Aerial Gas Detection and Analysis

Drone Gas Detection

Drone mounted gas detection payloads and sensors

Use a drone with a gas detection system to safely and efficiently monitor hazardous substances.

Benefits of using a drone for gas detection include:

  • Assess the scene from a safe distance before risking the safety of your team.
  • Quickly locate and identify the source, concentration and flow of chemical hazards: A drone is 60x faster than alternative methods.
  • Access hard-to-reach locations.
  • Gather real-time situational awareness to form a comprehensive action plan and define a safety perimeter.
  • Use thermal and/or visual sensors alongside the gas detection module to further enhance on-scene intelligence.
  • Collect accurate data and build maps and models to improve decision-making and better coordinate multi-agency response.
  • Repeatable data collection for asset monitoring.

Drone-based gas detection is a powerful solution for numerous applications, including HazMat response, public safety, industrial inspection and environmental monitoring.



Sniffer4D Gas Detection System

Comprehensive gas detection and mapping ecosystem.

  • Obtain hyper-local air pollutant information in real-time, as well as humidity and temperature information.
  • Detect a wide range of substances, including up to 9 at once. Configure for specific missions.
  • Use Sniffer4D Mapper to generate intuitive 2D & 3D spatial distribution models to quickly identify sources, concentrations and transportation of air pollution.
  • IPX2-rated.
  • Compatible with DJI M300 RTK, DJI M200 V2 and Mavic 2 Series.


HazMat Response

HazMat response is dangerous and challenging. These incidents often involve a number of unknowns, including the source of the leak and the type of substance.

Traditionally, personnel have been required to enter these hazardous areas - fully encapsulated in protective suits - without knowing the full extent of the situation.

Drones change this, providing a safer way to assess the scene and enabling crews to take command of any situation from a safe distance.

A drone with a gas detection module can be launched within minutes to provide aerial reconnaissance and remote hazmat monitoring/identification.

This situational awareness provides invaluable information regarding the dangers to personnel and helps emergency responders select the right type of PPE and tools to more effectively mitigate the incident.

A drone with a gas detection unit can also be used for other public safety operations, such as firefighting. An airborne solution can identify concentrations of hazardous gases and substances in a smoke cloud.

Gas Detection For Leak Inspections

Detecting gas leaks in an industrial setting is a complex issue.

Industrial facilities contain numerous failure points where gas can potentially leak. There’s also the challenge of identifying leak points along endless miles of pipelines.

Traditional methods can involve a team of inspectors, manually traversing the network, with an array of detectors and monitoring equipment. This is time-consuming and often places people in dangerous or toxic environments. Alternatively, a helicopter is a highly expensive inspection method.

A drone with a gas detection module changes this: Collecting accurate data more efficiently, accurately and cost-effectively, without putting people in harm’s way.

Using a drone, the mission can be carefully plotted and developed into a preprogrammed flight plan.

The drone can cover large areas quickly - including hard-to-access spots - and collect a vast amount of data which can be viewed and analysed in real-time. This actionable data includes the leak’s location, concentration and type of gas.

As the drone is a cost-effective and efficient solution, it can be used for more regular and periodic inspection, helping to identify anomalies sooner before they escalate.

Reveal potential anomalies in chemical plants by periodically monitoring air pollutant distributions

Environmental Monitoring

Drones present a streamlined method of conducting environmental monitoring and academic research.

Using a UAV gas detection system, research teams can easily obtain rich air quality and pollution information, including the remote collection of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions data.

Drones with gas sensors have also been used for scientific research, including for monitoring volcanoes - acquiring near-vent measurements of gases such as carbon dioxide. Drones present a safe, efficient and more accessible solution to gather this type of data, which was previously limited through ground-based techniques, to drive a better understanding of volcanic emissions and protect local communities through more regular monitoring.

Drones can also efficiently and accurately locate suspected pollution sources in industrial areas, construction sites and ports.

"Previous to drones, there was no way to keep eyes on our guys. We relied solely on radio traffic, which is shoddy at best. Having an eye in the sky enhances our ability to mitigate a scene. It helps us understand what they see a lot faster and ensures everyone works from the same operational picture. If I can minimise risk and use a piece of machinery to do that job, it’s a win for us.”

Rich Gatanis, HazMat Expert

Training by Drone
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