Drone versus the volcano: UK team feels the heat

The summit of Volcán de Fuego

The team collected data from both Volcán de Fuego and Volcán de Pacaya using fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Equipped with a suite of lightweight sensors, the drones were able to measure temperature, humidity and thermal data within the volcanic clouds, as well as capture images of eruptions in real-time.

The UAVs were flown beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) at distances of up to 8km, and 10,000 feet above the launch site. This allowed data collection from the summit of Fuego, where access by foot is extremely tricky due to the volcano’s steep sides. The research builds on work carried out by Bristol on Ascension Island, which won the Energy, Efficiency & Sustainability prize at The Engineer’s Collaborate to Innovate awards in 2016.

"Building on our award winning work on Ascension Island, the team carried out multiple beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights from the observatory flying up to 10,000 feet above the launch site to reach the summit of Volcán de Fuego,” said Dr Tom Richardson, senior lecturer in Flight Dynamics at Bristol’s Department of Aerospace Engineering.