Denmark to Deploy 'Sniffer Drones' to Monitor Polluting Ships
The Danish EPA has contracted Danish startup Explicit to monitor sulphur compliance from ships. The monitoring will be conducted from the air by sampling exhaust plumes from vessels in waters around Denmark.
The operation will deploy a unique new sniffer technology developed by Explicit for easy-mount on helicopters – and eventually also drones. The objective is to detect and deter violations of the 0.10% ECA restriction on sulphur in the bunker fuel.
Deploying a new, miniaturized measurement system, Danish entrepreneur Explicit has been contracted by the Danish EPA to perform airborne surveillance of the sulphur restrictions in Danish waters starting from July 2017.
The new Mini Sniffer System is capable of measuring both sulphur and NOX emissions from vessels to determine their compliance, and is small enough to be carried on a drone without compromising quality or reliability. Initial however, the technology will be deployed on a manned helicopter, but with the prospect of phasing in drones as a supplement in the future.
"The manned helicopter is an extremely efficient tool for this purpose, both because of the speed with which it can cover large areas and many ships, but also because of its maneuverability in the plume. This is key. Our demonstrations have shown that the ability to navigate in the plume is absolutely critical to getting good airborne measurement results. You can achieve the same with rotary drones, but the manned helicopter currently has a much larger operational capacity,” says Jon Knudsen, spokesman for the company.
