heweling, Georg and B{\"o}hlke, Christoph and Weber, Konradin}, title = {A Comparative Study as a Quality Assurance of Stationary and Portable Hand-Held Ultrafine Particle Monitors}, series = {WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development}, volume = {13}, journal = {WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development}, publisher = {WSEAS}, issn = {2224-3496}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-50799}, pages = {6}, year = {2017}, abstract = {In this study we investigated the performance of two portable hand-held measurement devices (Testo DiSCMini, Grimm NanoCheck) under real environmental conditions at an area on the new campus of the University of Applied Sciences Duesseldorf, which was influenced by construction activities and traffic. The values were compared to the data from a freshly calibrated SMPS (Grimm SMPS+C) as a reference system. The SMPS measured the particle number concentration as well as the particle number size distribution in a range from 5 nm to 350 nm. This was done as a quality assurance for the use of these portable devices for other measurement campaigns for detecting the particle number concentration in mobile applications by e.g. unmanned aerial systems, bicycles, or small aircraft. The results show a good correlation between all the systems. The agreement between the reference system and the NanoCheck was really good, but lower between the DiSCMini and the reference system. Due to the good correlation the data could be post processed with a correction function to reduce the deviation. Finally, it can be stated, that both systems work well under environmental conditions and are well suited for the mobile use for the investigation of ultrafine particle concentration.}, subject = {Messtechnik}, language = {en} } @techreport{OliveiraBritoPohlNehr2025, author = {Oliveira Brito, Marcel and Pohl, Tobias and Nehr, Sascha}, title = {Sicheres Schadstoffmonitoring per UAV in Gefahrenszenarien f{\"u}r Einsatzkr{\"a}fte (SiSchaMo): Erforschung eines modularen Sensorsystems zur dreidimensionalen Erfassung und Charakterisierung von Gefahrstoffwolken mittels UAV in-situ Messungen ; Abschlussbericht zum Teilvorhaben}, publisher = {Technische Informationsbibliothek}, address = {Hannover}, doi = {10.34657/18646}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-55799}, pages = {40}, year = {2025}, subject = {Drohne}, language = {de} }