Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and Particle Measurements within Cities using a Multi-Rotor Uncrewed Aerial System

Recent urban development trends have increased focus on air quality, drawing significant attention from the public, media, and policymakers. Key pollutants such as particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) - primarily emitted by vehicles, energy production, and heating - pose substantial health risks. To address this, the EU has implemented several strategies, including driving bans, speed limits, and green space enhancements. Despite these efforts, the effectiveness of pollution assessments using conventional monitoring stations, which are sparse and limited, has been a topic of extensive debate in public and scientific forums.
Moreover, establishing an extensive sensor network throughout a city presents financial and logistical challenges, including high costs, intensive maintenance, and competition for public space. To circumvent these issues and bolster public support for pollution control, an innovative approach involving small, affordable unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) has been developed. This partnership, backed by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport and involving select municipalities, focuses particularly on enhancing NO2 measurement precision.
The system utilizes cutting-edge, high-precision NO2 sensors mounted on drones to collect accurate and flexible data on nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. This methodology, supported by recent guidelines on pollutant dispersion using UAS, enables targeted measurement campaigns both before and after the implementation of pollution reduction measures. By deploying these drones, comprehensive datasets covering particulate and gas concentrations alongside meteorological conditions can be obtained across various locations. The data are then analyzed to evaluate the efficacy of the implemented pollution control measures, thus providing a novel, high-resolution approach in NO2 measurements on a vertical scale to urban air quality management.