Develop Drone Pollution Sensor Pod
Budget: £1,500 – £3,000 GBP
I want to fly a DJI Mini-class drone while streaming real-time air-quality data straight into my cloud dashboard. The brief is to design and hand over a fully working sensor pod that weighs no more than 200 g, fastens securely to the drone, and works right out of the box.
Core functions
• Continuous measurement of PM2.5, PM10, NO₂, CO and CO₂ with pre-calibrated sensors so I can avoid lab-grade calibration routines.
• Every reading must be stamped with GPS coordinates, altitude and an accurate UTC timestamp.
• A 4G LTE modem has to push a JSON payload to my REST endpoint every 1–2 s; if coverage drops, data should buffer on an onboard SD card and auto-sync when the link returns.
• The pod should run from its own lightweight rechargeable battery—no taps into the drone’s power rail—and stay alive for the typical 30-minute flight plus margin.
• The enclosure needs practical water- and dust-resistance (think light rain, urban dust).
Deliverables I expect
1. A flight-ready physical unit under 200 g, complete with enclosure, sensors, GPS, LTE, battery and SD storage.
2. Clean, well-commented Python code that handles sensor reads, time/GPS tagging, LTE posting, local logging and reconnection logic.
3. A concise wiring diagram, parts list and step-by-step assembly notes so I can make or repair additional pods.
4. Basic calibration and functional check instructions for each sensor.
Acceptance will come after I bolt the pod onto my drone, see live data flowing to the API for a full battery cycle, and confirm the SD fallback log matches the cloud feed once connectivity is restored.
Core functions
• Continuous measurement of PM2.5, PM10, NO₂, CO and CO₂ with pre-calibrated sensors so I can avoid lab-grade calibration routines.
• Every reading must be stamped with GPS coordinates, altitude and an accurate UTC timestamp.
• A 4G LTE modem has to push a JSON payload to my REST endpoint every 1–2 s; if coverage drops, data should buffer on an onboard SD card and auto-sync when the link returns.
• The pod should run from its own lightweight rechargeable battery—no taps into the drone’s power rail—and stay alive for the typical 30-minute flight plus margin.
• The enclosure needs practical water- and dust-resistance (think light rain, urban dust).
Deliverables I expect
1. A flight-ready physical unit under 200 g, complete with enclosure, sensors, GPS, LTE, battery and SD storage.
2. Clean, well-commented Python code that handles sensor reads, time/GPS tagging, LTE posting, local logging and reconnection logic.
3. A concise wiring diagram, parts list and step-by-step assembly notes so I can make or repair additional pods.
4. Basic calibration and functional check instructions for each sensor.
Acceptance will come after I bolt the pod onto my drone, see live data flowing to the API for a full battery cycle, and confirm the SD fallback log matches the cloud feed once connectivity is restored.