SBIR-STTR Award

Over the past decade drones also referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as novel versatile adaptable and flexible capable of monitoring and assessing the natural environment. Drones equipped with chemical sensors are emerging as valuable tools for monitoring air quality. However current drone-based technology for water monitoring is still limited with water sampling and detection based on photos taken by drone. To our knowledge there is no commercial drone-based sensing system on the market to collect in-situ hydro- chemical data from water due to the limited payload and power consumption on drones. Intelligent Optical Systems Inc. (IOS) proposes to develop a robust flexible and reliable drone- mounted sensing system that can remotely access a water body thus dramatically reducing the cost of monitoring. In addition the system enables real-time monitoring over large areas. Real- time monitoring at lower cost will allow newer remarkably more effective monitoring and mitigation strategies in agricultural water management.