Drones are currently used to monitor many different kinds of environmental concerns around the planet. Things like melting glaciers, forests, and herds of animals have benefited from the use of drone technology in recent years. Now, a team of scientists have begun to use drones to monitor light pollution. It is currently estimated that more than one-third of the Earth’s population can’t clearly see the night sky because of light pollution. A team from Nottingham Trent, in the UK, have developed a drone-based system to do the job instead. Each drone is equipped with a Sky Quality Monitoring (SQM) device, which is capable of operating itself and maps the sky with minimal input from humans, saving time and labor. The system consists of a micro controller that captures data onto an on-board SD card. This data can then be analyzed to understand how and where light pollution is occurring around the globe.
To learn more about the use of drones to combat light pollution, click here.
