Calibration of an Autonomous Instrument for Monitoring Light Pollution from Drones
The paper presents the calibration activity on the imaging system of the MINLU instrument, an autonomous sensor suite designed for monitoring light pollution using commercial off-the-shelf components. The system is extremely compact and with an overall mass below 3 kg can be easily installed as a pa...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-11-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/23/5091 |
| _version_ | 1811262509933395968 |
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| author | Pietro Fiorentin Carlo Bettanini Damiano Bogoni |
| author_facet | Pietro Fiorentin Carlo Bettanini Damiano Bogoni |
| author_sort | Pietro Fiorentin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The paper presents the calibration activity on the imaging system of the MINLU instrument, an autonomous sensor suite designed for monitoring light pollution using commercial off-the-shelf components. The system is extremely compact and with an overall mass below 3 kg can be easily installed as a payload for drones or sounding balloons. Drones and air balloons can in fact play an important role in completing upward light emission measurement from satellites allowing an increased spatial and time resolution from convenient altitudes and positions. The proposed system can efficiently measure the luminous intensity and the spectral power density of on-ground emissions providing a useful tool to identify polluting sources and to quantify upward light flux. The metrological performance of the imaging system has been verified through an extensive laboratory test activity using referenced light sources: the overall uncertainty of the multi-luminance meter has been calculated to be 7% of the reading, while the multi-spectrometer has shown a full width at half maximum (FWHM) equal to 10 nm within the measuring range between 400 nm and 700 nm. When operating at an altitude of 200 m, the system can achieve a horizontal resolution at a ground level of 0.12 m with a wavelength resolution able to identify the different lamp technology of outdoor light sources, including light-emitting diode (LED) lights that are undetected by satellites. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:26:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d627874d25754839a9c62ec3e7d63e43 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:26:49Z |
| publishDate | 2019-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-d627874d25754839a9c62ec3e7d63e432022-12-22T03:19:28ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202019-11-011923509110.3390/s19235091s19235091Calibration of an Autonomous Instrument for Monitoring Light Pollution from DronesPietro Fiorentin0Carlo Bettanini1Damiano Bogoni2Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, 35100 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, 35100 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, 35100 Padova, ItalyThe paper presents the calibration activity on the imaging system of the MINLU instrument, an autonomous sensor suite designed for monitoring light pollution using commercial off-the-shelf components. The system is extremely compact and with an overall mass below 3 kg can be easily installed as a payload for drones or sounding balloons. Drones and air balloons can in fact play an important role in completing upward light emission measurement from satellites allowing an increased spatial and time resolution from convenient altitudes and positions. The proposed system can efficiently measure the luminous intensity and the spectral power density of on-ground emissions providing a useful tool to identify polluting sources and to quantify upward light flux. The metrological performance of the imaging system has been verified through an extensive laboratory test activity using referenced light sources: the overall uncertainty of the multi-luminance meter has been calculated to be 7% of the reading, while the multi-spectrometer has shown a full width at half maximum (FWHM) equal to 10 nm within the measuring range between 400 nm and 700 nm. When operating at an altitude of 200 m, the system can achieve a horizontal resolution at a ground level of 0.12 m with a wavelength resolution able to identify the different lamp technology of outdoor light sources, including light-emitting diode (LED) lights that are undetected by satellites.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/23/5091imaging systemimage luminance measuring devicelight pollutionartificial lightingurban analysisremote sensingphotometryspectral analysisuav |
| spellingShingle | Pietro Fiorentin Carlo Bettanini Damiano Bogoni Calibration of an Autonomous Instrument for Monitoring Light Pollution from Drones Sensors imaging system image luminance measuring device light pollution artificial lighting urban analysis remote sensing photometry spectral analysis uav |
| title | Calibration of an Autonomous Instrument for Monitoring Light Pollution from Drones |
| title_full | Calibration of an Autonomous Instrument for Monitoring Light Pollution from Drones |
| title_fullStr | Calibration of an Autonomous Instrument for Monitoring Light Pollution from Drones |
| title_full_unstemmed | Calibration of an Autonomous Instrument for Monitoring Light Pollution from Drones |
| title_short | Calibration of an Autonomous Instrument for Monitoring Light Pollution from Drones |
| title_sort | calibration of an autonomous instrument for monitoring light pollution from drones |
| topic | imaging system image luminance measuring device light pollution artificial lighting urban analysis remote sensing photometry spectral analysis uav |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/23/5091 |
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