“Lac Saint-Charles, located north of Quebec City, will be the playground of the Laboratory for Environmental Remote Sensing by Drone, directed by Professor Karem Chokmani. The team from the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS) will test the 7th prototype of a drone equipped with a sampler. Sampling campaigns are carried out in partnership with the conservation organization Agiro (https://agiro.org/) and DroneXperts, a center of expertise that professionalizes the integration of drones using robotics and artificial intelligence , particularly in the environmental technologies sector in Canada and internationally. »
Improvements by iterations
INRS and DroneXperts are working together to make the necessary changes and adjustments for the proper functioning of the project, but also to achieve the objectives we have set ourselves :
Offer a sampling solution adapted to the greatest number of research centers and universities for credible study results ;
Allow companies that offer or want to offer this sampling service to use an innovative solution adapted to their needs to increase their competitiveness in Canada and internationally.
This project makes it possible to highlight the advantages of using drones for surface water sampling: saving travel time in the areas, reducing risks, reducing costs and of course respecting the environment.
Some possible applications are surface water monitoring, freshwater reservoirs, streams, pit lakes, beach bathing water quality monitoring and environmental monitoring (parameters biological and physicochemical).
Test success
“Tests, carried out at Lake Saint-Charles in December 2020, were a success. Professor Chokmani’s team and DroneXperts therefore decided to put their device to the test again, with even more intensive use. During the next summer period, they are planning, among other things, a sampling campaign to map water quality. They thus wish to demonstrate the capacity and usefulness of the drone in real conditions. »
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