Next Generation Gas Emission Monitoring System

During drilling or production operations, poisonous, highly flammable hazardous gases can be released into the environment. A next-generation gas emission monitoring system monitors gas leaks and can help the oil and gas industry improve workplace safety. The initial design, architecture, and development of a real-time monitoring and surveillance system consisting of drones capable of performing autonomous aerial inspections is discussed. This system monitors and reports the spatiotemporal evolution of hazardous gas clouds, such as H2S, CH4, and CO2, in the oil and gas facilities in real time and provides necessary actions for a safe operation. The proposed monitoring system is compared to the traditional monitoring approach where sensors are placed near the ground. This work is a significant improvement from the authors’ previous work leveraging state-of-the-art machine learning technologies to create smart drones capable of making intelligent decisions involving gas leak monitoring.