UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES USE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTS
Abstract
Technical progress in navigation systems, control systems, power sources, communication means, and manufacturing technologies has led to the rapid development and widespread adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Currently, UAVs are actively used in scientific research. Since 2010, more than 200,000 scientific papers indexed in the Scopus database have been devoted to various aspects of UAV development and application. At the same time, research in the field of "Environmental Science" accounts for about 2% of these publications. The aim of this paper is to analyze the existing experience of using unmanned aerial vehicles for scientific research in the field of environmental monitoring of urban environment and to summarize the main directions of their application in studies of atmospheric pollution. Studies of particulate matter concentrations, gaseous atmospheric pollutants, and greenhouse gases using UAVs are analyzed. The main methods, measurement tools, and obtained results are reviewed. The advantages, limitations, and prospects of using UAVs for environmental monitoring in urban environment are formulated.