China has recently deployed unmanneddrones to detect the levels of air pollution in northern areas of the country, to aid an inspection on the enforcement of environmental protection laws, according to a statement from the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection.

To keep to the task of combating pollution, the government has decided to use emission-detecting drones, which work by using infrared cameras to detect illegal levels of pollution being emitted by factories.

The government hired a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corp. of China to design and build the drones which are able to detect fine pollutants from the air using infrared cameras. The drones have the ability to fly over 2,000 km for about 20 hours or more, which was the flight duration recently used on excursions in Hebei and Shanxi, provinces heavily polluted by city smog and coal mining emissions.

According to the China Daily, the drones used earlier in the year to freeze and kill off PM2.5 particulates in the air helped the ministry discover and resolve over 200 environment-linked cases and the ministry is in the process of carrying out more inspections in other areas.

Ever since Premier Li Keqiang declared a "war on pollution" inBeijingearlier this year, more and more dedicated measures to bring cleaner air to China are taking shape. The premier also stated that the government would target pollution at the source by focusing on industrial factories and energy producers.

"You can easily tell from the color of the smoke - black, purple and brown - that the pollution is over the limit, because if smokestack scrubbers are operating properly, only white smoke is emitted," said Yang Yipeng, a ministry official, in an interview with the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

"It was very difficult for the law enforcers to collect evidence of violations when they make inspection trips outside Beijing, because locals easily recognize them and polluting factories swiftly suspend production, leaving few traces," said Yang. "The drones, on the contrary, can catch them off guard as few people notice their existence."

Throughout 2013, more than 15 percent of the Chinese mainland was affected by heavy smog. The government has been getting criticism from the citizens on social network sites such as Weibo, complaining about the lack of action in dealing with the ever-present smog.

The ministry said the use of drones was "approved and greatly supported" by the country's aviation departments.

"Different types of drones were used for checking various regions and enterprises, and infrared camera technology was employed to realize around-the-clock inspection," said the statement from the ministry, citing experts.

Some of the largest industrial cities in north China have been caught emitting illegal emissions. And now, with drones equipped with thermal infrared cameras hovering over these cities in the evening and over the weekend, there really is no place to hide. Environmental protection departments will have to be extra careful when checking the data gathered by the drones, before they try and bring down the violators of the law. Chinese environmental experts have estimated that the country's air pollution will drop to a safe level by 2030. 

Tech bytes

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