Soil methane emission suppression control using unmanned aircraft vehicle swarm application of biochar mulch - A simulation study

Abstract

In this paper, we present a soil methane emissions suppression approach using swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), by spreading biochar mulch on top of the detected methane emissions area/source. Soil microorganisms can produce methane and release it into the atmosphere causing climate change such as global warming. However, people lack methods to manage soil methane emissions, especially quantification of methane emissions from the soil. Current measurement and suppression of methane methods are often limited due to the maintenance, installation, and calibration requirements of these sensing systems. To overcome these drawbacks, we present a new method called FADE-MAS2D (Fractional Advection Diffusion Mobile Actuator and Sensor) in which swarming UAVs are applied as optimal coverage control actuators to various methane release scenarios (from single to multi-source disturbances) utilizing an anomalous diffusion model with different time, and space fractional orders subject to wind fields. This strategy is based on the premise that methane diffusion can be modeled as an anomalous diffusion equation, and swarming UAVs can be applied to tackle the optimal coverage control issue. To simulate methane diffusion under the wind, we utilize the fractional calculus to solve the anomalous diffusion equation and define wind force with the drag equation. In addition, we integrated emissions control, UAV control efforts, and UAV location error in our cost function. Finally, we evaluated our approach using simulation experiments with methane diffusion and multiple methane emission sources in the time and space domain, respectively. The results show that when α ​= ​0.8 and β ​= ​1.8, the shape and emissions of methane perform well. Furthermore, our approach resulted in great control performance with multiple methane emission sources and different wind velocities and directions.