The 'little-RAVEN' drone (Remote-controlled Aircraft for Volcanic EmissioN analysis) has been developed by professor Thorsten Hoffman and a team from the Jonannes Gutenberg University Mainz as a way to track volcano activity. The drone is built on a DJI Mavic 3 and is equipped with with an ESP32 microcontroller/WiFi module along with miniaturized sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide sensors, a GPS module, a small air sampling pump and a flash memory drive. Each of the additional devices is powered by a 1,300mAh battery separate from the one used to power the drone to make it perfect for capturing ample data from volcanic locations.
The 'little-RAVEN' drone weighs in at just 2.7-pounds and was successful tested this past April on the Vulcano island in Italy.
Customized Volcano-Monitoring Drones
The 'little-RAVEN' Drone is Built on a DJI Mavic 3
Trend Themes
1. Volcano-tracking Drones - Disruptive innovation opportunities for drone manufacturers, geological survey companies, and environmental monitoring agencies to develop more precise and advanced drone technology for volcano monitoring.
2. Miniaturized Environmental Sensors - Disruptive innovation opportunities for sensor manufacturers, environmental monitoring agencies, and drone developers to create even smaller sensors to improve the precision of data collected by volcano-monitoring drones.
3. Drone-powered Geological Surveys - Disruptive innovation opportunities for geological survey companies and drone manufacturers to develop drone technology that can be used for geological surveys, making data collection more efficient and accurate.
Industry Implications
1. Drone Manufacturing - Opportunity for drone manufacturers to create specialized drones for volcano monitoring and environmental research.
2. Geological Surveying - Opportunity for geological survey companies to improve their data collection accuracy and efficiency through the use of drone technology.
3. Environmental Monitoring - Opportunity for environmental monitoring agencies to improve their research and data collection through the use of drone technology and miniaturized sensors.