SkyBeam: Laser-based methane sensing payload for UAV deployment

Methane monitoring needs sensing that is portable, accurate, and deployable over large areas without heavy infrastructure. I proposed and led the spectroscopy direction of a UAV-mounted methane sensor, aiming for a field-deployable payload that can detect methane and stream results in real time.

I designed the optical measurement setup for laser absorption spectroscopy, guided the team technically on spectroscopy theory and implementation, and connected the team to lab resources and expert support. I ran the spectroscopy experiments and validation, troubleshot the sensing pipeline, and designed and fabricated key mechanical components (CAD + 3D printing) for packaging and integration.

The prototype demonstrated methane detection down to 100 ppm in lab testing. On the system side, we validated telemetry at roughly 1 km and built an integrated embedded pipeline (DAQ + compute + comms) suitable for UAV deployment.

Keywords: laser absorption spectroscopy, embedded DAQ, UAV payload, LoRa telemetry