It is estimated that smog kills more than 47,000 people each year in Poland alone. Smog levels increase in winters mostly due to burning of solid fuels for residential heating.  On some winter days, a grey haze obscures the lights of the Polish cities skyscrapers and the air smells like burning plastic.

Millions of Poles heat their homes with low-quality coal, scrap pieces of wood, and even garbage releasing not only smog but also dangerous chemicals. An act that is illegal under the new polish law.

Katowice city in southern Poland, with a population of 297,197 is a large coal and steel center in Poland and one of the top polluted cities in Europe.

In Katowice, the city police began fighting polluters using Scentroid DR1000 Flying lab. While DR1000 can be configured to detect 100s of pollutants, for this application Particulate PM1-10, Ethanol, Formaldehyde, Ammonia, and Hydrogen Chloride are monitored.

These chemicals provide evidence of burning of low quality coal, scrap wood pieces, or even garbage.

Police’s special units deploy the drone in residential neighborhoods, monitoring for elevated levels of pollutants. The can cover a large area and if pollutants are found, it is directed to take readings from specific chimneys.
All readings are displayed live to the operator as well as the central station where police inspectors can be dispatched for further investigation or to issue additional fines.

The DR1000 is also used to grab a sample from the smoke stack to be sent to a laboratory as further evidence if needed.

Scentroid DR1000 Flying Laboratory

The Scentroid DR1000 Flying laboratory equipped with 5 sensors is used for fast inspections and continuous monitoring of multiple chemicals.

All you need to do is to fly the drone up to the stack height, and full information including all sensors reading, humidity, temperature and GPS position will be sent to the ground station and the cloud-based monitoring software automatically.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further information, please email us at:  info[at] scentroid.com