Our driving vision is to design, develop the fundamental underpinnings, and deploy ASTRO, a platform for 3-D data-driven mobile sensing via networked drones. ASTRO will realize a diverse set of sensing capabilities including (i) high-resolution distributed mobile spectroscopy gas sensing to identify, localize, and track health and environmental hazards in real-time and (ii) automated mobile radio-frequency spectrum analysis and usage via distributed diverse-spectrum virtual arrays. We target proof-of-concept demonstrations and extensive experiments in the neighborhood surrounding our already deployed tower and wireless network at Technology For All (TFA) headquarters, in Houston, Texas. Today, the TFA wireless network serves 1000’s of community members in several square kilometers in Houston’s East End via a mix of commercial Wi-Fi and software defined radios. The deployment site is a low-income and under-resourced urban neighborhood that is in close proximity to industrial processing plants, chemical refineries, and other sources of airborne pollutants. Unfortunately, events ranging from small scale leaks to accidents and explosions can lead to concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that are hazardous to human health and the environment.

To realize this vision of transformative networked sensing capabilities our goals are to:

develop the ASTRO drone and network architecture, including the hardware and software architecture, command and control center, on-board high-resolution gas sensors, and communication network.

develop the underlying principles and methodologies for data-driven mobile missions via drone networks. We employ lightweight machine learning methods to develop realtime distributed autonomous sensing with environmental and health objectives.

deploy ASTRO in Houston’s East End with TFA as a home base, and perform an extensive set of tests and missions.