Heath Consultants Receives ARPA-E Grant to Develop and Demonstrate Methane Monitoring Drone

Heath Consultants Incorporated (Heath), in collaboration with Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), Thorlabs, Princeton University and University of Houston, has been selected by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop and demonstrate the RMLD™ Sentry for continuously monitoring, locating and quantifying volumetric leak rates of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from natural gas production sites.

To reliably detect and measure methane leakage at low cost, the fully autonomous system combines: a miniaturized version of the industry-leading laser-based Remote Methane Leak Detector (RMLD™); the InstantEye® miniature quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with self-directed flight patterns; mid-infrared lasers; and advanced wind and plume models.  The three-year program will test prototype units at selected field sites.  The RMLD™ Sentry system is intended for widespread deployment to facilitate reducing the environmental impact and cost of natural gas leakage.

Source: http://heathus.com/