UAVIA, the driving force in data collection and processing revolution for Industry 4.0, the French National Research Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA), and TotalEnergies the global multi-energy company, announce the success of a first autonomous greenhouse gas quantification campaign in Netherlands in late 2022, at TotalEnergies offshore platforms in the North Sea, based on AUSEA solution.
During a week of operations in October, UAVIA and TotalEnergies performed 16 flights over offshore platforms, using an UAVIA Inside autonomous drone, and validated the following industry disruptive features:
- Physical sampled data (gas concentrations and wind) looped into the drone to allow real-time redirection of the autonomous navigation, leading to the exhaustive collection of data for precise emissions retro modeling,
- Very high frequency data processing on edge, leveraging cloud acceleration offered by the UAVIA architecture, reaching the targeted AUSEA sensor processing high frequency of 24 Hertz,
- Wind data acquisition onboard the drone, and fusion with the sampled data,
- Remote and Real Time monitoring and visualization via the IP communication link available on site.
All processed and raw data were made available in real-time through the secured data processing pipeline of UAVIA Robotics Platform, allowing visualization in 4D (x-y-z-t) of methane and carbon dioxide concentrations, and of wind direction and speed.
In the course of 2023, UAVIA continues its collaboration with TotalEnergies on the AUSEA project with an aim to fly AUSEA sensors on autonomous drones above additional TotalEnergies sites.
“The successful integration of AUSEA methane and Carbon dioxide quantification into UAVIA Robotics Platform reinforces the leader position of TotalEnergies in greenhouse gas emissions accurate quantification and open the path to near-continuous measurement”, said Marie-Noëlle Semeria, Chief Technology Officer of TotalEnergies. “This approach fits with our commitment to moving towards Zero Methane”.
“The complementarity between TotalEnergies, URCA and UAVIA proved ideal”, added Lilian Joly, researcher specialized in environmental science and spectroscopy at University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne. “Embedding the AUSEA sensor on different drones made autonomous and able to process our algorithms by UAVIA Technology, allows to do the measurements campaigns from distance and to visualize the concentrations in real time through UAVIA’s unified interface. It simplifies dramatically the overall process”.
“The AUSEA project is showcasing the performance of UAVIA Technology on a very meaningful and strategic subject in the industry”, says Pierre VILPOUX, CEO of UAVIA. “Our team is fully committed to the success of the project and is proud to deliver a technology to accelerate the upscaling of data acquisition by robots to support key players committed to better quantify methane emissions and reduce them”.
About UAVIA
UAVIA empowers crucial industrial and logistic operators by radically transforming how they use Autonomous Systems such as Drones to obtain and process data. Hardware agnostic, and ultra-performant, our cutting-edge Platform Technology enables remarkable efficiency, real-time transparency, and refreshing simplicity for their operations. Achieving excellence in data acquisition allows UAVIA clients to make a difference in the whole data pipeline while boosting their ability to evolve strategically.
About AUSEA
Since 2017, the global multi-energy company, TotalEnergies, has been working with its partners French National Research Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and University of Reims Champagne Ardenne to develop its drone-mounted methane detection technology, AUSEA (for Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications). AUSEA consists of a miniature dual sensor mounted on a drone, capable of detecting methane and carbon dioxide emissions, while at the same time identifying their source. It has proved more accurate than any other commercially available technology. Measurements can be taken at all types of industrial facility, whether onshore or offshore. It supplements measurements taken using traditional techniques such as infrared cameras, ground sensors and satellites.
About the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne
The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA) is a multidisciplinary university positioned and recognized nationally and internationally. It relies on an interdisciplinary approach around 4 strategic centers of excellence in accordance with the specificities and strategy of its territorial ecosystem around the bioeconomy: a central multidisciplinary center with an international dimension in agro-sciences, environment, biotechnologies and bioeconomy (AEBB) taking into account, in a territory with a strong agricultural and wine-growing economy, the agriculture of the future, the bioeconomy, the ecological transition and the challenges climatic; a health center, carrying scientific niches of excellence and a rich and varied medical and paramedical training offer; a digital and engineering sciences center (SNI) around high-performance computing, industry 4.0, materials and technological transformations; a human and social sciences center (SHS) federated by the creation of a House of Human Sciences.
The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in figures: 27,500 students, more than 120 degrees, 31 research laboratories including 4 CNRS, 1 INSERM, 2 INRAE, 1 INERIS, 1 ANSES, 1 CEA, 15 technical platforms and platforms, 2,500 staff including 850 teacher-researchers, 5th employer in the Champagne region, more than €818 million in economic impact, 20,000 jobs generated, including 10,000 in France, €240 million budget