The dust vectoriser is a steel powder-coated box with an internal conductive aluminium sensor-mesh incineration panel (fuelled by a refillable gas canister). It is best positioned high up above the roadway, where it performs size and shape measurements on pieces of dust which are drawn to its statically-charged sensor surface. As material builds up, it short-circuits the mesh, which triggers a dramatic 'reset' sequence: an undercarriage-door-like mechanism seals closed the box and the dust pieces inside are incinerated by an intense flash of heat. Anything remaining – usually a few charred brittle lumps – are ejected from the device. Small piles of this cooked ejected material collect underneath the dust vectoriser at the roadside until they are washed away – their previous shapes held in the device's memory for later transmission.
