Drones began to be used to detect shipping sulphur emission levels

At the end of April, 2019 Denmark began to use the system of drones for assessment of content of sulfur in exhausts of courts. The system of detection of emissions of sulfur created by request of the European agency on security at the sea (EMSA) is developed in the area of the Great Belt Strait through which large tankers get to the Baltic Sea.

For control of emissions the special UAS Skeldar V-200 UAVs equipped with sensors of sulfuric gas which are capable to measure sulfur content in exhaust gases of the vessel in real time will be used. For this purpose the drone needs to fly at distance 100 meters from the vessel within 5-10 minutes. Data of measurements are reported to relevant organs of Denmark. If it is established that vessels exceeded regulations of the EU on emissions of sulfur at the sea, violation it will be announced in a control system of EMSA ports.

Drones began to be used for shadowing sulfur content in an exhaust of courts

Skeldar V-200 drones are manufactured by Saab company and are single-screw unmanned aerial vehicles weighing 235 kg. They use kerosene in a fuel quality, and the maximum time of their flight is four hours. These drones are capable to fly at distance up to 50 km outside direct visibility, however in fact UAVs will operate within 20 km from the base station.

UAVs are also equipped with cameras, thermal imagers and automatic system of identification of courts. The flight trajectory of UAVs can be traced in real time using a data processing center of RPAS EMSA. In the same place such data as the data on run, the photo and video made the drone and also results of measurements will be available.

It is expected that use of unmanned aerial vehicles will increase efficiency of application of the EU directive which limits sulfur emissions by passenger ships. According to new standards, the maximum content of sulfur in exhausts should not exceed 1.5%.^[1]

Notes