Multispectral Remote Sensing of the Earth and Environment Using KHawk Unmanned Aircraft Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gowravaram, Saket

This thesis focuses on the development and testing of the KHawk multispectral remote sensing system for environmental and agricultural applications. KHawk Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), a small and low-cost remote sensing platform, is used as the test bed for aerial video acquisition. An efficient image geotagging and photogrammetric procedure for aerial map generation is described, followed by a comprehensive error analysis on the generated maps. The developed procedure is also used for generation of multispectral aerial maps including red, near infrared (NIR) and colored infrared (CIR) maps. A robust Normalized Difference Vegetation index (NDVI) calibration procedure is proposed and validated by ground tests and KHawk flight test. Finally, the generated aerial maps and their corresponding Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are used for typical application scenarios including prescribed fire monitoring, initial fire line estimation, and tree health monitoring.

Research on the Application of Rapid Surveying and Mapping for Large Scare Topographic Map by Uav Aerial Photography System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Z.; Song, Y.; Li, C.; Zeng, F.; Wang, F.

2017-08-01

Rapid acquisition and processing method of large scale topographic map data, which relies on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) low-altitude aerial photogrammetry system, is studied in this paper, elaborating the main work flow. Key technologies of UAV photograph mapping is also studied, developing a rapid mapping system based on electronic plate mapping system, thus changing the traditional mapping mode and greatly improving the efficiency of the mapping. Production test and achievement precision evaluation of Digital Orth photo Map (DOM), Digital Line Graphic (DLG) and other digital production were carried out combined with the city basic topographic map update project, which provides a new techniques for large scale rapid surveying and has obvious technical advantage and good application prospect.

[Small unmanned aerial vehicles for low-altitude remote sensing and its application progress in ecology.

PubMed

Sun, Zhong Yu; Chen, Yan Qiao; Yang, Long; Tang, Guang Liang; Yuan, Shao Xiong; Lin, Zhi Wen

2017-02-01

Low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) remote sensing system overcomes the deficiencies of space and aerial remote sensing system in resolution, revisit period, cloud cover and cost, which provides a novel method for ecological research on mesoscale. This study introduced the composition of UAV remote sensing system, reviewed its applications in species, population, community and ecosystem ecology research. Challenges and opportunities of UAV ecology were identified to direct future research. The promising research area of UAV ecology includes the establishment of species morphology and spectral characteristic data base, species automatic identification, the revelation of relationship between spectral index and plant physiological processes, three-dimension monitoring of ecosystem, and the integration of remote sensing data from multi resources and multi scales. With the development of UAV platform, data transformation and sensors, UAV remote sensing technology will have wide application in ecology research.

A low-cost dual-camera imaging system for aerial applicators

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agricultural aircraft provide a readily available remote sensing platform as low-cost and easy-to-use consumer-grade cameras are being increasingly used for aerial imaging. In this article, we report on a dual-camera imaging system we recently assembled that can capture RGB and near-infrared (NIR) i...

Get the Picture?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Positive Systems has worked in conjunction with Stennis Space Center to design the ADAR System 5500. This is a four-band airborne digital imaging system used to capture multispectral imagery similar to that available from satellite platforms such as Landsat, SPOT and the new generation of high resolution satellites. Positive Systems has provided remote sensing services for the development of digital aerial camera systems and software for commercial aerial imaging applications.

Aerial image databases for pipeline rights-of-way management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jadkowski, Mark A.

1996-03-01

Pipeline companies that own and manage extensive rights-of-way corridors are faced with ever-increasing regulatory pressures, operating issues, and the need to remain competitive in today's marketplace. Automation has long been an answer to the problem of having to do more work with less people, and Automated Mapping/Facilities Management/Geographic Information Systems (AM/FM/GIS) solutions have been implemented at several pipeline companies. Until recently, the ability to cost-effectively acquire and incorporate up-to-date aerial imagery into these computerized systems has been out of the reach of most users. NASA's Earth Observations Commercial Applications Program (EOCAP) is providing a means by which pipeline companies can bridge this gap. The EOCAP project described in this paper includes a unique partnership with NASA and James W. Sewall Company to develop an aircraft-mounted digital camera system and a ground-based computer system to geometrically correct and efficiently store and handle the digital aerial images in an AM/FM/GIS environment. This paper provides a synopsis of the project, including details on (1) the need for aerial imagery, (2) NASA's interest and role in the project, (3) the design of a Digital Aerial Rights-of-Way Monitoring System, (4) image georeferencing strategies for pipeline applications, and (5) commercialization of the EOCAP technology through a prototype project at Algonquin Gas Transmission Company which operates major gas pipelines in New England, New York, and New Jersey.

3D display considerations for rugged airborne environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnidge, Tracy J.; Tchon, Joseph L.

2015-05-01

The KC-46 is the next generation, multi-role, aerial refueling tanker aircraft being developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force. Rockwell Collins has developed the Remote Vision System (RVS) that supports aerial refueling operations under a variety of conditions. The system utilizes large-area, high-resolution 3D displays linked with remote sensors to enhance the operator's visual acuity for precise aerial refueling control. This paper reviews the design considerations, trade-offs, and other factors related to the selection and ruggedization of the 3D display technology for this military application.

Major new thrust for MEMS engines.

PubMed

Wilson, J R

2003-02-01

The application of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to space flight is reviewed. The applications include use as microthrusters on mini-size and smaller satellites, in missile defense systems, and as propulsion systems for miniature unmanned aerial vehicles.

Aerial applications dispersal systems control requirements study. [agriculture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauchspies, J. S.; Cleary, W. L.; Rogers, W. F.; Simpson, W.; Sanders, G. S.

1980-01-01

Performance deficiencies in aerial liquid and dry dispersal systems are identified. Five control system concepts are explored: (1) end of field on/off control; (2) manual control of particle size and application rate from the aircraft; (3) manual control of deposit rate on the field; (4) automatic alarm and shut-off control; and (5) fully automatic control. Operational aspects of the concepts and specifications for improved control configurations are discussed in detail. A research plan to provide the technology needed to develop the proposed improvements is presented along with a flight program to verify the benefits achieved.

A Camera-Based Target Detection and Positioning UAV System for Search and Rescue (SAR) Purposes

PubMed Central

Sun, Jingxuan; Li, Boyang; Jiang, Yifan; Wen, Chih-yung

2016-01-01

Wilderness search and rescue entails performing a wide-range of work in complex environments and large regions. Given the concerns inherent in large regions due to limited rescue distribution, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based frameworks are a promising platform for providing aerial imaging. In recent years, technological advances in areas such as micro-technology, sensors and navigation have influenced the various applications of UAVs. In this study, an all-in-one camera-based target detection and positioning system is developed and integrated into a fully autonomous fixed-wing UAV. The system presented in this paper is capable of on-board, real-time target identification, post-target identification and location and aerial image collection for further mapping applications. Its performance is examined using several simulated search and rescue missions, and the test results demonstrate its reliability and efficiency. PMID:27792156

A Camera-Based Target Detection and Positioning UAV System for Search and Rescue (SAR) Purposes.

PubMed

Sun, Jingxuan; Li, Boyang; Jiang, Yifan; Wen, Chih-Yung

2016-10-25

Wilderness search and rescue entails performing a wide-range of work in complex environments and large regions. Given the concerns inherent in large regions due to limited rescue distribution, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based frameworks are a promising platform for providing aerial imaging. In recent years, technological advances in areas such as micro-technology, sensors and navigation have influenced the various applications of UAVs. In this study, an all-in-one camera-based target detection and positioning system is developed and integrated into a fully autonomous fixed-wing UAV. The system presented in this paper is capable of on-board, real-time target identification, post-target identification and location and aerial image collection for further mapping applications. Its performance is examined using several simulated search and rescue missions, and the test results demonstrate its reliability and efficiency.

Application of Adaptive Autopilot Designs for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shin, Yoonghyun; Calise, Anthony J.; Motter, Mark A.

2005-01-01

This paper summarizes the application of two adaptive approaches to autopilot design, and presents an evaluation and comparison of the two approaches in simulation for an unmanned aerial vehicle. One approach employs two-stage dynamic inversion and the other employs feedback dynamic inversions based on a command augmentation system. Both are augmented with neural network based adaptive elements. The approaches permit adaptation to both parametric uncertainty and unmodeled dynamics, and incorporate a method that permits adaptation during periods of control saturation. Simulation results for an FQM-117B radio controlled miniature aerial vehicle are presented to illustrate the performance of the neural network based adaptation.

Spectral anomaly methods for aerial detection using KUT nuisance rejection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Detwiler, R. S.; Pfund, D. M.; Myjak, M. J.; Kulisek, J. A.; Seifert, C. E.

2015-06-01

This work discusses the application and optimization of a spectral anomaly method for the real-time detection of gamma radiation sources from an aerial helicopter platform. Aerial detection presents several key challenges over ground-based detection. For one, larger and more rapid background fluctuations are typical due to higher speeds, larger field of view, and geographically induced background changes. As well, the possible large altitude or stand-off distance variations cause significant steps in background count rate as well as spectral changes due to increased gamma-ray scatter with detection at higher altitudes. The work here details the adaptation and optimization of the PNNL-developed algorithm Nuisance-Rejecting Spectral Comparison Ratios for Anomaly Detection (NSCRAD), a spectral anomaly method previously developed for ground-based applications, for an aerial platform. The algorithm has been optimized for two multi-detector systems; a NaI(Tl)-detector-based system and a CsI detector array. The optimization here details the adaptation of the spectral windows for a particular set of target sources to aerial detection and the tailoring for the specific detectors. As well, the methodology and results for background rejection methods optimized for the aerial gamma-ray detection using Potassium, Uranium and Thorium (KUT) nuisance rejection are shown. Results indicate that use of a realistic KUT nuisance rejection may eliminate metric rises due to background magnitude and spectral steps encountered in aerial detection due to altitude changes and geographically induced steps such as at land-water interfaces.

A study of methods for lowering aerial environmental survey cost

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stansberry, J. R.

1973-01-01

The results are presented of a study of methods for lowering the cost of environmental aerial surveys. A wide range of low cost techniques were investigated for possible application to current pressing urban and rural problems. The objective of the study is to establish a definition of the technical problems associated with conducting aerial surveys using various low cost techniques, to conduct a survey of equipment which may be used in low cost systems, and to establish preliminary estimates of cost. A set of candidate systems were selected and described for the environmental survey tasks.

Rangeland resource assessment, monitoring, and management using unmanned aerial vehicle-based remote sensing

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Civilian applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have rapidly been expanding recently. Thanks to military development many civil UAVs come via the defense sector. Although numerous UAVs can perform civilian tasks, the regulations imposed by FAA in the national airspace system and military e...

System Analysis Applied to Autonomy: Application to High-Altitude Long-Endurance Remotely Operated Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, Larry A.; Yetter, Jeffrey A.; Guynn, Mark D.

2006-01-01

Maturation of intelligent systems technologies and their incorporation into aerial platforms are dictating the development of new analysis tools and incorporation of such tools into existing system analysis methodologies in order to fully capture the trade-offs of autonomy on vehicle and mission success. A first-order "system analysis of autonomy" methodology is outlined in this paper. Further, this analysis methodology is subsequently applied to notional high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aerial vehicle missions.

An Obstacle Alerting System for Agricultural Application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeMaio, Joe

2003-01-01

Wire strikes are a significant cause of helicopter accidents. The aircraft most at risk are aerial applicators. The present study examines the effectiveness of a wire alert delivered by way of the lightbar, a GPS-based guidance system for aerial application. The alert lead-time needed to avoid an invisible wire is compared with that to avoid a visible wire. A flight simulator was configured to simulate an agricultural application helicopter. Two pilots flew simulated spray runs in fields with visible wires, invisible wires, and no wires. The wire alert was effective in reducing wire strikes. A lead-time of 3.5 sec was required for the alert to be effective. The lead- time required was the same whether the pilot could see the wire or not.

Integration of aerial imaging and variable-rate technology for site-specific aerial herbicide application

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

As remote sensing and variable rate technology are becoming more available for aerial applicators, practical methodologies on effective integration of these technologies are needed for site-specific aerial applications of crop production and protection materials. The objectives of this study were to...

Biologically Inspired Micro-Flight Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raney, David L.; Waszak, Martin R.

2003-01-01

Natural fliers demonstrate a diverse array of flight capabilities, many of which are poorly understood. NASA has established a research project to explore and exploit flight technologies inspired by biological systems. One part of this project focuses on dynamic modeling and control of micro aerial vehicles that incorporate flexible wing structures inspired by natural fliers such as insects, hummingbirds and bats. With a vast number of potential civil and military applications, micro aerial vehicles represent an emerging sector of the aerospace market. This paper describes an ongoing research activity in which mechanization and control concepts for biologically inspired micro aerial vehicles are being explored. Research activities focusing on a flexible fixed- wing micro aerial vehicle design and a flapping-based micro aerial vehicle concept are presented.

The Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL) 2002 Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent D.; Fink, Mary M.; Nickerson, Jocelyn S.

2002-01-01

This report presents and overview of the Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL). It covers the University of Nebraska's areas of research, and its outreach to students at Native American schools as part of AERIAL. The report contains three papers: "Airborne Remote Sensing (ARS) for Agricultural Research and Commercialization Application" (White Paper), "Validated Numerical Models for the Convective Extinction of Fuel Droplets (CEFD)", and "The Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS): Research Collaborations with the NASA Langley Research Center".

CFD Simulation of Aerial Crop Spraying

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omar, Zamri; Qiang, Kua Yong; Mohd, Sofian; Rosly, Nurhayati

2016-11-01

Aerial crop spraying, also known as crop dusting, is made for aerial application of pesticides or fertilizer. An agricultural aircraft which is converted from an aircraft has been built to combine with the aerial crop spraying for the purpose. In recent years, many studies on the aerial crop spraying were conducted because aerial application is the most economical, large and rapid treatment for the crops. The main objective of this research is to study the airflow of aerial crop spraying system using Computational Fluid Dynamics. This paper is focus on the effect of aircraft speed and nozzle orientation on the distribution of spray droplet at a certain height. Successful and accurate of CFD simulation will improve the quality of spray during the real situation and reduce the spray drift. The spray characteristics and efficiency are determined from the calculated results of CFD. Turbulence Model (k-ɛ Model) is used for the airflow in the fluid domain to achieve a more accurate simulation. Furthermore, spray simulation is done by setting the Flat-fan Atomizer Model of Discrete Phase Model (DPM) at the nozzle exit. The interaction of spray from each flat-fan atomizer can also be observed from the simulation. The evaluation of this study is validation and grid dependency study using field data from industry.

Aerial spray technology: possibilities and limitations for control of pear thrips

Treesearch

Karl Mierzejewski

1991-01-01

The feasibility of using aerial application as a means of managing a pear thrips infestation in maple forest stands is examined, based on existing knowledge of forest aerial application acquired from theoretical and empirical studies. Specific strategies by which aerial application should be performed and potential problem areas are discussed. Two new tools, aircraft...

Human Systems Integration and Automation Issues in Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McCauley, Michael E.; Matsangas, Panagiotis

2004-01-01

The goal of this report is to identify Human System Integration (HSI) and automation issues that contribute to improved effectiveness and efficiency in the operation of U.S. military Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (SUAVs). HSI issues relevant to SUAV operations are reviewed and observations from field trials are summarized. Short-term improvements are suggested research issues are identified and an overview is provided of automation technologies applicable to future SUAV design.

Agricultural Aircraft Aid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

Farmers are increasingly turning to aerial applications of pesticides, fertilizers and other materials. Sometimes uneven distribution of the chemicals is caused by worn nozzles, improper alignment of spray nozzles or system leaks. If this happens, job must be redone with added expense to both the pilot and customer. Traditional pattern analysis techniques take days or weeks. Utilizing NASA's wind tunnel and computer validation technology, Dr. Roth, Oklahoma State University (OSU), developed a system for providing answers within minutes. Called the Rapid Distribution Pattern Evaluation System, the OSU system consists of a 100-foot measurement frame tied in to computerized analysis and readout equipment. System is mobile, delivered by trailer to airfields in agricultural areas where OSU conducts educational "fly-ins." A fly-in typically draws 50 to 100 aerial applicators, researchers, chemical suppliers and regulatory officials. An applicator can have his spray pattern checked. A computerized readout, available in five to 12 minutes, provides information for correcting shortcomings in the distribution pattern.

Effects of pesticides aerial applications on rice quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Aerial application of pesticides has become an important research topic in recent years. This research investigated the effects of two types of commercial pesticides on the rice quality under low volume aerial application. It could provide guidance for the pesticide application and choose the right ...

Unmanned Aerial Systems and Spectroscopy for Remote Sensing Applications in Archaeology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Themistocleous, K.; Agapiou, A.; Cuca, B.; Hadjimitsis, D. G.

2015-04-01

Remote sensing has open up new dimensions in archaeological research. Although there has been significant progress in increasing the resolution of space/aerial sensors and image processing, the detection of the crop (and soil marks) formations, which relate to buried archaeological remains, are difficult to detect since these marks may not be visible in the images if observed over different period or at different spatial/spectral resolution. In order to support the improvement of earth observation remote sensing technologies specifically targeting archaeological research, a better understanding of the crop/soil marks formation needs to be studied in detail. In this paper the contribution of both Unmanned Aerial Systems as well ground spectroradiometers is discussed in a variety of examples applied in the eastern Mediterranean region (Cyprus and Greece) as well in Central Europe (Hungary). In- situ spectroradiometric campaigns can be applied for the removal of atmospheric impact to simultaneous satellite overpass images. In addition, as shown in this paper, the systematic collection of ground truth data prior to the satellite/aerial acquisition can be used to detect the optimum temporal and spectral resolution for the detection of stress vegetation related to buried archaeological remains. Moreover, phenological studies of the crops from the area of interest can be simulated to the potential sensors based on their Relative Response Filters and therefore prepare better the satellite-aerial campaigns. Ground data and the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) can provide an increased insight for studying the formation of crop and soil marks. New algorithms such as vegetation indices and linear orthogonal equations for the enhancement of crop marks can be developed based on the specific spectral characteristics of the area. As well, UAS can be used for remote sensing applications in order to document, survey and model cultural heritage and archaeological sites.

Possibilities of Uas for Maritime Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klimkowska, A.; Lee, I.; Choi, K.

2016-06-01

In the last few years, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have become more important and its use for different application is appreciated. At the beginning UAS were used for military purposes. These successful applications initiated interest among researchers to find uses of UAS for civilian purposes, as they are alternative to both manned and satellite systems in acquiring high-resolution remote sensing data at lower cost while long flight duration. As UAS are built from many components such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), sensing payloads, communication systems, ground control stations, recovery and launch equipment, and supporting equipment, knowledge about its functionality and characteristics is crucial for missions. Therefore, finding appropriate configuration of all elements to fulfill requirements of the mission is a very difficult, yet important task. UAS may be used in various maritime applications such as ship detection, red tide detection and monitoring, border patrol, tracking of pollution at sea and hurricane monitoring just to mention few. One of the greatest advantages of UAV is their ability to fly over dangerous and hazardous areas, where sending manned aircraft could be risky for a crew. In this article brief description of aerial unmanned system components is introduced. Firstly characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles are presented, it continues with introducing inertial navigation system, communication systems, sensing payloads, ground control stations, and ground and recovery equipment. Next part introduces some examples of UAS for maritime applications. This is followed by suggestions of key indicators which should be taken into consideration while choosing UAS. Last part talks about configuration schemes of UAVs and sensor payloads suggested for some maritime applications.

APPLICATION OF THE AERIAL PROFILING OF TERRAIN SYSTEM.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cyran, Edward J.

1985-01-01

The U. S. Geological Survey has completed the performance evaluation flight tests of the Aerial Profiling of Terrain System (APTS) and is now performing a series of application tests to determine its effectiveness and efficiency as an earth-science data collection tool. These tests are designed to evaluate the APTS at such tasks as positioning water wells, testing reliability of older maps, measuring elevations of kettle ponds, and profiling stream valleys for flood studies. The results of three application tests in Massachusetts are discussed: positioning water wells and measuring elevations along the Charles River; testing four older 1:24,000-scale quadrangle maps in the Plymouth area; and measuring elevations of several hundred kettle ponds near the Cape Cod Canal.

Application of Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the development of an application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) control. The project was done as part of the requirements for a class in AI at NOVA Southeastearn University and a beginning project at NASA Wallops Flight Facility for a resilient, robust, and intelligent UAV flight control system. A method is outlined which allows a base level application for applying an Artificial Intelligence method, Fuzzy Logic, to aspects of Control Logic for UAV flight. One element of UAV flight, automated altitude hold, has been implemented and preliminary results displayed.

Application of Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Uninhabitated Aerial Vehicle Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2003-01-01

This paper describes the development of an application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) control. The project was done as part of the requirements for a class in AI at NOVA southeastern University and a beginning project at NASA Wallops Flight Facility for a resilient, robust, and intelligent UAV flight control system. A method is outlined which allows a base level application for applying an Artificial Intelligence method, Fuzzy Logic, to aspects of Control Logic for UAV flight. One element of UAV flight, automated altitude hold, has been implemented and preliminary results displayed.

Application of Concurrent Engineering Methods to the Design of an Autonomous Aerial Robot

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-12-01

power within the system, either airborne or at a ground station, was left to the team’s discretion. Data link from the aerial vehicle to the ground...Design Process 1 4 10 0% Conceptual 100% Preliminary 100% Detailed 100% Design Freedom Kowledge About the Design TIME INTO THE DESIGN PROCESS Figure 15...mission planning and control tasks was accomplished. Key system issues regarding power up and component initialization procedures began to be addressed

Spatial Scale Gap Filling Using an Unmanned Aerial System: A Statistical Downscaling Method for Applications in Precision Agriculture.

PubMed

Hassan-Esfahani, Leila; Ebtehaj, Ardeshir M; Torres-Rua, Alfonso; McKee, Mac

2017-09-14

Applications of satellite-borne observations in precision agriculture (PA) are often limited due to the coarse spatial resolution of satellite imagery. This paper uses high-resolution airborne observations to increase the spatial resolution of satellite data for related applications in PA. A new variational downscaling scheme is presented that uses coincident aerial imagery products from "AggieAir", an unmanned aerial system, to increase the spatial resolution of Landsat satellite data. This approach is primarily tested for downscaling individual band Landsat images that can be used to derive normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and surface soil moisture (SSM). Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrate promising capabilities of the downscaling approach enabling effective increase of the spatial resolution of Landsat imageries by orders of 2 to 4. Specifically, the downscaling scheme retrieved the missing high-resolution feature of the imageries and reduced the root mean squared error by 15, 11, and 10 percent in visual, near infrared, and thermal infrared bands, respectively. This metric is reduced by 9% in the derived NDVI and remains negligibly for the soil moisture products.

Spatial Scale Gap Filling Using an Unmanned Aerial System: A Statistical Downscaling Method for Applications in Precision Agriculture

PubMed Central

Hassan-Esfahani, Leila; Ebtehaj, Ardeshir M.; McKee, Mac

2017-01-01

Applications of satellite-borne observations in precision agriculture (PA) are often limited due to the coarse spatial resolution of satellite imagery. This paper uses high-resolution airborne observations to increase the spatial resolution of satellite data for related applications in PA. A new variational downscaling scheme is presented that uses coincident aerial imagery products from “AggieAir”, an unmanned aerial system, to increase the spatial resolution of Landsat satellite data. This approach is primarily tested for downscaling individual band Landsat images that can be used to derive normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and surface soil moisture (SSM). Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrate promising capabilities of the downscaling approach enabling effective increase of the spatial resolution of Landsat imageries by orders of 2 to 4. Specifically, the downscaling scheme retrieved the missing high-resolution feature of the imageries and reduced the root mean squared error by 15, 11, and 10 percent in visual, near infrared, and thermal infrared bands, respectively. This metric is reduced by 9% in the derived NDVI and remains negligibly for the soil moisture products. PMID:28906428

Autonomous aerial observations to extend and complement the Earth Observing System: a science-driven systems-oriented approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandford, Stephen P.; Harrison, F. W.; Langford, John; Johnson, James W.; Qualls, Garry; Emmitt, David; Jones, W. Linwood; Shugart, Herman H., Jr.

2004-12-01

The current Earth observing capability depends primarily on spacecraft missions and ground-based networks to provide the critical on-going observations necessary for improved understanding of the Earth system. Aircraft missions play an important role in process studies but are limited to relatively short-duration flights. Suborbital observations have contributed to global environmental knowledge by providing in-depth, high-resolution observations that space-based and in-situ systems are challenged to provide; however, the limitations of aerial platforms - e.g., limited observing envelope, restrictions associated with crew safety and high cost of operations have restricted the suborbital program to a supporting role. For over a decade, it has been recognized that autonomous aerial observations could potentially be important. Advances in several technologies now enable autonomous aerial observation systems (AAOS) that can provide fundamentally new observational capability for Earth science and applications and thus lead scientists and engineers to rethink how suborbital assets can best contribute to Earth system science. Properly developed and integrated, these technologies will enable new Earth science and operational mission scenarios with long term persistence, higher-spatial and higher-temporal resolution at lower cost than space or ground based approaches. This paper presents the results of a science driven, systems oriented study of broad Earth science measurement needs. These needs identify aerial mission scenarios that complement and extend the current Earth Observing System. These aerial missions are analogous to space missions in their complexity and potential for providing significant data sets for Earth scientists. Mission classes are identified and presented based on science driven measurement needs in atmospheric, ocean and land studies. Also presented is a nominal concept of operations for an AAOS: an innovative set of suborbital assets that complements and augments current and planned space-based observing systems.

Search and Pursuit with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Road Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-01

production volume in each area for use in consumer electronics. Simultaneously, a shift in defense strategy towards unmanned vehicles, particularly...Vöcking. Randomized pursuit-evasion in graphs. Combinatorics, Probability and Computing, 12:225–244, May 2003. [3] AeroVironment Inc. Raven Product Data...Ali and Mubarak Shah. COCOA - tracking in aerial imagery. In SPIE Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance Systems and Applications, 2006

Fuel cell powered small unmanned aerial systems (UASs) for extended endurance flights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Deryn; Jiang, R.; Dunbar, Z.; Grew, Kyle; McClure, J.

2015-05-01

Small unmanned aerial systems (UASs) have been used for military applications and have additional potential for commercial applications [1-4]. For the military, these systems provide valuable intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition (ISRTA) capabilities for units at the infantry, battalion, and company levels. The small UASs are light-weight, manportable, can be hand-launched, and are capable of carrying payloads. Currently, most small UASs are powered by lithium-ion or lithium polymer batteries; however, the flight endurance is usually limited less than two hours and requires frequent battery replacement. Long endurance small UAS flights have been demonstrated through the implementation of a fuel cell system. For instance, a propane fueled solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack has been used to power a small UAS and shown to extend mission flight time. The research and development efforts presented here not only apply to small UASs, but also provide merit to the viability of extending mission operations for other unmanned systems applications.

Performance Analysis of the SIFT Operator for Automatic Feature Extraction and Matching in Photogrammetric Applications.

PubMed

Lingua, Andrea; Marenchino, Davide; Nex, Francesco

2009-01-01

In the photogrammetry field, interest in region detectors, which are widely used in Computer Vision, is quickly increasing due to the availability of new techniques. Images acquired by Mobile Mapping Technology, Oblique Photogrammetric Cameras or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles do not observe normal acquisition conditions. Feature extraction and matching techniques, which are traditionally used in photogrammetry, are usually inefficient for these applications as they are unable to provide reliable results under extreme geometrical conditions (convergent taking geometry, strong affine transformations, etc.) and for bad-textured images. A performance analysis of the SIFT technique in aerial and close-range photogrammetric applications is presented in this paper. The goal is to establish the suitability of the SIFT technique for automatic tie point extraction and approximate DSM (Digital Surface Model) generation. First, the performances of the SIFT operator have been compared with those provided by feature extraction and matching techniques used in photogrammetry. All these techniques have been implemented by the authors and validated on aerial and terrestrial images. Moreover, an auto-adaptive version of the SIFT operator has been developed, in order to improve the performances of the SIFT detector in relation to the texture of the images. The Auto-Adaptive SIFT operator (A(2) SIFT) has been validated on several aerial images, with particular attention to large scale aerial images acquired using mini-UAV systems.

The US Air Force Aerial Spray Unit: a history of large area disease vector control operations, WWII through Katrina.

PubMed

Breidenbaugh, Mark; Haagsma, Karl

2008-01-01

The US Air Force has had a long history of aerial applications of pesticides to fulfill a variety of missions, the most important being the protection of troops through the minimization of arthropod vectors capable of disease transmission. Beginning in World War II, aerial application of pesticides by the military has effectively controlled vector and nuisance pest populations in a variety of environments. Currently, the military aerial spray capability resides in the US Air Force Reserve (USAFR), which operates and maintains C-130 airplanes capable of a variety of missions, including ultra low volume applications for vector and nuisance pests, as well as higher volume aerial applications of herbicides and oil-spill dispersants. The USAFR aerial spray assets are the only such fixed-wing aerial spray assets within the Department of Defense. In addition to troop protection, the USAFR Aerial Spray Unit has participated in a number of humanitarian/relief missions, most recently in the response to the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which heavily damaged the Gulf Coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. This article provides historical background on the Air Force Aerial Spray Unit and describes the operations in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM): Enabling Low-Altitude Airspace and UAS Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kopardekar, Parimal H.

2014-01-01

Many civilian applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have been imagined ranging from remote to congested urban areas, including goods delivery, infrastructure surveillance, agricultural support, and medical services delivery. Further, these UAS will have different equipage and capabilities based on considerations such as affordability, and mission needs applications. Such heterogeneous UAS mix, along with operations such as general aviation, helicopters, gliders must be safely accommodated at lower altitudes. However, key infrastructure to enable and safely manage widespread use of low-altitude airspace and UAS operations therein does not exist. Therefore, NASA is exploring functional design, concept and technology development, and a prototype UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system. UTM will support safe and efficient UAS operations for the delivery of goods and services

Airborne remote sensing assessment of the damage to cotton caused by spray drift from aerially applied glyphosate through spray deposition measurements

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Off-target drift of aerially applied glyphosate can cause plant injury, which is of great concern to farmers and aerial applicators. To determine the extent of crop injury due to near-field drift, an experiment was conducted with a single aerial application of glyphosate. For identification of the d...

Unmanned aircraft missions for rangeland remote sensing applications in the US National Airspace

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In recent years, civilian applications of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have increased considerably due to their greater availability and the miniaturization of sensors, GPS, inertial measurement units, and other hardware. UAS are well suited for rangeland remote sensing applications, because of the...

Launch Method for Kites in Low-Wind or No-Wind Conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bland, Geoffrey; Miles, Ted

2012-01-01

Airborne observations using lightweight camera systems are desirable for a variety of applications. This system was contemplated as a method to provide a simple remote sensing aerial platform. Kites have been successfully employed for aerial observations, but have historically required natural wind or towing to become airborne. This new method negates this requirement, and widens the applicability of kites for carrying instrumentation. Applicability is primarily limited by the space available on the ground for launching. The innovation is a method for launching kites in low-wind or no-wind conditions. This method will enable instrumentation to be carried aloft using simple (or complex) kite-based systems, to obtain observations from an aerial perspective. This technique will provide access to altitudes of 100 meters or more over any area normally suited for kite flying. The duration of any observation is dependent on wind strength; however, the initial altitude is relatively independent. The system does not require any electrical or combustion-based elements. This technology was developed to augment local-scale airborne measurement capabilities suitable for Earth science research, agricultural productivity, and environmental observations. The method represents an extension of techniques often used in aeronautical applications for launching fixed-wing aircraft, such as sailplanes, using mechanical means not incorporated in the aircraft itself. The innovation consists of an elastic cord (for propulsive force), a tether extension (optional, for additional height), and the kite (instrumentation optional). Operation of the system is accomplished by fixing the elastic cord to ground (or equivalent), attaching the cord with/or without a tether extension to the kite, tensioning the system to store energy, and releasing the kite. The kite will climb until energy is dissipated.

Positional Accuracy of Airborne Integrated Global Positioning and Inertial Navigation Systems for Mapping in Glen Canyon, Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sanchez, Richard D.; Hothem, Larry D.

2002-01-01

High-resolution airborne and satellite image sensor systems integrated with onboard data collection based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) and inertial navigation systems (INS) may offer a quick and cost-effective way to gather accurate topographic map information without ground control or aerial triangulation. The Applanix Corporation?s Position and Orientation Solutions for Direct Georeferencing of aerial photography was used in this project to examine the positional accuracy of integrated GPS/INS for terrain mapping in Glen Canyon, Arizona. The research application in this study yielded important information on the usefulness and limits of airborne integrated GPS/INS data-capture systems for mapping.

Aerial Radiological Measuring System (ARMS): systems, procedures and sensitivity (1976)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boyns, P K

1976-07-01

This report describes the Aerial Radiological Measuring System (ARMS) designed and operated by EG and G, Inc., for the Energy Research and Development Administration's (ERDA) Division of Operational Safety with the cooperation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Designed to rapidly survey large areas for low-level man-made radiation, the ARMS has also proven extremely useful in locating lost radioactive sources of relatively low activity. The system consists of sodium iodide scintillation detectors, data formatting and recording equipment, positioning equipment, meteorological instruments, direct readout hardware, and data analysis equipment. The instrumentation, operational procedures, data reduction techniques and system sensitivities are described, togethermore » with their applications and sample results.« less

Overall design of imaging spectrometer on-board light aircraft

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhongqi, H.; Zhengkui, C.; Changhua, C.

1996-11-01

Aerial remote sensing is the earliest remote sensing technical system and has gotten rapid development in recent years. The development of aerial remote sensing was dominated by high to medium altitude platform in the past, and now it is characterized by the diversity platform including planes of high-medium-low flying altitude, helicopter, airship, remotely controlled airplane, glider, and balloon. The widely used and rapidly developed platform recently is light aircraft. Early in the close of 1970s, Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology began aerial photography and geophysical survey using light aircraft, and put forward the overall design scheme of light aircraftmore » imaging spectral application system (LAISAS) in 19905. LAISAS is comprised of four subsystem. They are called measuring platform, data acquiring subsystem, ground testing and data processing subsystem respectively. The principal instruments of LAISAS include measuring platform controlled by inertia gyroscope, aerial spectrometer with high spectral resolution, imaging spectrometer, 3-channel scanner, 128-channel imaging spectrometer, GPS, illuminance-meter, and devices for atmospheric parameters measuring, ground testing, data correction and processing. LAISAS has the features of integrity from data acquisition to data processing and to application; of stability which guarantees the image quality and is comprised of measuring, ground testing device, and in-door data correction system; of exemplariness of integrated the technology of GIS, GPS, and Image Processing System; of practicality which embodied LAISAS with flexibility and high ratio of performance to cost. So, it can be used in the fields of fundamental research of Remote Sensing and large-scale mapping for resource exploration, environmental monitoring, calamity prediction, and military purpose.« less

75 FR 74678 - Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland; Colorado and Wyoming...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-01

..., mechanical, biological, and ground and aerial herbicide control methods. ``Invasive species'' are defined as... and aerial application of herbicides, mechanical, biological, and cultural weed treatments. The MBRTB... include analysis of the effects of new herbicides, new invasive plant populations, or aerial application...

Meteorological and Remote Sensing Applications of High Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoenung, S. M.; Wegener, S. S.

1999-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are maturing in performance and becoming available for routine use in environmental applications including weather reconnaissance and remote sensing. This paper presents a discussion of UAV characteristics and unique features compared with other measurement platforms. A summary of potential remote sensing applications is provided, along with details for four types of tropical cyclone missions. Capabilities of platforms developed under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program are reviewed, including the Altus, Perseus, and solar- powered Pathfinder, all of which have flown to over 57,000 ft (17 km). In many scientific missions, the science objectives drive the experimental design, thus defining the sensor payload, aircraft performance, and operational requirements. Some examples of science missions and the requisite UAV / payload system are given. A discussion of technology developments needed to fully mature UAV systems for routine operational use is included, along with remarks on future science and commercial UAV business opportunities.

Demonstration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Use for Traffic Incident Management (UAS-TIM)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-12-01

Previous investigations into technologies that can improve incident response, monitoring, and clearance resulted in the potential application of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) for use in Traffic Incident Management (TIM). An initial investigation of UA...

Semantic Segmentation and Difference Extraction via Time Series Aerial Video Camera and its Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amit, S. N. K.; Saito, S.; Sasaki, S.; Kiyoki, Y.; Aoki, Y.

2015-04-01

Google earth with high-resolution imagery basically takes months to process new images before online updates. It is a time consuming and slow process especially for post-disaster application. The objective of this research is to develop a fast and effective method of updating maps by detecting local differences occurred over different time series; where only region with differences will be updated. In our system, aerial images from Massachusetts's road and building open datasets, Saitama district datasets are used as input images. Semantic segmentation is then applied to input images. Semantic segmentation is a pixel-wise classification of images by implementing deep neural network technique. Deep neural network technique is implemented due to being not only efficient in learning highly discriminative image features such as road, buildings etc., but also partially robust to incomplete and poorly registered target maps. Then, aerial images which contain semantic information are stored as database in 5D world map is set as ground truth images. This system is developed to visualise multimedia data in 5 dimensions; 3 dimensions as spatial dimensions, 1 dimension as temporal dimension, and 1 dimension as degenerated dimensions of semantic and colour combination dimension. Next, ground truth images chosen from database in 5D world map and a new aerial image with same spatial information but different time series are compared via difference extraction method. The map will only update where local changes had occurred. Hence, map updating will be cheaper, faster and more effective especially post-disaster application, by leaving unchanged region and only update changed region.

Modelling and representation issues in automated feature extraction from aerial and satellite images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sowmya, Arcot; Trinder, John

New digital systems for the processing of photogrammetric and remote sensing images have led to new approaches to information extraction for mapping and Geographic Information System (GIS) applications, with the expectation that data can become more readily available at a lower cost and with greater currency. Demands for mapping and GIS data are increasing as well for environmental assessment and monitoring. Hence, researchers from the fields of photogrammetry and remote sensing, as well as computer vision and artificial intelligence, are bringing together their particular skills for automating these tasks of information extraction. The paper will review some of the approaches used in knowledge representation and modelling for machine vision, and give examples of their applications in research for image understanding of aerial and satellite imagery.

Precision aerial application for site-specific rice crop management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Precision agriculture includes different technologies that allow agricultural professional to use information management tools to optimize agriculture production. The new technologies allow aerial application applicators to improve application accuracy and efficiency, which saves time and money for...

Uas for Archaeology - New Perspectives on Aerial Documentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fallavollita, P.; Balsi, M.; Esposito, S.; Melis, M. G.; Milanese, M.; Zappino, L.

2013-08-01

In this work some Unmanned Aerial Systems applications are discussed and applied to archaeological sites survey and 3D model reconstructions. Interesting results are shown for three important and different aged sites on north Sardinia (Italy). An easy and simplified procedure has proposed permitting the adoption of multi-rotor aircrafts for daily archaeological survey during excavation and documentation, involving state of art in UAS design, flight control systems, high definition sensor cameras and innovative photogrammetric software tools. Very high quality 3D models results are shown and discussed and how they have been simplified the archaeologist work and decisions.

Fuel Cells: A Real Option for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Propulsion

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

The possibility of implementing fuel cell technology in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) propulsion systems is considered. Potential advantages of the Proton Exchange Membrane or Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEMFC) and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC), their fuels (hydrogen and methanol), and their storage systems are revised from technical and environmental standpoints. Some operating commercial applications are described. Main constraints for these kinds of fuel cells are analyzed in order to elucidate the viability of future developments. Since the low power density is the main problem of fuel cells, hybridization with electric batteries, necessary in most cases, is also explored. PMID:24600326

Locating waterfowl observations on aerial surveys

USGS Publications Warehouse

Butler, W.I.; Hodges, J.I.; Stehn, R.A.

1995-01-01

We modified standard aerial survey data collection to obtain the geographic location for each waterfowl observation on surveys in Alaska during 1987-1993. Using transect navigation with CPS (global positioning system), data recording on continuously running tapes, and a computer data input program, we located observations with an average deviation along transects of 214 m. The method provided flexibility in survey design and data analysis. Although developed for geese nesting near the coast of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the methods are widely applicable and were used on other waterfowl surveys in Alaska to map distribution and relative abundance of waterfowl. Accurate location data with GIS analysis and display may improve precision and usefulness of data from any aerial transect survey.

Approach for Autonomous Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using Intelligent Agents for Knowledge Creation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the development of a planned approach for Autonomous operation of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A Hybrid approach will seek to provide Knowledge Generation through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Agents (IA) for UAV control. The applications of several different types of AI techniques for flight are explored during this research effort. The research concentration is directed to the application of different AI methods within the UAV arena. By evaluating AI and biological system approaches. which include Expert Systems, Neural Networks. Intelligent Agents, Fuzzy Logic, and Complex Adaptive Systems, a new insight may be gained into the benefits of AI and CAS techniques applied to achieving true autonomous operation of these systems. Although flight systems were explored, the benefits should apply to many Unmanned Vehicles such as: Rovers. Ocean Explorers, Robots, and autonomous operation systems. A portion of the flight system is broken down into control agents that represent the intelligent agent approach used in AI. After the completion of a successful approach, a framework for applying an intelligent agent is presented. The initial results from simulation of a security agent for communication are presented.

Aerial adulticiding for the suppression of Culex tarsalis in Kern County, California, using low-volume propoxur: 1. Selection and evaluation of the application system.

PubMed

Schaefer, C H; Clement, H L; Reisen, W K; Mulligan, F S; Parman, R B; Wilder, W H

1985-06-01

Propoxur applied aerially at 4.7 liters/ha was an effective adulticide against organophosphate resistant Culex tarsalis. Applications by fixed-wing and helicopter underslung spray systems equipped with hydraulic nozzles provided good coverage of test areas as indicated by the mortality patterns of sentinel mosquitoes. However, the propoxur wettable powder in larvicide oil formulation was dispersed in a very broad particle range. The fixed-wing (Ayres Thrush) aircraft treated 260 ha (640 acres) in 45 min and could carry a full load of 1500 liters (400 gal) at temperatures in excess of 38 degrees C. In contrast, the helicopter (Bell UH-1) with an underslung spray system (Simplex Model 6800) required over 2 hrs to treat the same area at lower temperatures and could not carry a full load of 570 liters (150 gal) at temperatures greater than 38 degrees C.

The Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL) 2002 Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent D.; Box, Richard C.; Fink, Mary; Gogos, George; Lehrer, Henry R.; Narayanan, Ram M.; Nickerson, Jocelyn S.; Tarry, Scott E.; Vlasek, Karisa D.; O'Neil, Patrick D.

2002-01-01

The NASA Nebraska Space Grant Consortium (NSGC) & EPSCoR programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha are involved in a variety of innovative research activities. Such research is supported through the Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL) and collaborative seed funds. AERIAL is a comprehensive, multi-faceted, five year NASA EPSCoR initiative that contributes substantially to the strategic research and technology priorities of NASA while intensifying Nebraska s rapidly growing aeronautics research and development endeavors. AERIAL includes three major collaborative research teams (CRTs) whose nexus is a common focus in aeronautics research. Each CRT - Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS), Airborne Remote Sensing for Agricultural Research and Commercialization Applications (ARS), and Numerical Simulation of the Combustion of Fuel Droplets: Finite Rate Kinetics and Flame Zone Grid Adaptation (CEFD) -has a distinct research agenda. This program provides the template for funding of new and innovative research that emphasizes aerospace technology.

Aerial imaging with manned aircraft for precision agriculture

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Over the last two decades, numerous commercial and custom-built airborne imaging systems have been developed and deployed for diverse remote sensing applications, including precision agriculture. More recently, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have emerged as a versatile and cost-effective platform f...

Real-time Accurate Surface Reconstruction Pipeline for Vision Guided Planetary Exploration Using Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Almeida, Eduardo DeBrito

2012-01-01

This report discusses work completed over the summer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology. A system is presented to guide ground or aerial unmanned robots using computer vision. The system performs accurate camera calibration, camera pose refinement and surface extraction from images collected by a camera mounted on the vehicle. The application motivating the research is planetary exploration and the vehicles are typically rovers or unmanned aerial vehicles. The information extracted from imagery is used primarily for navigation, as robot location is the same as the camera location and the surfaces represent the terrain that rovers traverse. The processed information must be very accurate and acquired very fast in order to be useful in practice. The main challenge being addressed by this project is to achieve high estimation accuracy and high computation speed simultaneously, a difficult task due to many technical reasons.

Aerial application equipment for herbicidal drift reduction.

Treesearch

1976-01-01

This publication provides silviculturists and managers of utility rights-of-way with a description and evaluation of available helicopter spray application equipment. Modified conventional equipment will reduce drift of sprays in normal carriers and apply various high-viscosity sprays. Specialized spray systems have found limited use in forestry; they are more commonly...

Design and Development of a Low-Cost Aerial Mobile Mapping System for Multi-Purpose Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acevedo Pardo, C.; Farjas Abadía, M.; Sternberg, H.

2015-08-01

The research project with the working title "Design and development of a low-cost modular Aerial Mobile Mapping System" was formed during the last year as the result from numerous discussions and considerations with colleagues from the HafenCity University Hamburg, Department Geomatics. The aim of the project is to design a sensor platform which can be embedded preferentially on an UAV, but also can be integrated on any adaptable vehicle. The system should perform a direct scanning of surfaces with a laser scanner and supported through sensors for determining the position and attitude of the platform. The modular design allows his extension with other sensors such as multispectral cameras, digital cameras or multiple cameras systems.

Applications systems verification and transfer project. Volume 2: Operational applications of satellite snow-cover observations and data-collection systems in the Arizona test site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schumann, H. H.

1981-01-01

Ground surveys and aerial observations were used to monitor rapidly changing moisture conditions in the Salt-Verde watershed. Repetitive satellite snow cover observations greatly reduce the necessity for routine aerial snow reconnaissance flights over the mountains. High resolution, multispectral imagery provided by LANDSAT satellite series enabled rapid and accurate mapping of snow-cover distributions for small- to medium-sized subwatersheds; however, the imagery provided only one observation every 9 days of about a third of the watershed. Low resolution imagery acquired by the ITOSa dn SMS/GOES meteorological satellite series provides the daily synoptic observation necessary to monitor the rapid changes in snow-covered area in the entire watershed. Short term runoff volumes can be predicted from daily sequential snow cover observations.

Off-the-Wall Project Brings Aerial Mapping down to Earth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidhazy, Andrew

2008-01-01

The technology of aerial photography, photogrametry, has widespread applications in mapping and aerial surveying. A multi-billion-dollar industry, aerial surveying and mapping is "big business" in both civilian and military sectors. While the industry has grown increasingly automated, employment opportunities still exist for people with a basic…

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs, drones) in plant ecology.

PubMed

Cruzan, Mitchell B; Weinstein, Ben G; Grasty, Monica R; Kohrn, Brendan F; Hendrickson, Elizabeth C; Arredondo, Tina M; Thompson, Pamela G

2016-09-01

Low-elevation surveys with small aerial drones (micro-unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) may be used for a wide variety of applications in plant ecology, including mapping vegetation over small- to medium-sized regions. We provide an overview of methods and procedures for conducting surveys and illustrate some of these applications. Aerial images were obtained by flying a small drone along transects over the area of interest. Images were used to create a composite image (orthomosaic) and a digital surface model (DSM). Vegetation classification was conducted manually and using an automated routine. Coverage of an individual species was estimated from aerial images. We created a vegetation map for the entire region from the orthomosaic and DSM, and mapped the density of one species. Comparison of our manual and automated habitat classification confirmed that our mapping methods were accurate. A species with high contrast to the background matrix allowed adequate estimate of its coverage. The example surveys demonstrate that small aerial drones are capable of gathering large amounts of information on the distribution of vegetation and individual species with minimal impact to sensitive habitats. Low-elevation aerial surveys have potential for a wide range of applications in plant ecology.

A small, lightweight multipollutant sensor system for ground-mobile and aerial emission sampling from open area sources

EPA Science Inventory

Characterizing highly dynamic, transient, and vertically lofted emissions from open area sources poses unique measurement challenges. This study developed and applied a multipollutant sensor and integrated sampler system for use on mobile applications including tethered balloons ...

Delayed Monocular SLAM Approach Applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

PubMed

Munguia, Rodrigo; Urzua, Sarquis; Grau, Antoni

2016-01-01

In recent years, many researchers have addressed the issue of making Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) more and more autonomous. In this context, the state estimation of the vehicle position is a fundamental necessity for any application involving autonomy. However, the problem of position estimation could not be solved in some scenarios, even when a GPS signal is available, for instance, an application requiring performing precision manoeuvres in a complex environment. Therefore, some additional sensory information should be integrated into the system in order to improve accuracy and robustness. In this work, a novel vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method with application to unmanned aerial vehicles is proposed. One of the contributions of this work is to design and develop a novel technique for estimating features depth which is based on a stochastic technique of triangulation. In the proposed method the camera is mounted over a servo-controlled gimbal that counteracts the changes in attitude of the quadcopter. Due to the above assumption, the overall problem is simplified and it is focused on the position estimation of the aerial vehicle. Also, the tracking process of visual features is made easier due to the stabilized video. Another contribution of this work is to demonstrate that the integration of very noisy GPS measurements into the system for an initial short period of time is enough to initialize the metric scale. The performance of this proposed method is validated by means of experiments with real data carried out in unstructured outdoor environments. A comparative study shows that, when compared with related methods, the proposed approach performs better in terms of accuracy and computational time.

Integrating dynamic and distributed compressive sensing techniques to enhance image quality of the compressive line sensing system for unmanned aerial vehicles application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouyang, Bing; Hou, Weilin; Caimi, Frank M.; Dalgleish, Fraser R.; Vuorenkoski, Anni K.; Gong, Cuiling

2017-07-01

The compressive line sensing imaging system adopts distributed compressive sensing (CS) to acquire data and reconstruct images. Dynamic CS uses Bayesian inference to capture the correlated nature of the adjacent lines. An image reconstruction technique that incorporates dynamic CS in the distributed CS framework was developed to improve the quality of reconstructed images. The effectiveness of the technique was validated using experimental data acquired in an underwater imaging test facility. Results that demonstrate contrast and resolution improvements will be presented. The improved efficiency is desirable for unmanned aerial vehicles conducting long-duration missions.

Use of low-altitude aerial photography to identify submersed aquatic macrophytes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schloesser, Donald W.; Manny, Bruce A.; Brown, Charles L.; Jaworski, Eugene

1987-01-01

The feasibility of using low-altitude aerial photography to identify beds of submersed macrophytes is demonstrated. True color aerial photos and collateral ground survey information for submersed aquatic macrophyte beds at 10 sites in the St.Clair-Detroit River system were obtained in September 1978. Using the photos and collateral ground survey information, a dichotomous key was developed for the identification of six classes - beds of five genera of macrophytes and one substrate type. A test was prepared to determine how accurately photo interpreters could identify the six classes. The test required an interpreter to examine an unlabeled, outlined area on photographs and identify it using the key. Six interpreters were tested. One pair of interpreters was trained in the interpretation of a variety of aerial photos, a second pair had field experience in the collection and identification of submersed macrophytes in the river system, and a third pair had neither training in the interpretation of aerial photos nor field experience. The criteria that we developed were applied equally well by the interpretors, regardless of their training or experience. Overall accuracy (i.e., omission errors) of all six classes combined was 68% correct, whereas, overall accuracy of individual classes ranged from 50 to 100% correct. Mapping accuracy (i.e. omission and commission errors) of individual classes ranged from 36 to 75%. Although the key developed for this study has only limited application outside the context of the data and sites examined in this study, it is concluded that low-altitude aerial photography, together with limited amounts of collateral ground survey information, can be used to economically identify beds of submersed macrophytes in the St. Clair-Detroit River system and other similar water bodies.

Unmanned aerial vehicle applications for highway transportation : initial stage reference search.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-11-01

Identification of research (2006present) focusing on autonomous micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for transportation applications, including the examination of other industries that may also utilize micro UAVs.

Toxic hazards in aerial application.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1962-04-01

An analysis of the hazards accompanying the aerial application of toxic pest-control chemicals are presented. The nature of teh chemicals, teh symptoms of toxicity, recommended treatment, and suggestions for safe-handling, are discussed

Application of Unmanned Aerial Systems in Spatial Downscaling of Landsat VIR imageries of Agricultural Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torres, A.; Hassan Esfahani, L.; Ebtehaj, A.; McKee, M.

2016-12-01

While coarse space-time resolution of satellite observations in visible to near infrared (VIR) is a serious limiting factor for applications in precision agriculture, high resolution remotes sensing observation by the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) systems are also site-specific and still practically restrictive for widespread applications in precision agriculture. We present a modern spatial downscaling approach that relies on new sparse approximation techniques. The downscaling approach learns from a large set of coincident low- and high-resolution satellite and UAS observations to effectively downscale the satellite imageries in VIR bands. We focus on field experiments using the AggieAirTM platform and Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI observations obtained in an intensive field campaign in 2013 over an agriculture field in Scipio, Utah. The results show that the downscaling methods can effectively increase the resolution of Landsat VIR imageries by the order of 2 to 4 from 30 m to 15 and 7.5 m, respectively. Specifically, on average, the downscaling method reduces the root mean squared errors up to 26%, considering bias corrected AggieAir imageries as the reference.

Information system for preserving culture heritage in areas affected by heavy industry and mining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pacina, Jan; Kopecký, Jiří; Bedrníková, Lenka; Handrychová, Barbora; Švarcová, Martina; Holá, Markéta; Pončíková, Edita

2014-05-01

The natural development of the Ústí region (North-West Bohemia, the Czech Republic) has been affected by the human activity during the past hundred years. The heavy industrialization and the brown coal mining have completely changed the land-use in the region. The open-pit coal mines are completely destroying the surrounding landscape, including settlement, communications, hydrological network and the over-all natural development of the region. The other factor affecting the natural development of the landscape, land-use and settlement was the political situation in 1945 (end of the 2nd World War) when the borderland was depopulated. All these factors caused vanishing of more than two hundreds of colonies, villages and towns during this period of time. The task of this project is to prepare and offer for public use a comprehensive information system preserving the cultural heritage in the form of processed old maps, aerial imagery, land-use and georelief reconstructions, local studies, text and photo documents covering the extinct landscape and settlement. Wide range of various maps was used for this area - Müller's map of Bohemia (ca. 1720) followed by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Military survey of Habsburg empire (1792, 1894, 1938), maps of Stabile cadaster (ca. 1840) and State map derived in the scale 1:5000 (1953, 1972, 1981). All the maps were processed, georeferenced, hand digitized and are further used as base layers for visualization and analysis. The historical aerial imagery was processed in standard ways of photogrammetry and is covering the year 1938, 1953 and the current state. The other important task covered by this project is the georelief reconstruction. We use the old maps and aerial imagery to reconstruct the complete time-line of the georelief development. This time-line is covering the period since 1938 until now. The derived digital terrain models and further on analyzed and printed on a 3D printer. Other reconstruction task are performed using the processed old maps - here we are studying the land-use change, settlement development and the industrialization and brown coal mining effect on the hydrological network structure. The processed data (old maps, aerial photographs, land-use and georelief reconstructions) are published as a web-mapping application built using the ArcGIS API for Flex technology. The application is offering visualization and overlay tools so the user can perform basic landscape and land-use development analyses. The resulting information system will consist of three parts - the web-mapping application, database containing the text and photo information about the vanished towns and villages (spatially linked to the web-mapping application) and other local studies performed on single sites in the region. The local studies are focused on application of data collection methods as UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), KAP (Kite Aerial Photography) and LIDAR.

Development of an unmanned agricultural robotics system for measuring crop conditions for precision aerial application

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An Unmanned Agricultural Robotics System (UARS) is acquired, rebuilt with desired hardware, and operated in both classrooms and field. The UARS includes crop height sensor, crop canopy analyzer, normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) sensor, multispectral camera, and hyperspectral radiometer...

Knowledge-based understanding of aerial surveillance video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Hui; Butler, Darren

2006-05-01

Aerial surveillance has long been used by the military to locate, monitor and track the enemy. Recently, its scope has expanded to include law enforcement activities, disaster management and commercial applications. With the ever-growing amount of aerial surveillance video acquired daily, there is an urgent need for extracting actionable intelligence in a timely manner. Furthermore, to support high-level video understanding, this analysis needs to go beyond current approaches and consider the relationships, motivations and intentions of the objects in the scene. In this paper we propose a system for interpreting aerial surveillance videos that automatically generates a succinct but meaningful description of the observed regions, objects and events. For a given video, the semantics of important regions and objects, and the relationships between them, are summarised into a semantic concept graph. From this, a textual description is derived that provides new search and indexing options for aerial video and enables the fusion of aerial video with other information modalities, such as human intelligence, reports and signal intelligence. Using a Mixture-of-Experts video segmentation algorithm an aerial video is first decomposed into regions and objects with predefined semantic meanings. The objects are then tracked and coerced into a semantic concept graph and the graph is summarized spatially, temporally and semantically using ontology guided sub-graph matching and re-writing. The system exploits domain specific knowledge and uses a reasoning engine to verify and correct the classes, identities and semantic relationships between the objects. This approach is advantageous because misclassifications lead to knowledge contradictions and hence they can be easily detected and intelligently corrected. In addition, the graph representation highlights events and anomalies that a low-level analysis would overlook.

Update on security plans to prevent bioterrorism attacks during agricultural bacilli programs

Treesearch

Robert A. Fusco

2003-01-01

In the aftermath of September 11, security in aerial application suppression programs utilizing Bacillus thuringiensis has become a critical concern for State pest control managers and aerial applicators.

Applicator Training Manual for: Aerial Application of Pesticides.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overhults, Douglas G.

This training manual discusses both the advantages and limitations of aerial application of pesticides. Other topics included are: agricultural aircraft equipment, dispersal accessories, drift control, calibration, spray testing, granular materials testing, operations, and personal safety. Safety check lists are given for pilots, ground crew, and…

Unmanned Aerial Systems in Occupational Hygiene-Learning from Allied Disciplines.

PubMed

Eninger, Robert M; Johnson, Robert L

2015-10-01

Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) technologies are rapidly developing, lowering cost, and technology barriers for their use in numerous applications. This review and commentary summarizes relevant literature in allied fields and evaluates potential application and utility of UAS technology in the discipline of occupational hygiene. Disciplines closely related to occupational hygiene are moving to investigate potential uses--and in some cases--already employing this technology for research or commercial purposes. The literature was reviewed to formulate a cross-sectional picture of how UAS technology is being used in these closely allied disciplines which could inform or guide potential use in occupational hygiene. Discussed are UAS applications in environmental monitoring, emergency response, epidemiology, safety, and process optimization. A rapidly developing state of the art indicates that there is potential utility for this technology in occupational hygiene. Benefits may include cost savings, time savings, and averting hazardous environments via remote sensing. The occupational hygiene community can look to allied fields to garner lessons and possible applications to their own practice. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society 2015.

Towards the Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Providing Sustainable Services in Smart Cities

PubMed Central

Conejero, José M.; Rodríguez-Echeverría, Roberto

2017-01-01

Sustainability is at the heart of many application fields where the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is becoming more and more important (e.g., agriculture, fire detection and prediction, environmental surveillance, mapping, etc.). However, their usage and evolution are highly conditioned by the specific application field they are designed for, and thus, they cannot be easily reused among different application fields. From this point of view, being that they are not multipurpose, we can say that they are not fully sustainable. Bearing this in mind, the objective of this paper is two-fold: on the one hand, to identify the whole set of features that must be provided by a UAS to be considered sustainable and to show that there is no UAS satisfying all these features; on the other hand, to present an open and sustainable UAS architecture that may be used to build UAS on demand to provide the features needed in each application field. Since this architecture is mainly based on software and hardware adaptability, it contributes to the technical sustainability of cities. PMID:29280984

Towards the Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Providing Sustainable Services in Smart Cities.

PubMed

Moguel, Enrique; Conejero, José M; Sánchez-Figueroa, Fernando; Hernández, Juan; Preciado, Juan C; Rodríguez-Echeverría, Roberto

2017-12-27

Sustainability is at the heart of many application fields where the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is becoming more and more important (e.g., agriculture, fire detection and prediction, environmental surveillance, mapping, etc.). However, their usage and evolution are highly conditioned by the specific application field they are designed for, and thus, they cannot be easily reused among different application fields. From this point of view, being that they are not multipurpose, we can say that they are not fully sustainable. Bearing this in mind, the objective of this paper is two-fold: on the one hand, to identify the whole set of features that must be provided by a UAS to be considered sustainable and to show that there is no UAS satisfying all these features; on the other hand, to present an open and sustainable UAS architecture that may be used to build UAS on demand to provide the features needed in each application field. Since this architecture is mainly based on software and hardware adaptability, it contributes to the technical sustainability of cities.

A Compact L-band Radiometer for High Resolution sUAS-based Imaging of Soil Moisture and Surface Salinity Variations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gasiewski, A. J.; Stachura, M.; Dai, E.; Elston, J.; McIntyre, E.; Leuski, V.

2014-12-01

Due to the long electrical wavelengths required along with practical aperture size limitations the scaling of passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture and salinity from spaceborne low-resolution (~10-100 km) applications to high resolution (~10-1000 m) applications requires use of low flying aerial vehicles. This presentation summarizes the status of a project to develop a commercial small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) hosting a microwave radiometer for mapping of soil moisture in precision agriculture and sea surface salinity studies. The project is based on the Tempest electric-powered UAS and a compact L-band (1400-1427 MHz) radiometer developed specifically for extremely small and lightweight aerial platforms or man-portable, tractor, or tower-based applications. Notable in this combination are a highly integrated sUAS/radiometer antenna design and use of both the upwelling emitted signal from the surface and downwelling cold space signal for precise calibration using a unique lobe-differencing correlating radiometer architecture. The system achieves a spatial resolution comparable to the altitude of the UAS above the surface while referencing upwelling measurements to the constant and well-known background temperature of cold space. The radiometer has been tested using analog correlation detection, although future builds will include infrared, near-infrared, and visible (red) sensors for surface temperature and vegetation biomass correction and digital sampling for radio frequency interference mitigation. This NASA-sponsored project is being developed for commercial application in cropland water management (for example, high-value shallow root-zone crops), landslide risk assessment, NASA SMAP satellite validation, and NASA Aquarius salinity stratification studies. The system will ultimately be capable of observing salinity events caused by coastal glacier and estuary fresh water outflow plumes and open ocean rainfall events.

Neurodevelopmental Delay Diagnosis Rates Are Increased in a Region with Aerial Pesticide Application.

PubMed

Hicks, Steven D; Wang, Ming; Fry, Katherine; Doraiswamy, Vignesh; Wohlford, Eric M

2017-01-01

A number of studies have implicated pesticides in childhood developmental delay (DD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The influence of the route of pesticide exposure on neurodevelopmental delay is not well defined. To study this factor, we examined ASD/DD diagnoses rates in an area near our regional medical center that employs yearly aerial pyrethroid pesticide applications to combat mosquito-borne encephalitis. The aim of this study was to determine if areas with aerial pesticide exposure had higher rates of ASD/DD diagnoses. This regional study identified higher rates of ASD/DD diagnoses in an area with aerial pesticides application. Zip codes with aerial pyrethroid exposure were 37% more likely to have higher rates of ASD/DD (adjusted RR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.06-1.78, p  = 0.02). A Poisson regression model controlling for regional characteristics (poverty, pesticide use, population density, and distance to medical center), subject characteristics (race and sex), and local birth characteristics (prematurity, low birthweight, and birth rates) identified a significant relationship between aerial pesticide use and ASD/DD rates. The relationship between pesticide application and human neurodevelopment deserves additional study to develop safe and effective methods of mosquito prevention, particularly as communities develop plans for Zika virus control.

The Ground Control Room as an Enabling Technology in the Unmanned Aerial System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gear, Gary; Mace, Thomas

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the development of the ground control room as an required technology for the use of an Unmanned Aerial system. The Unmanned Aerial system is a strategic component of the Global Observing System, which will serve global science needs. The unmanned aerial system will use the same airspace as manned aircraft, therefore there will be unique telemetry needs.

Rapid mapping of landslide disaster using UAV- photogrammetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cahyono, A. B.; Zayd, R. A.

2018-03-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems offered many advantages in several mapping applications such as slope mapping, geohazard studies, etc. This study utilizes UAV system for landslide disaster occurred in Jombang Regency, East Java. This study concentrates on type of rotor-wing UAV, that is because rotor wing units are stable and able to capture images easily. Aerial photograph were acquired in the form of strips which followed the procedure of acquiring aerial photograph where taken 60 photos. Secondary data of ground control points using GPS Geodetic and check points established using Total Station technique was used. The digital camera was calibrated using close range photogrammetric software and the recovered camera calibration parameters were then used in the processing of digital images. All the aerial photographs were processed using digital photogrammetric software and the output in the form of orthophoto was produced. The final result shows a 1: 1500 scale orthophoto map from the data processing with SfM algorithm with GSD accuracy of 3.45 cm. And the calculated volume of contour line delineation of 10527.03 m3. The result is significantly different from the result of terrestrial methode equal to 964.67 m3 or 8.4% of the difference of both.

Oblique Aerial Photography Tool for Building Inspection and Damage Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murtiyoso, A.; Remondino, F.; Rupnik, E.; Nex, F.; Grussenmeyer, P.

2014-11-01

Aerial photography has a long history of being employed for mapping purposes due to some of its main advantages, including large area imaging from above and minimization of field work. Since few years multi-camera aerial systems are becoming a practical sensor technology across a growing geospatial market, as complementary to the traditional vertical views. Multi-camera aerial systems capture not only the conventional nadir views, but also tilted images at the same time. In this paper, a particular use of such imagery in the field of building inspection as well as disaster assessment is addressed. The main idea is to inspect a building from four cardinal directions by using monoplotting functionalities. The developed application allows to measure building height and distances and to digitize man-made structures, creating 3D surfaces and building models. The realized GUI is capable of identifying a building from several oblique points of views, as well as calculates the approximate height of buildings, ground distances and basic vectorization. The geometric accuracy of the results remains a function of several parameters, namely image resolution, quality of available parameters (DEM, calibration and orientation values), user expertise and measuring capability.

Adaptive Neural Network Control of a Flapping Wing Micro Aerial Vehicle With Disturbance Observer.

PubMed

He, Wei; Yan, Zichen; Sun, Changyin; Chen, Yunan

2017-10-01

The research of this paper works out the attitude and position control of the flapping wing micro aerial vehicle (FWMAV). Neural network control with full state and output feedback are designed to deal with uncertainties in this complex nonlinear FWMAV dynamic system and enhance the system robustness. Meanwhile, we design disturbance observers which are exerted into the FWMAV system via feedforward loops to counteract the bad influence of disturbances. Then, a Lyapunov function is proposed to prove the closed-loop system stability and the semi-global uniform ultimate boundedness of all state variables. Finally, a series of simulation results indicate that proposed controllers can track desired trajectories well via selecting appropriate control gains. And the designed controllers possess potential applications in FWMAVs.

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs, drones) in plant ecology1

PubMed Central

Cruzan, Mitchell B.; Weinstein, Ben G.; Grasty, Monica R.; Kohrn, Brendan F.; Hendrickson, Elizabeth C.; Arredondo, Tina M.; Thompson, Pamela G.

2016-01-01

Premise of the study: Low-elevation surveys with small aerial drones (micro–unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) may be used for a wide variety of applications in plant ecology, including mapping vegetation over small- to medium-sized regions. We provide an overview of methods and procedures for conducting surveys and illustrate some of these applications. Methods: Aerial images were obtained by flying a small drone along transects over the area of interest. Images were used to create a composite image (orthomosaic) and a digital surface model (DSM). Vegetation classification was conducted manually and using an automated routine. Coverage of an individual species was estimated from aerial images. Results: We created a vegetation map for the entire region from the orthomosaic and DSM, and mapped the density of one species. Comparison of our manual and automated habitat classification confirmed that our mapping methods were accurate. A species with high contrast to the background matrix allowed adequate estimate of its coverage. Discussion: The example surveys demonstrate that small aerial drones are capable of gathering large amounts of information on the distribution of vegetation and individual species with minimal impact to sensitive habitats. Low-elevation aerial surveys have potential for a wide range of applications in plant ecology. PMID:27672518

A review of the meteorological parameters which affect aerial application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christensen, L. S.; Frost, W.

1979-01-01

The ambient wind field and temperature gradient were found to be the most important parameters. Investigation results indicated that the majority of meteorological parameters affecting dispersion were interdependent and the exact mechanism by which these factors influence the particle dispersion was largely unknown. The types and approximately ranges of instrumented capabilities for a systematic study of the significant meteorological parameters influencing aerial applications were defined. Current mathematical dispersion models were also briefly reviewed. Unfortunately, a rigorous dispersion model which could be applied to aerial application was not available.

Quadcopter applications for wildlife monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radiansyah, S.; Kusrini, M. D.; Prasetyo, L. B.

2017-01-01

Recently, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) had been use as an instrument for wildlife research. Most of that, using an airplane type which need space for runaway. Copter is UAV type that can fly at canopy space and do not need runaway. The research aims are to examine quadcopter application for wildlife monitoring, measure the accuracy of data generated and determine effective, efficient and appropriate technical recommendation in accordance with the ethics of wildlife photography. Flight trials with a camera 12 - 24 MP at altitude ranges from 50-200 m above ground level (agl), producing aerial photographs with spatial resolution of 0.85 - 4.79 cm/pixel. Aerial photos quality depends on the type and setting of camera, vibration damper system, flight altitude and punctuality of the shooting. For wildlife monitoring the copter is recommended to take off at least 300 m from the target, and flies at 50 - 100 m agl with flight speed of 5 - 7 m/sec on fine weather. Quadcopter presence with a distance more than 30 m from White-bellied Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster) nest and Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus) did not cause negative response. Quadcopter application should pay attention to the behaviour and characteristic of wildlife.

Film cameras or digital sensors? The challenge ahead for aerial imaging

USGS Publications Warehouse

Light, D.L.

1996-01-01

Cartographic aerial cameras continue to play the key role in producing quality products for the aerial photography business, and specifically for the National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP). One NAPP photograph taken with cameras capable of 39 lp/mm system resolution can contain the equivalent of 432 million pixels at 11 ??m spot size, and the cost is less than $75 per photograph to scan and output the pixels on a magnetic storage medium. On the digital side, solid state charge coupled device linear and area arrays can yield quality resolution (7 to 12 ??m detector size) and a broader dynamic range. If linear arrays are to compete with film cameras, they will require precise attitude and positioning of the aircraft so that the lines of pixels can be unscrambled and put into a suitable homogeneous scene that is acceptable to an interpreter. Area arrays need to be much larger than currently available to image scenes competitive in size with film cameras. Analysis of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two systems show that the analog approach is more economical at present. However, as arrays become larger, attitude sensors become more refined, global positioning system coordinate readouts become commonplace, and storage capacity becomes more affordable, the digital camera may emerge as the imaging system for the future. Several technical challenges must be overcome if digital sensors are to advance to where they can support mapping, charting, and geographic information system applications.

Lightweight UAV with on-board photogrammetry and single-frequency GPS positioning for metrology applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daakir, M.; Pierrot-Deseilligny, M.; Bosser, P.; Pichard, F.; Thom, C.; Rabot, Y.; Martin, O.

2017-05-01

This article presents a coupled system consisting of a single-frequency GPS receiver and a light photogrammetric quality camera embedded in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The aim is to produce high quality data that can be used in metrology applications. The issue of Integrated Sensor Orientation (ISO) of camera poses using only GPS measurements is presented and discussed. The accuracy reached by our system based on sensors developed at the French Mapping Agency (IGN) Opto-Electronics, Instrumentation and Metrology Laboratory (LOEMI) is qualified. These sensors are specially designed for close-range aerial image acquisition with a UAV. Lever-arm calibration and time synchronization are explained and performed to reach maximum accuracy. All processing steps are detailed from data acquisition to quality control of final products. We show that an accuracy of a few centimeters can be reached with this system which uses low-cost UAV and GPS module coupled with the IGN-LOEMI home-made camera.

Spray Deposition and Drift Characteristics of a Low Drift Nozzle for Aerial Application at Different Application Altitudes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A complex interaction of controllable and uncontrollable factors is involved in aerial application of crop production and protection materials. Although it is difficult to completely characterize spray deposition and drift, these important factors can be estimated with appropriate sampling protocol ...

Characterization of spray deposition and drift from a low drift nozzle for aerial application at different application altitudes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A complex interaction of controllable and uncontrollable factors is involved in aerial application of crop production and protection materials. Although it is difficult to completely characterize spray deposition and drift, these important factors can be estimated with appropriate sampling protocol ...

Use of Aerial Photography to Monitor Fall Chinook Salmon Spawning in the Columbia River

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Visser, Richard H.; Dauble, Dennis D.; Geist, David R.

2002-11-01

This paper compares two methods for enumerating salmon redds and their application to monitoring spawning activity. Aerial photographs of fall chinook salmon spawning areas in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River were digitized and mapped using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques in 1994 and 1995 as part of an annual assessment of the population. The number of visible redds from these photographs were compared to counts obtained from visual surveys with fixed wing aircraft. The proportion of the total redds within each of five general survey areas was similar for the two monitoring techniques. However, the total number ofmore » redds based on aerial photographs was 2.2 and 3.0 times higher than those observed during visual surveys for 1994 and 1995, respectively. The divergence in redd counts was most evident near peak spawning activity when the number of redds within individual spawning clusters exceeded 500. Aerial photography improved our ability to monitor numbers of visible salmon redds and to quantify habitat use.« less

Aerial application of Agri-Fos® to prevent Sudden Oak Death in Oregon tanoak forests

Treesearch

Alan Kanaskie; Everett Hansen; Wendy Sutton; Paul Reeser; Carolyn Choquette

2010-01-01

We have been testing the practicality and efficacy of aerial application of Agri-Fos® for control of sudden oak death (SOD) in the Oregon tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus) forest. Helicopter application to forest stands has been compared with bole injection and groundbased spray application to seedlings and stump sprouts. We bio-assayed...

Ground Control Point - Wireless System Network for UAV-based environmental monitoring applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mejia-Aguilar, Abraham

2016-04-01

In recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have seen widespread civil applications including usage for survey and monitoring services in areas such as agriculture, construction and civil engineering, private surveillance and reconnaissance services and cultural heritage management. Most aerial monitoring services require the integration of information acquired during the flight (such as imagery) with ground-based information (such as GPS information or others) for improved ground truth validation. For example, to obtain an accurate 3D and Digital Elevation Model based on aerial imagery, it is necessary to include ground-based information of coordinate points, which are normally acquired with surveying methods based on Global Position Systems (GPS). However, GPS surveys are very time consuming and especially for longer time series of monitoring data repeated GPS surveys are necessary. In order to improve speed of data collection and integration, this work presents an autonomous system based on Waspmote technologies build on single nodes interlinked in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) star-topology for ground based information collection and later integration with surveying data obtained by UAV. Nodes are designed to be visible from the air, to resist extreme weather conditions with low-power consumption. Besides, nodes are equipped with GPS as well as Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), accelerometer, temperature and soil moisture sensors and thus provide significant advantages in a broad range of applications for environmental monitoring. For our purpose, the WSN transmits the environmental data with 3G/GPRS to a database on a regular time basis. This project provides a detailed case study and implementation of a Ground Control Point System Network for UAV-based vegetation monitoring of dry mountain grassland in the Matsch valley, Italy.

EROS main image file - A picture perfect database for Landsat imagery and aerial photography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jack, R. F.

1984-01-01

The Earth Resources Observation System (EROS) Program was established by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1966 under the administration of the Geological Survey. It is primarily concerned with the application of remote sensing techniques for the management of natural resources. The retrieval system employed to search the EROS database is called INORAC (Inquiry, Ordering, and Accounting). A description is given of the types of images identified in EROS, taking into account Landsat imagery, Skylab images, Gemini/Apollo photography, and NASA aerial photography. Attention is given to retrieval commands, geographic coordinate searching, refinement techniques, various online functions, and questions regarding the access to the EROS Main Image File.

Development and Integration of a Solar Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and a Wireless Sensor Network to Monitor Greenhouse Gases

PubMed Central

Malaver, Alexander; Motta, Nunzio; Corke, Peter; Gonzalez, Felipe

2015-01-01

Measuring gases for environmental monitoring is a demanding task that requires long periods of observation and large numbers of sensors. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) currently represent the best alternative to monitor large, remote, and difficult access areas, as these technologies have the possibility of carrying specialized gas sensing systems. This paper presents the development and integration of a WSN and an UAV powered by solar energy in order to enhance their functionality and broader their applications. A gas sensing system implementing nanostructured metal oxide (MOX) and non-dispersive infrared sensors was developed to measure concentrations of CH4 and CO2. Laboratory, bench and field testing results demonstrate the capability of UAV to capture, analyze and geo-locate a gas sample during flight operations. The field testing integrated ground sensor nodes and the UAV to measure CO2 concentration at ground and low aerial altitudes, simultaneously. Data collected during the mission was transmitted in real time to a central node for analysis and 3D mapping of the target gas. The results highlights the accomplishment of the first flight mission of a solar powered UAV equipped with a CO2 sensing system integrated with a WSN. The system provides an effective 3D monitoring and can be used in a wide range of environmental applications such as agriculture, bushfires, mining studies, zoology and botanical studies using a ubiquitous low cost technology. PMID:25679312

Development and integration of a solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle and a wireless sensor network to monitor greenhouse gases.

PubMed

Malaver, Alexander; Motta, Nunzio; Corke, Peter; Gonzalez, Felipe

2015-02-11

Measuring gases for environmental monitoring is a demanding task that requires long periods of observation and large numbers of sensors. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) currently represent the best alternative to monitor large, remote, and difficult access areas, as these technologies have the possibility of carrying specialized gas sensing systems. This paper presents the development and integration of a WSN and an UAV powered by solar energy in order to enhance their functionality and broader their applications. A gas sensing system implementing nanostructured metal oxide (MOX) and non-dispersive infrared sensors was developed to measure concentrations of CH4 and CO2. Laboratory, bench and field testing results demonstrate the capability of UAV to capture, analyze and geo-locate a gas sample during flight operations. The field testing integrated ground sensor nodes and the UAV to measure CO2 concentration at ground and low aerial altitudes, simultaneously. Data collected during the mission was transmitted in real time to a central node for analysis and 3D mapping of the target gas. The results highlights the accomplishment of the first flight mission of a solar powered UAV equipped with a CO2 sensing system integrated with a WSN. The system provides an effective 3D monitoring and can be used in a wide range of environmental applications such as agriculture, bushfires, mining studies, zoology and botanical studies using a ubiquitous low cost technology.

Collaborative Point Paper on Border Surveillance Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

including; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Airships, and/or Aerostats, (RF, Electro-Optical, Infrared, Video) • Land- based Sensor Systems (Attended...warning. These ground- based systems are primarily short-range, up to around 500 meters. • Observation towers extend surveillance capabilities many...Foreign Companies Applicable Environment(s Foreign Companies Air Land Maritime Technology 25. BAE Systems PLC (BAE Systems Inc. is a US subsidiary

Central nervous system effect of chronic exposure to organophosphate insecticides.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1963-10-01

Two cases are reported in which persistent CNS changes were noted in aerial applicator pilots after chronic exposure to organophosphate insecticides. The synptomatology, the basis for these symptoms and EEG changes and their reversibility are discuss...

Aircraft crashworthiness studies : findings in accidents involving an aerial application aircraft.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1980-04-01

Aircraft crashworthiness features are presented, as others have done, in terms of packaging principles. Modern aerial application aircraft are recognized as being the most crashworthy in the civil aviation fleet. Eighteen accidents involving an aeria...

Intelligent unmanned vehicle systems suitable for individual or cooperative missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Matthew O.; McKay, Mark D.; Wadsworth, Derek C.

2007-04-01

The Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been researching autonomous unmanned vehicle systems for over fifteen years. Areas of research have included unmanned ground and aerial vehicles used for hazardous and remote operations as well as teamed together for advanced payloads and mission execution. Areas of application include aerial particulate sampling, cooperative remote radiological sampling, and persistent surveillance including real-time mosaic and geo-referenced imagery in addition to high-resolution still imagery. Both fixed-wing and rotary airframes are used possessing capabilities spanning remote control to fully autonomous operation. Patented INL-developed auto steering technology is taken advantage of to provide autonomous parallel path swathing with either manned or unmanned ground vehicles. Aerial look-ahead imagery is utilized to provide a common operating picture for the ground and air vehicles during cooperative missions. This paper will discuss the various robotic vehicles, including sensor integration, used to achieve these missions and anticipated cost and labor savings.

Neural-network-based navigation and control of unmanned aerial vehicles for detecting unintended emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zargarzadeh, H.; Nodland, David; Thotla, V.; Jagannathan, S.; Agarwal, S.

2012-06-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are versatile aircraft with many applications, including the potential for use to detect unintended electromagnetic emissions from electronic devices. A particular area of recent interest has been helicopter unmanned aerial vehicles. Because of the nature of these helicopters' dynamics, high-performance controller design for them presents a challenge. This paper introduces an optimal controller design via output feedback control for trajectory tracking of a helicopter UAV using a neural network (NN). The output-feedback control system utilizes the backstepping methodology, employing kinematic, virtual, and dynamic controllers and an observer. Optimal tracking is accomplished with a single NN utilized for cost function approximation. The controller positions the helicopter, which is equipped with an antenna, such that the antenna can detect unintended emissions. The overall closed-loop system stability with the proposed controller is demonstrated by using Lyapunov analysis. Finally, results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control design for positioning the helicopter for unintended emissions detection.

An accurate and adaptable photogrammetric approach for estimating the mass and body condition of pinnipeds using an unmanned aerial system

PubMed Central

Hinke, Jefferson T.; Perryman, Wayne L.; Goebel, Michael E.; LeRoi, Donald J.

2017-01-01

Measurements of body size and mass are fundamental to pinniped population management and research. Manual measurements tend to be accurate but are invasive and logistically challenging to obtain. Ground-based photogrammetric techniques are less invasive, but inherent limitations make them impractical for many field applications. The recent proliferation of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in wildlife monitoring has provided a promising new platform for the photogrammetry of free-ranging pinnipeds. Leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) are an apex predator in coastal Antarctica whose body condition could be a valuable indicator of ecosystem health. We aerially surveyed leopard seals of known body size and mass to test the precision and accuracy of photogrammetry from a small UAS. Flights were conducted in January and February of 2013 and 2014 and 50 photogrammetric samples were obtained from 15 unrestrained seals. UAS-derived measurements of standard length were accurate to within 2.01 ± 1.06%, and paired comparisons with ground measurements were statistically indistinguishable. An allometric linear mixed effects model predicted leopard seal mass within 19.40 kg (4.4% error for a 440 kg seal). Photogrammetric measurements from a single, vertical image obtained using UAS provide a noninvasive approach for estimating the mass and body condition of pinnipeds that may be widely applicable. PMID:29186134

An accurate and adaptable photogrammetric approach for estimating the mass and body condition of pinnipeds using an unmanned aerial system.

PubMed

Krause, Douglas J; Hinke, Jefferson T; Perryman, Wayne L; Goebel, Michael E; LeRoi, Donald J

2017-01-01

Measurements of body size and mass are fundamental to pinniped population management and research. Manual measurements tend to be accurate but are invasive and logistically challenging to obtain. Ground-based photogrammetric techniques are less invasive, but inherent limitations make them impractical for many field applications. The recent proliferation of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in wildlife monitoring has provided a promising new platform for the photogrammetry of free-ranging pinnipeds. Leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) are an apex predator in coastal Antarctica whose body condition could be a valuable indicator of ecosystem health. We aerially surveyed leopard seals of known body size and mass to test the precision and accuracy of photogrammetry from a small UAS. Flights were conducted in January and February of 2013 and 2014 and 50 photogrammetric samples were obtained from 15 unrestrained seals. UAS-derived measurements of standard length were accurate to within 2.01 ± 1.06%, and paired comparisons with ground measurements were statistically indistinguishable. An allometric linear mixed effects model predicted leopard seal mass within 19.40 kg (4.4% error for a 440 kg seal). Photogrammetric measurements from a single, vertical image obtained using UAS provide a noninvasive approach for estimating the mass and body condition of pinnipeds that may be widely applicable.

Collision Avoidance W-Band FMCW Radars in an Altimeter Application

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-08-01

underground mining applications. Potentially, a small low– powered downward looking aerial radar employing Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) ranging...frequency [1]. 3 Figure 3: Epsilon Lambda ELF 171-1A radar. Model and System block diagram [2]. 4 Figure 4: Beam limited resolution cell (after [3]). 6...Figure 5: (black curves) Projected SNR variation of clutter return with range for ELF 171-1A type system in different weather conditions. Clutter-to

Aerial Photography Summary Record System

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1998-01-01

The Aerial Photography Summary Record System (APSRS) describes aerial photography projects that meet specified criteria over a given geographic area of the United States and its territories. Aerial photographs are an important tool in cartography and a number of other professions. Land use planners, real estate developers, lawyers, environmental specialists, and many other professionals rely on detailed and timely aerial photographs. Until 1975, there was no systematic approach to locate an aerial photograph, or series of photographs, quickly and easily. In that year, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) inaugurated the APSRS, which has become a standard reference for users of aerial photographs.

Multi-Dimensional Signal Processing Research Program

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-09-30

applications to real-time image processing and analysis. A specific long-range application is the automated processing of aerial reconnaissance imagery...Non-supervised image segmentation is a potentially im- portant operation in the automated processing of aerial reconnaissance pho- tographs since it

Integration of aerial oblique imagery and terrestrial imagery for optimized 3D modeling in urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Bo; Xie, Linfu; Hu, Han; Zhu, Qing; Yau, Eric

2018-05-01

Photorealistic three-dimensional (3D) models are fundamental to the spatial data infrastructure of a digital city, and have numerous potential applications in areas such as urban planning, urban management, urban monitoring, and urban environmental studies. Recent developments in aerial oblique photogrammetry based on aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer promising techniques for 3D modeling. However, 3D models generated from aerial oblique imagery in urban areas with densely distributed high-rise buildings may show geometric defects and blurred textures, especially on building façades, due to problems such as occlusion and large camera tilt angles. Meanwhile, mobile mapping systems (MMSs) can capture terrestrial images of close-range objects from a complementary view on the ground at a high level of detail, but do not offer full coverage. The integration of aerial oblique imagery with terrestrial imagery offers promising opportunities to optimize 3D modeling in urban areas. This paper presents a novel method of integrating these two image types through automatic feature matching and combined bundle adjustment between them, and based on the integrated results to optimize the geometry and texture of the 3D models generated from aerial oblique imagery. Experimental analyses were conducted on two datasets of aerial and terrestrial images collected in Dortmund, Germany and in Hong Kong. The results indicate that the proposed approach effectively integrates images from the two platforms and thereby improves 3D modeling in urban areas.

Integration of aerial remote sensing imaging data in a 3D-GIS environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moeller, Matthias S.

2003-03-01

For some years sensor systems have been available providing digital images of a new quality. Especially aerial stereo scanners acquire digital multispectral images with an extremely high ground resolution of about 0.10 - 0.15m and provide in addition a Digital Surface Models (DSM). These imaging products both can be used for a detailed monitoring at scales up to 1:500. The processed georeferenced multispectral orthoimages can be readily integrated into GIS making them useful for a number of applications. The DSM, derived from forward and backward facing sensors of an aerial imaging system provides a ground resolution of 0.5 m and can be used for 3D visualization purposes. In some cases it is essential, to store the ground elevation as a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and also the height of 3-dimensional objects in a separated database. Existing automated algorithms do not work precise for the extraction of DTM from aerial scanner DSM. This paper presents a new approach which combines the visible image data and the DSM data for the generation of DTM with a reliable geometric accuracy. Already existing cadastral data can be used as a knowledge base for the extraction of building heights in cities. These elevation data is the essential source for a GIS based urban information system with a 3D visualization component.

Preliminary Design of Aerial Spraying System for Microlight Aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omar, Zamri; Idris, Nurfazliawati; Rahim, M. Zulafif

2017-10-01

Undoubtedly agricultural is an important sector because it provides essential nutrients for human, and consequently is among the biggest sector for economic growth worldwide. It is crucial to ensure crops production is protected from any plant diseases and pests. Thus aerial spraying system on crops is developed to facilitate farmers to for crops pests control and it is very effective spraying method especially for large and hilly crop areas. However, the use of large aircraft for aerial spaying has a relatively high operational cost. Therefore, microlight aircraft is proposed to be used for crops aerial spraying works for several good reasons. In this paper, a preliminary design of aerial spraying system for microlight aircraft is proposed. Engineering design methodology is adopted in the development of the aerial sprayer and steps involved design are discussed thoroughly. A preliminary design for the microlight to be attached with an aerial spraying system is proposed.

Measurement of the Energy-Dependent Angular Response of the ARES Detector System and Application to Aerial Imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Tenzing H. Y.; Quiter, Brian J.; Maltz, Jonathan S.; Bandstra, Mark S.; Haefner, Andrew; Eikmeier, Nicole; Wagner, Eric; Luke, Tanushree; Malchow, Russell; McCall, Karen

2017-07-01

The Airborne Radiological Enhanced-sensor System (ARES) includes a prototype helicopter-borne CsI(Na) detector array that has been developed as part of the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Advanced Technology Demonstration. The detector system geometry comprises two pairs of 23-detector arrays designed to function as active masks, providing additional angular resolution of measured gamma rays in the roll dimension. Experimental measurements, using five radioisotopes (137Cs, 60Co, 241Am, 131I, and 99mTc), were performed to map the detector response in both roll and pitch dimensions. This paper describes the acquisition and analysis of these characterization measurements, calculation of the angular response of the ARES system, and how this response function is used to improve aerial detection and localization of radiological and nuclear threat sources.

Post-hurricane Rita mosquito surveillance and the efficacy of Air Force aerial applications for mosquito control in east Texas.

PubMed

Breidenbaugh, Mark S; Haagsma, Karl A; Walker, Wes W; Sanders, David M

2008-06-01

Post-Hurricane Rita mosquito surveillance was carried out in 4 east Texas counties to determine mosquito abundance, species composition, and need for mosquito control. Subsequently, aerial applications of naled (Dibrom) for mosquito control were made by the Air Force Aerial Spray Flight, while continued surveillance documented the efficacy of the applications. Psorophora columbiae was the predominant species in landing counts. Twenty-two mosquito species were represented in light trap collections with Aedes atlanitcus/tormentor, Culex nigripalpus, Ae. vexans, and Ps. columbiae making up 91% of the total. A total of 102,001 ha (252,052 acres) were aerially treated based on high mosquito abundance, exposure of first responders and residents to nuisance biting, and local interruption of electric utilities. A significant 90% decline in mosquito abundance was observed posttreatment.

Autonomous Systems: Issues for Defence Policymakers

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-30

Unmanned Surveillance Target Acquisition System, and being co-leader of the multi- research centre Manned-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Interactions study . He...Assessment Scale’ was derived from research into external autonomy applications (Sheridan, Parasuraman, etc.) and other studies . The scale’s...system. This roadmap covers annexes on the regulatory approach, a strategic research plan, and a study of the societal impact of the challenges of RPAS

Review of the SAFARI 2000 RC-10 Aerial Photography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Myers, Jeff; Shelton, Gary; Annegarn, Harrold; Peterson, David L. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This presentation will review the aerial photography collected by the NASA ER-2 aircraft during the SAFARI (Southern African Regional Science Initiative) year 2000 campaign. It will include specifications on the camera and film, and will show examples of the imagery. It will also detail the extent of coverage, and the procedures to obtain film products from the South African government. Also included will be some sample applications of aerial photography for various environmental applications, and its use in augmenting other SAFARI data sets.

Micro turbine engines for drones propulsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dutczak, J.

2016-09-01

Development of micro turbine engines began from attempts of application of that propulsion source by group of enthusiasts of aviation model making. Nowadays, the domain of micro turbojet engines is treated on a par with “full size” aviation constructions. The dynamic development of these engines is caused not only by aviation modellers, but also by use of micro turbojet engines by army to propulsion of contemporary drones, i.e. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). On the base of selected examples the state of art in the mentioned group of engines has been presented in the article.

Aerially released spray penetration of a tall coniferous canopy

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An aerial spray deposition project was designed to evaluate aerial application to an Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) canopy to combat Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsugae). This adelgid offers a difficult target residing in the forest canopy at the nodes of branchlets. The study collected 1680 ...

7 CFR 1755.704 - Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR aerial service wires.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR aerial..., ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS, AND STANDARD CONTRACT FORMS § 1755.704 Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR... testing—(1) Tests on 100 percent of completed wire. (i) Each conductor in the completed CCSR and NMR...

7 CFR 1755.704 - Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR aerial service wires.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR aerial..., ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS, AND STANDARD CONTRACT FORMS § 1755.704 Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR... testing—(1) Tests on 100 percent of completed wire. (i) Each conductor in the completed CCSR and NMR...

7 CFR 1755.704 - Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR aerial service wires.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR aerial..., ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS, AND STANDARD CONTRACT FORMS § 1755.704 Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR... testing—(1) Tests on 100 percent of completed wire. (i) Each conductor in the completed CCSR and NMR...

Near real-time shadow detection and removal in aerial motion imagery application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, Guilherme F.; Carneiro, Grace B.; Doth, Ricardo; Amaral, Leonardo A.; Azevedo, Dario F. G. de

2018-06-01

This work presents a method to automatically detect and remove shadows in urban aerial images and its application in an aerospace remote monitoring system requiring near real-time processing. Our detection method generates shadow masks and is accelerated by GPU programming. To obtain the shadow masks, we converted images from RGB to CIELCh model, calculated a modified Specthem ratio, and applied multilevel thresholding. Morphological operations were used to reduce shadow mask noise. The shadow masks are used in the process of removing shadows from the original images using the illumination ratio of the shadow/non-shadow regions. We obtained shadow detection accuracy of around 93% and shadow removal results comparable to the state-of-the-art while maintaining execution time under real-time constraints.

A method for using unmanned aerial vehicles for emergency investigation of single geo-hazards and sample applications of this method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Haifeng; Long, Jingjing; Yi, Wu; Yi, Qinglin; Zhang, Guodong; Lei, Bangjun

2017-11-01

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become widely used in emergency investigations of major natural hazards over large areas; however, UAVs are less commonly employed to investigate single geo-hazards. Based on a number of successful investigations in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, China, a complete UAV-based method for performing emergency investigations of single geo-hazards is described. First, a customized UAV system that consists of a multi-rotor UAV subsystem, an aerial photography subsystem, a ground control subsystem and a ground surveillance subsystem is described in detail. The implementation process, which includes four steps, i.e., indoor preparation, site investigation, on-site fast processing and application, and indoor comprehensive processing and application, is then elaborated, and two investigation schemes, automatic and manual, that are used in the site investigation step are put forward. Moreover, some key techniques and methods - e.g., the layout and measurement of ground control points (GCPs), route planning, flight control and image collection, and the Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetry processing - are explained. Finally, three applications are given. Experience has shown that using UAVs for emergency investigation of single geo-hazards greatly reduces the time, intensity and risks associated with on-site work and provides valuable, high-accuracy, high-resolution information that supports emergency responses.

High Resolution UAV-based Passive Microwave L-band Imaging of Soil Moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gasiewski, A. J.; Stachura, M.; Elston, J.; McIntyre, E. M.

2013-12-01

Due to long electrical wavelengths and aperture size limitations the scaling of passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture from spaceborne low-resolution applications to high resolution applications suitable for precision agriculture requires use of low flying aerial vehicles. This presentation summarizes a project to develop a commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) hosting a precision microwave radiometer for mapping of soil moisture in high-value shallow root-zone crops. The project is based on the use of the Tempest electric-powered UAV and a compact digital L-band (1400-1427 MHz) passive microwave radiometer developed specifically for extremely small and lightweight aerial platforms or man-portable, tractor, or tower-based applications. Notable in this combination are a highly integrated UAV/radiometer antenna design and use of both the upwelling emitted signal from the surface and downwelling cold space signal for precise calibration using a lobe-correlating radiometer architecture. The system achieves a spatial resolution comparable to the altitude of the UAV above the ground while referencing upwelling measurements to the constant and well-known background temperature of cold space. The radiometer incorporates digital sampling and radio frequency interference mitigation along with infrared, near-infrared, and visible (red) sensors for surface temperature and vegetation biomass correction. This NASA-sponsored project is being developed both for commercial application in cropland water management, L-band satellite validation, and estuarian plume studies.

Power Sprayers, Power Dusters, and Aerial Equipment for Pesticide Application.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cole, Herbert, Jr.

This agriculture extension service publication from Pennsylvania State University discusses agricultural pesticide application equipment. The three sections of the publication are Power Sprayers, Power Dusters, and Aerial Equipment. In the section discussing power sprayers, subtopics include hydraulic sprayers, component parts, multi-purpose farm…

Ultra-low altitude and low spraying technology research with UAV in paddy

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Aerial application has characteristics of low-volume, small droplet, and possibility of drift. To control rice planthopper, leaf roller and blast, the research aimed at screening agrichemicals and determining the feasibility of using high concentration of conventional dosage for aerial application....

Combining Human Computing and Machine Learning to Make Sense of Big (Aerial) Data for Disaster Response.

PubMed

Ofli, Ferda; Meier, Patrick; Imran, Muhammad; Castillo, Carlos; Tuia, Devis; Rey, Nicolas; Briant, Julien; Millet, Pauline; Reinhard, Friedrich; Parkan, Matthew; Joost, Stéphane

2016-03-01

Aerial imagery captured via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is playing an increasingly important role in disaster response. Unlike satellite imagery, aerial imagery can be captured and processed within hours rather than days. In addition, the spatial resolution of aerial imagery is an order of magnitude higher than the imagery produced by the most sophisticated commercial satellites today. Both the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) have noted that aerial imagery will inevitably present a big data challenge. The purpose of this article is to get ahead of this future challenge by proposing a hybrid crowdsourcing and real-time machine learning solution to rapidly process large volumes of aerial data for disaster response in a time-sensitive manner. Crowdsourcing can be used to annotate features of interest in aerial images (such as damaged shelters and roads blocked by debris). These human-annotated features can then be used to train a supervised machine learning system to learn to recognize such features in new unseen images. In this article, we describe how this hybrid solution for image analysis can be implemented as a module (i.e., Aerial Clicker) to extend an existing platform called Artificial Intelligence for Disaster Response (AIDR), which has already been deployed to classify microblog messages during disasters using its Text Clicker module and in response to Cyclone Pam, a category 5 cyclone that devastated Vanuatu in March 2015. The hybrid solution we present can be applied to both aerial and satellite imagery and has applications beyond disaster response such as wildlife protection, human rights, and archeological exploration. As a proof of concept, we recently piloted this solution using very high-resolution aerial photographs of a wildlife reserve in Namibia to support rangers with their wildlife conservation efforts (SAVMAP project, http://lasig.epfl.ch/savmap ). The results suggest that the platform we have developed to combine crowdsourcing and machine learning to make sense of large volumes of aerial images can be used for disaster response.

Coastal Ecosystem Assessment, Development and Creation of a Policy Tool using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for: A Case Study of Western Puerto Rico Coastal Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munoz Barreto, J.; Pillich, J.; Aponte Bermúdez, L. D.; Torres Pagan, G.

2017-12-01

This project utilizes low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based systems for different applications, such as low-altitude (high resolution) aerial photogrammetry for aerial analysis of vegetation, reconstruction of beach topography and mapping coastal erosion to understand, and estimated ecosystem values. As part of this work, five testbeds coastal sites, designated as the Caribbean Littoral Aerial Surveillance System (CLASS), were established. The sites are distributed along western Puerto Rico coastline where population and industry (tourism) are very much clustered and dense along the coast. Over the past year, rapid post-storm deployment of UAV surveying has been successfully integrated into the CLASS sites, specifically at Rincon (Puerto Rico), where coastal erosion has raised the public and government concern over the past decades. A case study is presented here where we collected aerial photos before and after the swells caused by Hurricane Mathew (October 2016). We merged the point cloud obtained from the UAV photogrammetric assessment with topo-bathymetric data, to get a complete beach topography. Using the rectified and georeferenced UAV orthophotos, we identified the maximum wave runup for the pre-swell and post-swell events. Also, we used numerical modeling (X-Beach) to simulate the rate-of-change dynamics of the coastal zones and compare the model results to observed values (including multiple historic shoreline positions). In summary, our project has accomplished the first milestone which is the Development and Implementation of an Effective Shoreline Monitoring Program using UAVs. The activities of the monitoring program have enabled the collection of crucial data for coastal mapping along Puerto Rico's shorelines with emphasis on coastal erosion hot spots zones and ecosystem values. Our results highlight the potential of the synergy between UAVs, photogrammetry, and Geographic Information Systems to provide faster and low-cost reliable information on littoral zone changes compared with traditional techniques without losing in accuracy.

The application of unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing for monitoring secondary geological disasters after earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Tianjie; Zhang, Yazhen; Wang, Xingyong; Fu, Jun'e.; Li, Lin; Pang, Zhiguo; Zhang, Xiaolei; Kan, Guangyuan

2017-07-01

Remote sensing system fitted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) can obtain clear images and high-resolution aerial photographs. It has advantages of strong real-time, flexibility and convenience, free from influence of external environment, low cost, low-flying under clouds and ability to work full-time. When an earthquake happened, it could go deep into the places safely and reliably which human staff can hardly approach, such as secondary geological disasters hit areas. The system can be timely precise in response to secondary geological disasters monitoring by a way of obtaining first-hand information as quickly as possible, producing a unique emergency response capacity to provide a scientific basis for overall decision-making processes. It can greatly enhance the capability of on-site disaster emergency working team in data collection and transmission. The great advantages of UAV remote sensing system played an irreplaceable role in monitoring secondary geological disaster dynamics and influences. Taking the landslides and barrier lakes for example, the paper explored the basic application and process of UAV remote sensing in the disaster emergency relief. UAV high-resolution remote sensing images had been exploited to estimate the situation of disaster-hit areas and monitor secondary geological disasters rapidly, systematically and continuously. Furthermore, a rapid quantitative assessment on the distribution and size of landslides and barrier lakes was carried out. Monitoring results could support relevant government departments and rescue teams, providing detailed and reliable scientific evidence for disaster relief and decision-making.

Application of Low-Cost Fixed-Wing UAV for Inland Lakes Shoreline Investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Templin, Tomasz; Popielarczyk, Dariusz; Kosecki, Rafał

2017-10-01

One of the most important factors that influences the performance of geomorphologic parameters on urban lakes is the water level. It fluctuates periodically, causing shoreline changes. It is especially significant for typical environmental studies like bathymetric surveys, morphometric parameters calculation, sediment depth changes, thermal structure, water quality monitoring, etc. In most reservoirs, it can be obtained from digitized historical maps or plans or directly measured using the instruments such as: geodetic total station, GNSS receivers, UAV with different sensors, satellite and aerial photos, terrestrial and airborne light detection and ranging, or others. Today one of the most popular measuring platforms, increasingly applied in many applications is UAV. Unmanned aerial system can be a cheap, easy to use, on-demand technology for gathering remote sensing data. Our study presents a reliable methodology for shallow lake shoreline investigation with the use of a low-cost fixed-wing UAV system. The research was implemented on a small, eutrophic urban inland reservoir located in the northern part of Poland—Lake Suskie. The geodetic TS, and RTK/GNSS measurements, hydroacoustic soundings and experimental aerial mapping were conducted by the authors in 2012-2015. The article specifically describes the UAV system used for experimental measurements, the obtained results and the accuracy analysis. Final conclusions demonstrate that even a low-cost fixed-wing UAV can provide an excellent tool for accurately surveying a shallow lake shoreline and generate valuable geoinformation data collected definitely faster than when traditional geodetic methods are employed.

Wind tunnel and field evaluation of drift from aerial spray applications with multiple spray formulations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The impact of different spray tank modifiers into an active ingredient spray mixture on spray atomization and in-field behavior under aerial application conditions were examined. Wind tunnel tests demonstrated that active ingredient solutions potentially results in significantly different atomizati...

Arctic Oil Spill Mapping and Response Using Unmanned Aerial Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cunningham, K. W.

2011-12-01

The University of Alaska Fairbanks works extensively with unmanned aerial systems and various sensor payloads used in mapping. Recent projects with Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum have demonstrated that unmanned aerial systems, including fixed and rotary winged platforms, can provide quick response to oil spill mapping in a variety of flight conditions, including those not well suited for manned aerial systems. We describe this collaborative research between the University and oil companies exploring and developing oil resources in Alaska and the Arctic.

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service research in application technology for pest management.

PubMed

Smith, L A; Thomson, S J

2003-01-01

A research summary is presented that emphasizes ARS achievements in application technology over the past 2-3 years. Research focused on the improvement of agricultural pesticide application is important from the standpoint of crop protection as well as environmental safety. Application technology research is being actively pursued within the ARS, with a primary focus on application system development, drift management, efficacy enhancement and remote sensing. Research on application systems has included sensor-controlled hooded sprayers, new approaches to direct chemical injection, and aerial electrostatic sprayers. For aerial application, great improvements in on-board flow controllers permit accurate field application of chemicals. Aircraft parameters such as boom position and spray release height are being altered to determine their effect on drift. Other drift management research has focused on testing of low-drift nozzles, evaluation of pulsed spray technologies and evaluation of drift control adjuvants. Research on the use of air curtain sprayers in orchards, air-assist sprayers for row crops and vegetables, and air deflectors on aircraft has documented improvements in application efficacy. Research has shown that the fate of applied chemicals is influenced by soil properties, and this has implications for herbicide efficacy and dissipation in the environment. Remote sensing systems are being used to target areas in the field where pests are present so that spray can be directed to only those areas. Soil and crop conditions influence propensity for weeds and insects to proliferate in any given field area. Research has indicated distinct field patterns favorable for weed growth and insect concentration, which can provide further assistance for targeted spraying.

Risk and safety analysis for Florida commercial aerial application operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robbins, John Michael

The purpose of this study was to determine self-reported perceptions in the areas of agroterrorism, bioterrorism, chemical exposure and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight. The aerial application industry has been in existence since the 1920's with a gamut of issues ranging from pesticide drift to counterterrorism. The attacks of September 11th, 2001, caused a paradigm shift in the way the United States views security and, more importantly, the prevention of malicious activity. Through the proper implementation and dissemination of educational materials dealing with industry specific concerns, it is imperative that everyone has the proper level of resources and training to effectively manage terrorist threats. This research study was designed to interpret how aerial applicators view these topics of concern and how they perceive the current threat level of terrorism in the industry. Research results were consistent, indicating that a high number of aerial applicators in the state of Florida are concerned with these topics. As a result, modifications need to be made with respect to certain variables. The aerial application industry works day in and day out to provide a professional service that helps maintain the integrity of the food and commodities that we need to survive. They are a small percentage of the aviation community that we all owe a great deal for the vital and necessary services they provide.

Aerial ULV application of permethrin against adult mosquitoes over open field and medium density canopy habitat in a hot-temperate zone

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Although aerial ULV application of adulticides is a common adult mosquito control strategy, not enough is known about the fate of the pesticide or its efficacy over different habitats. Dye labeling of droplets is used to evaluate ULV applications, and, by inference, their efficacy. Placement of cage...

Aerial monitoring in active mud volcano by UAV technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pisciotta, Antonino; Capasso, Giorgio; Madonia, Paolo

2016-04-01

UAV photogrammetry opens various new applications in the close range domain, combining aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry, but also introduces low-cost alternatives to the classical manned aerial photogrammetry. Between 2014 and 2015 tree aerial surveys have been carried out. Using a quadrotor drone, equipped with a compact camera, it was possible to generate high resolution elevation models and orthoimages of The "Salinelle", an active mud volcanoes area, located in territory of Paternò (South Italy). The main risks are related to the damages produced by paroxysmal events. Mud volcanoes show different cyclic phases of activity, including catastrophic events and periods of relative quiescence characterized by moderate activity. Ejected materials often are a mud slurry of fine solids suspended in liquids which may include water and hydrocarbon fluids, the bulk of released gases are carbon dioxide, with some methane and nitrogen, usually pond-shaped of variable dimension (from centimeters to meters in diameter). The scope of the presented work is the performance evaluation of a UAV system that was built to rapidly and autonomously acquire mobile three-dimensional (3D) mapping data in a volcanic monitoring scenario.

Development of Autonomous Optimal Cooperative Control in Relay Rover Configured Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan that identified small unmanned aerial systems ( SUAS ) as “a profound technological...advances in small unmanned aerial systems ( SUAS ) cooperative control. The end state objective of the research effort was to flight test an autonomous...requirements were captured in the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Plan . The flight plan

Identifying Contingency Requirements using Obstacle Analysis on an Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lutz, Robyn R.; Nelson, Stacy; Patterson-Hine, Ann; Frost, Chad R.; Tal, Doron

2005-01-01

This paper describes experience using Obstacle Analysis to identify contingency requirements on an unpiloted aerial vehicle. A contingency is an operational anomaly, and may or may not involve component failure. The challenges to this effort were: ( I ) rapid evolution of the system while operational, (2) incremental autonomy as capabilities were transferred from ground control to software control and (3) the eventual safety-criticality of such systems as they begin to fly over populated areas. The results reported here are preliminary but show that Obstacle Analysis helped (1) identify new contingencies that appeared as autonomy increased; (2) identify new alternatives for handling both previously known and new contingencies; and (3) investigate the continued validity of existing software requirements for contingency handling. Since many mobile, intelligent systems are built using a development process that poses the same challenges, the results appear to have applicability to other similar systems.

Reducing pesticide drift by considering propeller rotation effects from aerial application and near buffer zones

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Off-target drift of chemical from agricultural spraying can damage sensitive crops, destroy beneficial insects, and intrude on human and domestic animal habitats, threatening environmental quality. Reduction of drift from aerial application can be facilitated at the edge of a field by offsetting spr...

Effect of 2,4-D and atrazine when applied with glyphosate ripener

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Management of late-season morningglory infestations in sugarcane is accomplished with aerial applications of the postemergence herbicides 2,4-D, dicamba, or atrazine. Likewise, the aerial application of glyphosate prior to harvest to improve stalk sucrose levels is a common practice for many Louisia...

Applications of unmanned aerial vehicles in weed science

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

For most producers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are a novelty that has been little employed in their agricultural operations. An UAV will not fix every problem on the farm, but there are some practical applications for which UAVs have demonstrated value. Three examples of how UAVs have been used...

Aerial ULV application of Dibrom against Aedes aegypti in simulated urban and rural residences

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Reaching endophilic Aedes aegypti mosquito vectors of dengue located in human residences with aerial ULV pesticide applications is a prominent complication in operational wide area public health mosquito control activities. We conducted separate trials with a military C-130 fixed wing aircraft fitte...

NASA Agricultural Aircraft Research Program in the Langley Vortex Research Facility and the Langley Full Scale Wind Tunnel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jordan, F. L., Jr.; Mclemore, H. C.; Bragg, M. B.

1978-01-01

The current status of aerial applications technology research at the Langley's Vortex Research Facility and Full-Scale Wind Tunnel is reviewed. Efforts have been directed mainly toward developing and validating the required experimental and theoretical research tools. A capability to simulate aerial dispersal of materials from agricultural airplanes with small-scale airplane models, numerical methods, and dynamically scaled test particles was demonstrated. Tests on wake modification concepts have proved the feasibility of tailoring wake properties aerodynamically to produce favorable changes in deposition and to provide drift control. An aerodynamic evaluation of the Thrush Commander 800 agricultural airplane with various dispersal systems installed is described. A number of modifications intended to provide system improvement to both airplane and dispersal system are examined, and a technique for documenting near-field spray characteristics is evaluated.

Mini-Uav LIDAR for Power Line Inspection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, G. E.; Zhou, M.; Li, C. R.; Wu, H. H.; Li, W.; Meng, F. R.; Zhou, C. C.; Ma, L.

2017-09-01

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) recently are in rapid advancement, meanwhile portable and flexible mini-UAV-borne laser scanners have been a hot research field, especially for the complex terrain survey in the mountains and other areas. This study proposes a power line inspection system solution based on mini-UAV-borne LIDAR system-AOEagle, developed by Academy of Opto-Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, which mounted on a Multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle for complex terrain survey according to real test. Furthermore, the point cloud data was explored to validate its applicability for power line inspection, in terms of corridor and line laser point clouds; deformation detection of power towers, etc. The feasibility and advantages of AOEagle have been demonstrated by the promising results based on the real-measured data in the field of power line inspection.

The Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle Impact on Sustainment Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-09

Artificial Intelligence , Sustainment Operations, Rifle Company, Autonomous Aerial Resupply, Joint Tactical Autonomous Aerial Resupply System 16...Integrations and Development System AI Artificial Intelligence ARCIC Army Capabilities Integration Center ARDEC Armament Research, Development and...semi- autonomous systems, and fully autonomous systems. Autonomy of machines depends on sophisticated software, including Artificial Intelligence

The Development Status and Key Technologies of Solar Powered Unmanned Air Vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sai, Li; Wei, Zhou; Xueren, Wang

2017-03-01

By analyzing the development status of several typical solar powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) at home and abroad, the key technologies involved in the design and manufacture of solar powered UAV and the technical difficulties need to be solved at present are obtained. It is pointed out that with the improvement of energy system efficiency, advanced aerodynamic configuration design, realization of high applicability flight stability and control system, breakthrough of efficient propulsion system, the application prospect of solar powered UAV will be more extensive.

Evaluation of orthomosics and digital surface models derived from aerial imagery for crop mapping

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Orthomosics derived from aerial imagery acquired by consumer-grade cameras have been used for crop mapping. However, digital surface models (DSM) derived from aerial imagery have not been evaluated for this application. In this study, a novel method was proposed to extract crop height from DSM and t...

AERIAL MEASURING SYSTEM IN JAPAN

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lyons, Craig; Colton, David

2012-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Agency’s Aerial Measuring System deployed personnel and equipment to partner with the U.S. Air Force in Japan to conduct multiple aerial radiological surveys. These were the first and most comprehensive sources of actionable information for U.S. interests in Japan and provided early confirmation to the government of Japan as to the extent of the release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Generation Station. Many challenges were overcome quickly during the first 48 hours; including installation and operation of Aerial Measuring System equipment on multiple U.S. Air Force Japan aircraft, flying over difficultmore » terrain, and flying with talented pilots who were unfamiliar with the Aerial Measuring System flight patterns. These all combined to make for a dynamic and non-textbook situation. In addition, the data challenges of the multiple and on-going releases, and integration with the Japanese government to provide valid aerial radiological survey products that both military and civilian customers could use to make informed decisions, was extremely complicated. The Aerial Measuring System Fukushima response provided insight in addressing these challenges and gave way to an opportunity for the expansion of the Aerial Measuring System’s mission beyond the borders of the US.« less

Coordination in Distributed Intelligent Systems Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-13

working in the area of Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) unanimously endorses the idea that coordination - a fundamental paradigm - represents a...using the distributed artificial intelligence paradigm. Section 4 discusses the healthcare applications. On the other hand, Section 5 describes...coordination mechanisms should be used is in the control of swarms of UA Vs (unmanned aerial vehicles). The UAVs are considered in this case as highly mobile

The Role of Aerospace Technology in Agriculture. The 1977 Summer Faculty Fellowship Program in Engineering Systems Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

Possibilities were examined for improving agricultural productivity through the application of aerospace technology. An overview of agriculture and of the problems of feeding a growing world population are presented. The present state of agriculture, of plant and animal culture, and agri-business are reviewed. Also analyzed are the various systems for remote sensing, particularly applications to agriculture. The report recommends additional research and technology in the areas of aerial application of chemicals, of remote sensing systems, of weather and climate investigations, and of air vehicle design. Also considered in detail are the social, legal, economic, and political results of intensification of technical applications to agriculture.

Uncooled microbolometer sensors for unattended applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohin, Margaret; Miller, James E.; Leary, Arthur R.; Backer, Brian S.; Swift, William; Aston, Peter

2003-09-01

BAE SYSTEMS has been developing and producing uncooled microbolometer sensors since 1995. Recently, uncooled sensors have been used on Pointer Unattended Aerial Vehicles and considered for several unattended sensor applications including DARPA Micro-Internetted Unattended Ground Sensors (MIUGS), Army Modular Acoustic Imaging Sensors (MAIS), and Redeployable Unattended Ground Sensors (R-UGS). This paper describes recent breakthrough uncooled sensor performance at BAE SYSTEMS and how this improved performance has been applied to a new Standard Camera Core (SCC) that is ideal for these unattended applications. Video imagery from a BAE SYSTEMS 640x480 imaging camera flown in a Pointer UAV is provided. Recent performance results are also provided.

Infrared search and track performance estimates for detection of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicholas, Robert; Driggers, Ronald; Shelton, David; Furxhi, Orges

2018-04-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become more readily available in the past 5 years and are proliferating rapidly. New aviation regulations are accelerating the use of UAVs in many applications. As a result, there are increasing concerns of potential air threats in situational environments including commercial airport security and drug trafficking. In this study, radiometric signatures of commercially available miniature UAVs is determined for long-wave infrared (LWIR) bands in both clear sky and partial cloudy conditions. Results are presented that compare LWIR performance estimates for the detection of commercial UAVs via infrared search and track (IRST) systems with two candidate sensors.

Behavioral changes from chronic exposure to pesticides used in aerial application : effects of Phosdrin on the performance of monkeys and pigeons on variable interval reinforcement schedules.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1972-08-01

The need for study of behavioral difficulties resulting from exposure to pesticides is based upon reports of behavioral difficulties in aerial applicators following organophosphate poisoning and is underscored by a recent plane crash of a cropduster ...

Approach for Autonomous Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using Intelligent Agents for Knowledge Creation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2004-01-01

This paper describes the development of a planned approach for Autonomous operation of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A Hybrid approach will seek to provide Knowledge Generation thru the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Agents (IA) for UAV control. The application of many different types of AI techniques for flight will be explored during this research effort. The research concentration will be directed to the application of different AI methods within the UAV arena. By evaluating AI approaches, which will include Expert Systems, Neural Networks, Intelligent Agents, Fuzzy Logic, and Complex Adaptive Systems, a new insight may be gained into the benefits of AI techniques applied to achieving true autonomous operation of these systems thus providing new intellectual merit to this research field. The major area of discussion will be limited to the UAV. The systems of interest include small aircraft, insects, and miniature aircraft. Although flight systems will be explored, the benefits should apply to many Unmanned Vehicles such as: Rovers, Ocean Explorers, Robots, and autonomous operation systems. The flight system will be broken down into control agents that will represent the intelligent agent approach used in AI. After the completion of a successful approach, a framework of applying a Security Overseer will be added in an attempt to address errors, emergencies, failures, damage, or over dynamic environment. The chosen control problem was the landing phase of UAV operation. The initial results from simulation in FlightGear are presented.

Three scales of aerial photography compared for making stand measurements

Treesearch

Earl J. Rogers; Gene Avery; Roy A. Chapman

1959-01-01

Three scales of aerial photography were tested in an attempt to determine the best scale to use in forest surveying. This was done by comparing photo measurements of average tree height, average crown diameter, and crown-closure percent. These stand variables were selected for testing because of their applicability in making aerial estimates of timber volume.

Archeological Surveys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

NASA remote sensing technology is being employed in archeological studies of the Anasazi Indians, who lived in New Mexico one thousand years ago. Under contract with the National Park Service, NASA's Technology Applications Center at the University of New Mexico is interpreting multispectral scanner data and demonstrating how aerospace scanning techniques can uncover features of prehistoric ruins not visible in conventional aerial photographs. The Center's initial study focused on Chaco Canyon, a pre-Columbia Anasazi site in northeastern New Mexico. Chaco Canyon is a national monument and it has been well explored on the ground and by aerial photography. But the National Park Service was interested in the potential of multispectral scanning for producing evidence of prehistoric roads, field patterns and dwelling areas not discernible in aerial photographs. The multispectral scanner produces imaging data in the invisible as well as the visible portions of the spectrum. This data is converted to pictures which bring out features not visible to the naked eye or to cameras. The Technology Applications Center joined forces with Bendix Aerospace Systems Division, Ann Arbor, Michigan, which provided a scanner-equipped airplane for mapping the Chaco Canyon area. The NASA group processed the scanner images and employed computerized image enhancement techniques to bring out additional detail.

Evaluation of Routine Atmospheric Sounding Measurements using Unmanned Systems (ERASMUS) Science Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

de Boer, G; Argrow, B; Bland, G

2015-12-01

The use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) is becoming increasingly popular for a variety of applications. One way in which these systems can provide revolutionary scientific information is through routine measurement of atmospheric conditions, particularly properties related to clouds, aerosols, and radiation. Improved understanding of these topics at high latitudes, in particular, has become very relevant because of observed decreases in ice and snow in polar regions.

The Performance Analysis of a Uav Based Mobile Mapping System Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, M. L.; Chiang, K. W.; Lo, C. F.; Ch, C. H.

2013-08-01

To facilitate applications such as environment detection or disaster monitoring, the development of rapid low cost systems for collecting near real-time spatial information is very critical. Rapid spatial information collection has become an emerging trend for remote sensing and mapping applications. This study develops a Direct Georeferencing (DG) based fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetric platform where an Inertial Navigation System (INS)/Global Positioning System (GPS) integrated Positioning and Orientation System (POS) system is implemented to provide the DG capability of the platform. The performance verification indicates that the proposed platform can capture aerial images successfully. A flight test is performed to verify the positioning accuracy in DG mode without using Ground Control Points (GCP). The preliminary results illustrate that horizontal DG positioning accuracies in the x and y axes are around 5 m with 300 m flight height. The positioning accuracy in the z axis is less than 10 m. Such accuracy is good for near real-time disaster relief. The DG ready function of proposed platform guarantees mapping and positioning capability even in GCP free environments, which is very important for rapid urgent response for disaster relief. Generally speaking, the data processing time for the DG module, including POS solution generalization, interpolation, Exterior Orientation Parameters (EOP) generation, and feature point measurements, is less than one hour.

Low-cost inflatable lighter-than-air surveillance system for civilian applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiddy, Jason S.; Chen, Peter C.; Niemczuk, John B.

2002-08-01

Today's society places an extremely high price on the value of human life and injury. Whenever possible, police and paramilitary actions are always directed towards saving as many lives as possible, whether it is the officer, perpetrator, or innocent civilians. Recently, the advent of robotic systems has enable law enforcement agencies to perform many of the most dangerous aspects of their jobs from relative safety. This is especially true to bomb disposal units but it is also gaining acceptance in other areas. An area where small, remotely operated machines may prove effective is in local aerial surveillance. Currently, the only aerial surveillance assets generally available to law enforcement agencies are costly helicopters. Unfortunately, most of the recently developed unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are directed towards military applications and have limited civilian use. Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) has conceived and performed a preliminary analysis of a low-cost, inflatable, lighter- than-air surveillance system that may be used in a number of military and law enforcement surveillance situations. The preliminary analysis includes the concept definition, a detailed trade study to determine the optimal configuration of the surveillance system, high-pressure inflation tests, and a control analysis. This paper will provide the details in these areas of the design and provide an insight into the feasibility of such a system.

Airborne pathogens from dairy manure aerial irrigation and the human health risk

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Application of liquid dairy manure by traveling gun or center pivot irrigation systems is becoming more common in Wisconsin because it offers several potential benefits: reduced road impacts from hauling, optimal timing for crop nutrient uptake, and reduced risks of manure runoff and groundwater con...

Method of interpretation of remotely sensed data and applications to land use

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parada, N. D. J. (Principal Investigator); Dossantos, A. P.; Foresti, C.; Demoraesnovo, E. M. L.; Niero, M.; Lombardo, M. A.

1981-01-01

Instructional material describing a methodology of remote sensing data interpretation and examples of applicatons to land use survey are presented. The image interpretation elements are discussed for different types of sensor systems: aerial photographs, radar, and MSS/LANDSAT. Visual and automatic LANDSAT image interpretation is emphasized.

The Role of Unmanned Aerial Systems/Sensors in Air Quality Research

EPA Science Inventory

The use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) for a variety of scientific and security purposes has rapidly increased. UASs include aerostats (tethered balloons) and remotely controlled, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) including lighter-than-air vessels, fixed wing airplanes, and he...

The Role of Unmanned Aerial Systems-Sensors in Air Quality Research

EPA Science Inventory

The use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and miniaturized sensors for a variety of scientific and security purposes has rapidly increased. UASs include aerostats (tethered balloons) and remotely controlled, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) including lighter-than-air vessels, fix...

Modelling and Closed-Loop System Identification of a Quadrotor-Based Aerial Manipulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dube, Chioniso; Pedro, Jimoh O.

2018-05-01

This paper presents the modelling and system identification of a quadrotor-based aerial manipulator. The aerial manipulator model is first derived analytically using the Newton-Euler formulation for the quadrotor and Recursive Newton-Euler formulation for the manipulator. The aerial manipulator is then simulated with the quadrotor under Proportional Derivative (PD) control, with the manipulator in motion. The simulation data is then used for system identification of the aerial manipulator. Auto Regressive with eXogenous inputs (ARX) models are obtained from the system identification for linear accelerations \\ddot{X} and \\ddot{Y} and yaw angular acceleration \\ddot{\\psi }. For linear acceleration \\ddot{Z}, and pitch and roll angular accelerations \\ddot{θ } and \\ddot{φ }, Auto Regressive Moving Average with eXogenous inputs (ARMAX) models are identified.

Progress on Platforms, Sensors and Applications with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in soil science and geomorphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anders, Niels; Suomalainen, Juha; Seeger, Manuel; Keesstra, Saskia; Bartholomeus, Harm; Paron, Paolo

2014-05-01

The recent increase of performance and endurance of electronically controlled flying platforms, such as multi-copters and fixed-wing airplanes, and decreasing size and weight of different sensors and batteries leads to increasing popularity of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for scientific purposes. Modern workflows that implement UAS include guided flight plan generation, 3D GPS navigation for fully automated piloting, and automated processing with new techniques such as "Structure from Motion" photogrammetry. UAS are often equipped with normal RGB cameras, multi- and hyperspectral sensors, radar, or other sensors, and provide a cheap and flexible solution for creating multi-temporal data sets. UAS revolutionized multi-temporal research allowing new applications related to change analysis and process monitoring. The EGU General Assembly 2014 is hosting a session on platforms, sensors and applications with UAS in soil science and geomorphology. This presentation briefly summarizes the outcome of this session, addressing the current state and future challenges of small-platform data acquisition in soil science and geomorphology.

Application of Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauer, Frank H. (Technical Monitor); Dufrene, Warren R., Jr.

2003-01-01

This paper describes the development of an application of Artificial Intelligence for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) control. The project was done as part of the requirements for a class in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Nova southeastern University and as an adjunct to a project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility for a resilient, robust, and intelligent UAV flight control system. A method is outlined which allows a base level application for applying an AI method, Fuzzy Logic, to aspects of Control Logic for UAV flight. One element of UAV flight, automated altitude hold, has been implemented and preliminary results displayed. A low cost approach was taken using freeware, gnu, software, and demo programs. The focus of this research has been to outline some of the AI techniques used for UAV flight control and discuss some of the tools used to apply AI techniques. The intent is to succeed with the implementation of applying AI techniques to actually control different aspects of the flight of an UAV.

Investigation of selected imagery from SKYLAB/EREP S190 system for medium and small scale mapping

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, R. A.

1975-01-01

Satellite photography provided by the Skylab mission was investigated as a tool in planimetric mapping at medium and small scales over land surface in Canada. The main interest involved the potential usage of Skylab imagery for new and revision line mapping, photomapping possibilities, and the application of this photography as control for conventional high altitude aerial surveys. The results of six independent investigations clearly indicate that certain selected sets of this photography are adequate for planimetric mapping purposes at scales of 1:250,000 and smaller. In limited cases, the NATO planimetric accuracy requirements for Class B 1:50,000 scale mapping were also achieved. Of the S190A photography system, the camera containing the Pan X Aerial Black and White film offers the greatest potential to mapping at small scales. However, the S190B system continually proved to offer more versatility throughout the entire investigation.

Decentralized asset management for collaborative sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malhotra, Raj P.; Pribilski, Michael J.; Toole, Patrick A.; Agate, Craig

2017-05-01

There has been increased impetus to leverage Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) for collaborative sensing applications in which many platforms work together to provide critical situation awareness in dynamic environments. Such applications require critical sensor observations to be made at the right place and time to facilitate the detection, tracking, and classification of ground-based objects. This further requires rapid response to real-world events and the balancing of multiple, competing mission objectives. In this context, human operators become overwhelmed with management of many platforms. Further, current automated planning paradigms tend to be centralized and don't scale up well to many collaborating platforms. We introduce a decentralized approach based upon information-theory and distributed fusion which enable us to scale up to large numbers of collaborating Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) platforms. This is exercised against a military application involving the autonomous detection, tracking, and classification of critical mobile targets. We further show that, based upon monte-carlo simulation results, our decentralized approach out-performs more static management strategies employed by human operators and achieves similar results to a centralized approach while being scalable and robust to degradation of communication. Finally, we describe the limitations of our approach and future directions for our research.

A Framework for Safe Integration of Small UAS Into the NAS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Logan, Michael J.; Bland, Geoffrey; Murray, Jennifer

2011-01-01

This paper discusses a proposed framework for the safe integration of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). The paper examines the potential uses of sUAS to build an understanding of the location and frequency of potential future flight operations based on the future applications of the sUAS systems. The paper then examines the types of systems that would be required to meet the application-level demand to determine classes of platforms and operations. Finally, a framework is proposed for both airworthiness and operations that attempts to balance safety with utility for these important systems.

Applying Lessons Learned from Space Safety to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Risk Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devoid, Wayne E.

2013-09-01

This paper will examine the application of current orbital launch risk methodology to assessing risk for unmanned aerial vehicle flights over populated areas. Major differences, such as the added complexity of lifting bodies, accounting for pilots-in-the-loop, and the complexity of using current population data to estimate risk for unmanned aerial vehicles, will be highlighted.

Characterization of in-swath spray deposition for CP-11TT flat-fan nozzles used in low volume aerial application of crop production and protection materials

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

For aerial application of crop production and protection materials, a complex interaction of controllable and uncontrollable factors is involved. It is difficult to completely characterize spray drift and deposition, but estimates can be made with appropriate sampling protocol and analysis. With c...

Determination of differences in crop injury from aerial application of glyphosate using vegetation indices and geostatistics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Injury to crops caused by off-target drift of glyphosate can seriously reduce growth and yield, and is of great concern to farmers and aerial applicators. Determining an indirect method for assessing the levels and extent of crop injury could support management decisions. The objectives of this stud...

Review of U.S. Army Unmanned Aerial Systems Accident Reports: Analysis of Human Error Contributions

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-20

USAARL Report No. 2018-08 Review of U.S. Army Unmanned Aerial Systems Accident Reports: Analysis of Human Error Contributions By Kathryn A...3 Statistical Analysis Approach ..............................................................................................3 Results...1 Introduction The success of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operations relies upon a variety of factors, including, but not limited to

Automated geo/ortho registered aerial imagery product generation using the mapping system interface card (MSIC)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bratcher, Tim; Kroutil, Robert; Lanouette, André; Lewis, Paul E.; Miller, David; Shen, Sylvia; Thomas, Mark

2013-05-01

The development concept paper for the MSIC system was first introduced in August 2012 by these authors. This paper describes the final assembly, testing, and commercial availability of the Mapping System Interface Card (MSIC). The 2.3kg MSIC is a self-contained, compact variable configuration, low cost real-time precision metadata annotator with embedded INS/GPS designed specifically for use in small aircraft. The MSIC was specifically designed to convert commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) digital cameras and imaging/non-imaging spectrometers with Camera Link standard data streams into mapping systems for airborne emergency response and scientific remote sensing applications. COTS digital cameras and imaging/non-imaging spectrometers covering the ultraviolet through long-wave infrared wavelengths are important tools now readily available and affordable for use by emergency responders and scientists. The MSIC will significantly enhance the capability of emergency responders and scientists by providing a direct transformation of these important COTS sensor tools into low-cost real-time aerial mapping systems.

NASA Applications of Structural Health Monitoring Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richards, W Lance; Madaras, Eric I.; Prosser, William H.; Studor, George

2013-01-01

This presentation provides examples of research and development that has recently or is currently being conducted at NASA, with a special emphasis on the application of structural health monitoring (SHM) of aerospace vehicles. SHM applications on several vehicle programs are highlighted, including Space Shuttle Orbiter, International Space Station, Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles, and Expandable Launch Vehicles. Examples of current and previous work are presented in the following categories: acoustic emission impact detection, multi-parameter fiber optic strain-based sensing, wireless sensor system development, and distributed leak detection.

NASA Applications of Structural Health Monitoring Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richards, W Lance; Madaras, Eric I.; Prosser, William H.; Studor, George

2013-01-01

This presentation provides examples of research and development that has recently or is currently being conducted at NASA, with a special emphasis on the application of structural health monitoring (SHM) of aerospace vehicles. SHM applications on several vehicle programs are highlighted, including Space Shuttle Orbiter, the International Space Station, Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles, and Expendable Launch Vehicles. Examples of current and previous work are presented in the following categories: acoustic emission impact detection, multi-parameter fiber optic strain-based sensing, wireless sensor system development, and distributed leak detection.

Online Aerial Terrain Mapping for Ground Robot Navigation

PubMed Central

Peterson, John; Chaudhry, Haseeb; Abdelatty, Karim; Bird, John; Kochersberger, Kevin

2018-01-01

This work presents a collaborative unmanned aerial and ground vehicle system which utilizes the aerial vehicle’s overhead view to inform the ground vehicle’s path planning in real time. The aerial vehicle acquires imagery which is assembled into a orthomosaic and then classified. These terrain classes are used to estimate relative navigation costs for the ground vehicle so energy-efficient paths may be generated and then executed. The two vehicles are registered in a common coordinate frame using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS) and all image processing is performed onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle, which minimizes the data exchanged between the vehicles. This paper describes the architecture of the system and quantifies the registration errors between the vehicles. PMID:29461496

Online Aerial Terrain Mapping for Ground Robot Navigation.

PubMed

Peterson, John; Chaudhry, Haseeb; Abdelatty, Karim; Bird, John; Kochersberger, Kevin

2018-02-20

This work presents a collaborative unmanned aerial and ground vehicle system which utilizes the aerial vehicle's overhead view to inform the ground vehicle's path planning in real time. The aerial vehicle acquires imagery which is assembled into a orthomosaic and then classified. These terrain classes are used to estimate relative navigation costs for the ground vehicle so energy-efficient paths may be generated and then executed. The two vehicles are registered in a common coordinate frame using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS) and all image processing is performed onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle, which minimizes the data exchanged between the vehicles. This paper describes the architecture of the system and quantifies the registration errors between the vehicles.

Automated aerial image based CD metrology initiated by pattern marking with photomask layout data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Grant; Choi, Sun Young; Jung, Eui Hee; Seyfarth, Arne; van Doornmalen, Hans; Poortinga, Eric

2007-05-01

The photomask is a critical element in the lithographic image transfer process from the drawn layout to the final structures on the wafer. The non-linearity of the imaging process and the related MEEF impose a tight control requirement on the photomask critical dimensions. Critical dimensions can be measured in aerial images with hardware emulation. This is a more recent complement to the standard scanning electron microscope measurement of wafers and photomasks. Aerial image measurement includes non-linear, 3-dimensional, and materials effects on imaging that cannot be observed directly by SEM measurement of the mask. Aerial image measurement excludes the processing effects of printing and etching on the wafer. This presents a unique contribution to the difficult process control and modeling tasks in mask making. In the past, aerial image measurements have been used mainly to characterize the printability of mask repair sites. Development of photomask CD characterization with the AIMS TM tool was motivated by the benefit of MEEF sensitivity and the shorter feedback loop compared to wafer exposures. This paper describes a new application that includes: an improved interface for the selection of meaningful locations using the photomask and design layout data with the Calibre TM Metrology Interface, an automated recipe generation process, an automated measurement process, and automated analysis and result reporting on a Carl Zeiss AIMS TM system.

CMOS Imaging Sensor Technology for Aerial Mapping Cameras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neumann, Klaus; Welzenbach, Martin; Timm, Martin

2016-06-01

In June 2015 Leica Geosystems launched the first large format aerial mapping camera using CMOS sensor technology, the Leica DMC III. This paper describes the motivation to change from CCD sensor technology to CMOS for the development of this new aerial mapping camera. In 2002 the DMC first generation was developed by Z/I Imaging. It was the first large format digital frame sensor designed for mapping applications. In 2009 Z/I Imaging designed the DMC II which was the first digital aerial mapping camera using a single ultra large CCD sensor to avoid stitching of smaller CCDs. The DMC III is now the third generation of large format frame sensor developed by Z/I Imaging and Leica Geosystems for the DMC camera family. It is an evolution of the DMC II using the same system design with one large monolithic PAN sensor and four multi spectral camera heads for R,G, B and NIR. For the first time a 391 Megapixel large CMOS sensor had been used as PAN chromatic sensor, which is an industry record. Along with CMOS technology goes a range of technical benefits. The dynamic range of the CMOS sensor is approx. twice the range of a comparable CCD sensor and the signal to noise ratio is significantly better than with CCDs. Finally results from the first DMC III customer installations and test flights will be presented and compared with other CCD based aerial sensors.

Assimilating Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting (TAMDAR) Observations and the Relative Value of Other Observation Types

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-08-01

Using real-time weather data from an unmanned aircraft system to support the advanced research version of the weather research and forecast model... system that is used to transmit some MDCRS observations, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS). A new network of aircraft ...Technical Analysis and Applications Center, and AirDat LLC developed a modified TAMDAR sensor referred to as TAMDAR- Unmanned Aerial System (TAMDAR-U) for

3D measurement by digital photogrammetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, Carl T.

1993-12-01

Photogrammetry is well known in geodetic surveys as aerial photogrammetry or close range applications as architectural photogrammetry. The photogrammetric methods and algorithms combined with digital cameras and digital image processing methods are now introduced for industrial applications as automation and quality control. The presented paper will describe the photogrammetric and digital image processing algorithms and the calibration methods. These algorithms and methods were demonstrated with application examples. These applications are a digital photogrammetric workstation as a mobil multi purpose 3D measuring tool and a tube measuring system as an example for a single purpose tool.

Precision Relative Positioning for Automated Aerial Refueling from a Stereo Imaging System

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

PRECISION RELATIVE POSITIONING FOR AUTOMATED AERIAL REFUELING FROM A STEREO IMAGING SYSTEM THESIS Kyle P. Werner, 2Lt, USAF AFIT-ENG-MS-15-M-048...REFUELING FROM A STEREO IMAGING SYSTEM THESIS Presented to the Faculty Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate School of...RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. AFIT-ENG-MS-15-M-048 PRECISION RELATIVE POSITIONING FOR AUTOMATED AERIAL REFUELING FROM A STEREO IMAGING SYSTEM THESIS

Aerial Refueling Boom/Receptacle Guide

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-28

Alleviation System; AR – Aerial Refueling; IDS – Independent Disconnect System; PDL – Pilot Director Lights; PSIG – Pounds per square inch gauge; TMF...proprietary, sensitive, classified or otherwise restricted information. ARSAG documents, as prepared, are not DOD, MOD or NATO standards, but provide...Boom Nozzle Disconnect Provisions, Aerial Refueling Fuel System and Tanker Aids and Cues for the Receiver Aircraft. Also included are Receiver

The UAV take-off and landing system used for small areas of mobile vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Tian-Yu; Duanmu, Qing-Duo; Wu, Bo-Qi

2018-03-01

In order to realize an UAV formation cluster system based on the current GPS and the fault and insufficiency of Beidou integrated navigation system in strong jamming environment. Due to the impact of the compass on the plane crash, navigation system error caused by the mobile area to help reduce the need for large landing sites and not in the small fast moving area to achieve the reality of the landing. By using Strapdown inertial and all-optical system to form Composite UAV flight control system, the photoelectric composite strapdown inertial coupling is realized, and through the laser and microwave telemetry link compound communication mechanism, using all-optical strapdown inertial and visual navigation system to solve the deviation of take-off and landing caused by electromagnetic interference, all-optical bidirectional data link realizes two-way position correction of landing site and aircraft, thus achieves the accurate recovery of UAV formation cluster in the mobile narrow area which the traditional navigation system can't realize. This system is a set of efficient unmanned aerial vehicle Group Take-off/descending system, which is suitable for many tasks, and not only realizes the reliable continuous navigation under the complex electromagnetic interference environment, moreover, the intelligent flight and Take-off and landing of unmanned aerial vehicles relative to the fast moving and small recovery sites in complex electromagnetic interference environment can not only improve the safe operation rate of unmanned aerial vehicle, but also guarantee the operation safety of the aircraft, and the more has important social value for the application foreground of the aircraft.

Response of birds to aerial application of nucleopolyhedrosis virus of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar

Treesearch

R.A. Lautenschlager; J.D. Podgwaite

1979-01-01

Resident populations of wild birds and caged quail, Colinus virginianus L., were evaluated to detect short-term effects from aerial applications of the nucleopolyhedrosis virus (NPV) of the gypsy moth. NPV in 2 formulations was sprayed on woodland plots in central Pennsylvania. Comparisons of prespray and postspray censuses of the common birds on the...

Streamwater Contamination After Aerial Application of a Pelletized Herbicide

Treesearch

James H. Miller; A.C. Bace

1980-01-01

Concentrations of hexazinone and its metabolites were monitored in a Piedmont stream for 8 months after aerial application of a pelletized formulation (Velpar® Gridball™). Downstream water-users and fish are probably safe from toxic exposure if treatment areas have only small streams (less than 50 cm average channel width) and if labeled rates are not exceeded....

Low cost infrared and near infrared sensors for UAVs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aden, S. T.; Bialas, J. P.; Champion, Z.; Levin, E.; McCarty, J. L.

2014-11-01

Thermal remote sensing has a wide range of applications, though the extent of its use is inhibited by cost. Robotic and computer components are now widely available to consumers on a scale that makes thermal data a readily accessible resource. In this project, thermal imagery collected via a lightweight remote sensing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was used to create a surface temperature map for the purpose of providing wildland firefighting crews with a cost-effective and time-saving resource. The UAV system proved to be flexible, allowing for customized sensor packages to be designed that could include visible or infrared cameras, GPS, temperature sensors, and rangefinders, in addition to many data management options. Altogether, such a UAV system could be used to rapidly collect thermal and aerial data, with a geographic accuracy of less than one meter.

The Direct Georeferencing Application and Performance Analysis of Uav Helicopter in Gcp-Free Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lo, C. F.; Tsai, M. L.; Chiang, K. W.; Chu, C. H.; Tsai, G. J.; Cheng, C. K.; El-Sheimy, N.; Ayman, H.

2015-08-01

There are many disasters happened because the weather changes extremely in these years. To facilitate applications such as environment detection or monitoring becomes very important. Therefore, the development of rapid low cost systems for collecting near real-time spatial information is very critical. Rapid spatial information collection has become an emerging trend for remote sensing and mapping applications. This study develops a Direct Georeferencing (DG) based Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) helicopter photogrammetric platform where an Inertial Navigation System (INS)/Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) integrated Positioning and Orientation System (POS) system is implemented to provide the DG capability of the platform. The performance verification indicates that the proposed platform can capture aerial images successfully. A flight test is performed to verify the positioning accuracy in DG mode without using Ground Control Points (GCP). The preliminary results illustrate that horizontal DG positioning accuracies in the x and y axes are around 5 meter with 100 meter flight height. The positioning accuracy in the z axis is less than 10 meter. Such accuracy is good for near real-time disaster relief. The DG ready function of proposed platform guarantees mapping and positioning capability even in GCP free environments, which is very important for rapid urgent response for disaster relief. Generally speaking, the data processing time for the DG module, including POS solution generalization, interpolation, Exterior Orientation Parameters (EOP) generation, and feature point measurements, is less than 1 hour.

Contribution of aerial hyphae of Aspergillus oryzae to respiration in a model solid-state fermentation system.

PubMed

Rahardjo, Yovita S P; Weber, Frans J; le Comte, E Paul; Tramper, Johannes; Rinzema, Arjen

2002-06-05

Oxygen transfer is for two reasons a major concern in scale-up and process control in industrial application of aerobic fungal solid-state fermentation (SSF): 1) heat production is proportional to oxygen uptake and it is well known that heat removal is one of the main problems in scaled-up fermenters, and 2) oxygen supply to the mycelium on the surface of or inside the substrate particles may be hampered by diffusion limitation. This article gives the first experimental evidence that aerial hyphae are important for fungal respiration in SSF. In cultures of A. oryzae on a wheat-flour model substrate, aerial hyphae contributed up to 75% of the oxygen uptake rate by the fungus. This is due to the fact that A. oryzae forms very abundant aerial mycelium and diffusion of oxygen in the gas-filled pores of the aerial hyphae layer is rapid. It means that diffusion limitation in the densely packed mycelium layer that is formed closer to the substrate surface and that has liquid-filled pores is much less important for A. oryzae than was previously reported for R. oligosporus and C. minitans. It also means that the overall oxygen uptake rate for A. oryzae is much higher than the oxygen uptake rate that can be predicted in the densely packed mycelium layer for R. oligosporus and C. minitans. This would imply that cooling problems become more pronounced. Therefore, it is very important to clarify the physiological role of aerial hyphae in SSF. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 78: 539-544, 2002.

The NASA Dryden Flight Test Approach to an Aerial Refueling System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, Jennifer L.; Murray, James E.; Campos, Norma V.

2005-01-01

The integration of uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) into controlled airspace has generated a new era of autonomous technologies and challenges. Autonomous aerial refueling would enable UAVs to travel further distances and loiter for extended periods over time-critical targets. The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center recently has completed a flight research project directed at developing a dynamic hose and drogue system model to support the development of an automated aerial refueling system. A systematic dynamic model of the hose and drogue system would include the effects of various influences on the system, such as flight condition, hose and drogue type, tanker type and weight, receiver type, and tanker and receiver maneuvering. Using two NASA F/A-18 aircraft and a conventional hose and drogue aerial refueling store from the Navy, NASA has obtained flight research data that document the response of the hose and drogue system to these effects. Preliminary results, salient trends, and important lessons are presented

The NASA Dryden AAR Project: A Flight Test Approach to an Aerial Refueling System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, Jennifer L.; Murray, James E.; Campos, Norma V.

2004-01-01

The integration of uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) into controlled airspace has generated a new era of autonomous technologies and challenges. Autonomous aerial refueling would enable UAVs to travel further distances and loiter for extended periods over time-critical targets. The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center recently has completed a flight research project directed at developing a dynamic hose and drogue system model to support the development of an automated aerial refueling system. A systematic dynamic model of the hose and drogue system would include the effects of various influences on the system, such as flight condition, hose and drogue type, tanker type and weight, receiver type, and tanker and receiver maneuvering. Using two NASA F/A-18 aircraft and a conventional hose and drogue aerial refueling store from the Navy, NASA has obtained flight research data that document the response of the hose and drogue system to these effects. Preliminary results, salient trends, and important lessons are presented.

Application and utility of a low-cost unmanned aerial system to manage and conserve aquatic resources in four Texas rivers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Birdsong, Timothy W.; Bean, Megan; Grabowski, Timothy B.; Hardy, Thomas B.; Heard, Thomas; Holdstock, Derrick; Kollaus, Kristy; Magnelia, Stephan J.; Tolman, Kristina

2015-01-01

Low-cost unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have recently gained increasing attention in natural resources management due to their versatility and demonstrated utility in collection of high-resolution, temporally-specific geospatial data. This study applied low-cost UAS to support the geospatial data needs of aquatic resources management projects in four Texas rivers. Specifically, a UAS was used to (1) map invasive salt cedar (multiple species in the genus Tamarix) that have degraded instream habitat conditions in the Pease River, (2) map instream meso-habitats and structural habitat features (e.g., boulders, woody debris) in the South Llano River as a baseline prior to watershed-scale habitat improvements, (3) map enduring pools in the Blanco River during drought conditions to guide smallmouth bass removal efforts, and (4) quantify river use by anglers in the Guadalupe River. These four case studies represent an initial step toward assessing the full range of UAS applications in aquatic resources management, including their ability to offer potential cost savings, time efficiencies, and higher quality data over traditional survey methods.

The Development and Flight Testing of an Aerially Deployed Unmanned Aerial System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Andrew

An investigation into the feasibility of aerial deployed unmanned aerial vehicles was completed. The investigation included the development and flight testing of multiple unmanned aerial systems to investigate the different components of potential aerial deployment missions. The project consisted of two main objectives; the first objective dealt with the development of an airframe capable of surviving aerial deployment from a rocket and then self assembling from its stowed configuration into its flight configuration. The second objective focused on the development of an autopilot capable of performing basic guidance, navigation, and control following aerial deployment. To accomplish these two objectives multiple airframes were developed to verify their completion experimentally. The first portion of the project, investigating the feasibility of surviving an aerial deployment, was completed using a fixed wing glider that following a successful deployment had 52 seconds of controlled flight. Before developing the autopilot in the second phase of the project, the glider was significantly upgraded to fix faults discovered in the glider flight testing and to enhance the system capabilities. Unfortunately to conform to outdoor flight restrictions imposed by the university and the Federal Aviation Administration it was required to switch airframes before flight testing of the new fixed wing platform could begin. As a result, an autopilot was developed for a quadrotor and verified experimentally completely indoors to remain within the limits of governing policies.

Aerial Explorers and Robotic Ecosystems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, Larry A.; Pisanich, Greg

2004-01-01

A unique bio-inspired approach to autonomous aerial vehicle, a.k.a. aerial explorer technology is discussed. The work is focused on defining and studying aerial explorer mission concepts, both as an individual robotic system and as a member of a small robotic "ecosystem." Members of this robotic ecosystem include the aerial explorer, air-deployed sensors and robotic symbiotes, and other assets such as rovers, landers, and orbiters.

Integrated remotely sensed datasets for disaster management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCarthy, Timothy; Farrell, Ronan; Curtis, Andrew; Fotheringham, A. Stewart

2008-10-01

Video imagery can be acquired from aerial, terrestrial and marine based platforms and has been exploited for a range of remote sensing applications over the past two decades. Examples include coastal surveys using aerial video, routecorridor infrastructures surveys using vehicle mounted video cameras, aerial surveys over forestry and agriculture, underwater habitat mapping and disaster management. Many of these video systems are based on interlaced, television standards such as North America's NTSC and European SECAM and PAL television systems that are then recorded using various video formats. This technology has recently being employed as a front-line, remote sensing technology for damage assessment post-disaster. This paper traces the development of spatial video as a remote sensing tool from the early 1980s to the present day. The background to a new spatial-video research initiative based at National University of Ireland, Maynooth, (NUIM) is described. New improvements are proposed and include; low-cost encoders, easy to use software decoders, timing issues and interoperability. These developments will enable specialists and non-specialists collect, process and integrate these datasets within minimal support. This integrated approach will enable decision makers to access relevant remotely sensed datasets quickly and so, carry out rapid damage assessment during and post-disaster.

Draper Laboratory small autonomous aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeBitetto, Paul A.; Johnson, Eric N.; Bosse, Michael C.; Trott, Christian A.

1997-06-01

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. and students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University have cooperated to develop an autonomous aerial vehicle that won the 1996 International Aerial Robotics Competition. This paper describes the approach, system architecture and subsystem designs for the entry. This entry represents a combination of many technology areas: navigation, guidance, control, vision processing, human factors, packaging, power, real-time software, and others. The aerial vehicle, an autonomous helicopter, performs navigation and control functions using multiple sensors: differential GPS, inertial measurement unit, sonar altimeter, and a flux compass. The aerial transmits video imagery to the ground. A ground based vision processor converts the image data into target position and classification estimates. The system was designed, built, and flown in less than one year and has provided many lessons about autonomous vehicle systems, several of which are discussed. In an appendix, our current research in augmenting the navigation system with vision- based estimates is presented.

Results of laboratory testing for diphacinone in seawater, fish, invertebrates, and soil following aerial application of rodenticide on Lehua Island, Kauai County, Hawaii, January 2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Orazio, Carl E.; Tanner, Michael J.; Swenson, Chris; Herod, Jeffrey J.; Dunlevy, Peter; Gale, Robert W.

2009-01-01

In January 2009, rodenticide bait (Ramik Green pellets) containing the active ingredient diphacinone was aerially applied to Lehua Island. Reported herein are the results of laboratory analyses to determine diphacinone concentrations in samples of seawater, fillet of fish, soft tissue of limpets (opihi), whole-body crabs, and soil collected from Lehua Island, Kauai County, Hawaii, after aerial application of the rodenticide bait. Diphacinone was specifically chosen because of its low toxicity to nontarget organisms. Its use on Lehua Island is the second time it has ever been used for an aerial application to eradicate rodents. Testing of the Lehua Island samples for diphacinone utilized high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. No detectable concentrations of diphacinone were found in any of the samples from Lehua Island. The limits of detection for diphacinone were 0.4 nanograms per milliliter (parts per billion) seawater, 15 nanograms per gram (dry weight) soil, 20 nanograms per gram (parts per billion) fish fillet, 13 nanograms per gram whole crab, and 34 nanograms per gram soft tissue limpet.

Aerial 3D display by use of a 3D-shaped screen with aerial imaging by retro-reflection (AIRR)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurokawa, Nao; Ito, Shusei; Yamamoto, Hirotsugu

2017-06-01

The purpose of this paper is to realize an aerial 3D display. We design optical system that employs a projector below a retro-reflector and a 3D-shaped screen. A floating 3D image is formed with aerial imaging by retro-reflection (AIRR). Our proposed system is composed of a 3D-shaped screen, a projector, a quarter-wave retarder, a retro-reflector, and a reflective polarizer. Because AIRR forms aerial images that are plane-symmetric of the light sources regarding the reflective polarizer, the shape of the 3D screen is inverted from a desired aerial 3D image. In order to expand viewing angle, the 3D-shaped screen is surrounded by a retro-reflector. In order to separate the aerial image from reflected lights on the retro- reflector surface, the retro-reflector is tilted by 30 degrees. A projector is located below the retro-reflector at the same height of the 3D-shaped screen. The optical axis of the projector is orthogonal to the 3D-shaped screen. Scattered light on the 3D-shaped screen forms the aerial 3D image. In order to demonstrate the proposed optical design, a corner-cube-shaped screen is used for the 3D-shaped screen. Thus, the aerial 3D image is a cube that is floating above the reflective polarizer. For example, an aerial green cube is formed by projecting a calculated image on the 3D-shaped screen. The green cube image is digitally inverted in depth by our developed software. Thus, we have succeeded in forming aerial 3D image with our designed optical system.

Computing the Deflection of the Vertical for Improving Aerial Surveys: A Comparison between EGM2008 and ITALGEO05 Estimates.

PubMed

Barzaghi, Riccardo; Carrion, Daniela; Pepe, Massimiliano; Prezioso, Giuseppina

2016-07-26

Recent studies on the influence of the anomalous gravity field in GNSS/INS applications have shown that neglecting the impact of the deflection of vertical in aerial surveys induces horizontal and vertical errors in the measurement of an object that is part of the observed scene; these errors can vary from a few tens of centimetres to over one meter. The works reported in the literature refer to vertical deflection values based on global geopotential model estimates. In this paper we compared this approach with the one based on local gravity data and collocation methods. In particular, denoted by ξ and η, the two mutually-perpendicular components of the deflection of the vertical vector (in the north and east directions, respectively), their values were computed by collocation in the framework of the Remove-Compute-Restore technique, applied to the gravity database used for estimating the ITALGEO05 geoid. Following this approach, these values have been computed at different altitudes that are relevant in aerial surveys. The (ξ, η) values were then also estimated using the high degree EGM2008 global geopotential model and compared with those obtained in the previous computation. The analysis of the differences between the two estimates has shown that the (ξ, η) global geopotential model estimate can be reliably used in aerial navigation applications that require the use of sensors connected to a GNSS/INS system only above a given height (e.g., 3000 m in this paper) that must be defined by simulations.

Computing the Deflection of the Vertical for Improving Aerial Surveys: A Comparison between EGM2008 and ITALGEO05 Estimates

PubMed Central

Barzaghi, Riccardo; Carrion, Daniela; Pepe, Massimiliano; Prezioso, Giuseppina

2016-01-01

Recent studies on the influence of the anomalous gravity field in GNSS/INS applications have shown that neglecting the impact of the deflection of vertical in aerial surveys induces horizontal and vertical errors in the measurement of an object that is part of the observed scene; these errors can vary from a few tens of centimetres to over one meter. The works reported in the literature refer to vertical deflection values based on global geopotential model estimates. In this paper we compared this approach with the one based on local gravity data and collocation methods. In particular, denoted by ξ and η, the two mutually-perpendicular components of the deflection of the vertical vector (in the north and east directions, respectively), their values were computed by collocation in the framework of the Remove-Compute-Restore technique, applied to the gravity database used for estimating the ITALGEO05 geoid. Following this approach, these values have been computed at different altitudes that are relevant in aerial surveys. The (ξ, η) values were then also estimated using the high degree EGM2008 global geopotential model and compared with those obtained in the previous computation. The analysis of the differences between the two estimates has shown that the (ξ, η) global geopotential model estimate can be reliably used in aerial navigation applications that require the use of sensors connected to a GNSS/INS system only above a given height (e.g., 3000 m in this paper) that must be defined by simulations. PMID:27472333

Photogrammetric mapping using unmanned aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graça, N.; Mitishita, E.; Gonçalves, J.

2014-11-01

Nowadays Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology has attracted attention for aerial photogrammetric mapping. The low cost and the feasibility to automatic flight along commanded waypoints can be considered as the main advantages of this technology in photogrammetric applications. Using GNSS/INS technologies the images are taken at the planned position of the exposure station and the exterior orientation parameters (position Xo, Yo, Zo and attitude ω, φ, χ) of images can be direct determined. However, common UAVs (off-the-shelf) do not replace the traditional aircraft platform. Overall, the main shortcomings are related to: difficulties to obtain the authorization to perform the flight in urban and rural areas, platform stability, safety flight, stability of the image block configuration, high number of the images and inaccuracies of the direct determination of the exterior orientation parameters of the images. In this paper are shown the obtained results from the project photogrammetric mapping using aerial images from the SIMEPAR UAV system. The PIPER J3 UAV Hydro aircraft was used. It has a micro pilot MP2128g. The system is fully integrated with 3-axis gyros/accelerometers, GPS, pressure altimeter, pressure airspeed sensors. A Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W300 was calibrated and used to get the image block. The flight height was close to 400 m, resulting GSD near to 0.10 m. The state of the art of the used technology, methodologies and the obtained results are shown and discussed. Finally advantages/shortcomings found in the study and main conclusions are presented

Automatic construction of aerial corridor for navigation of unmanned aircraft systems in class G airspace using LiDAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Dengchao; Yuan, Xiaohui

2016-05-01

According to the airspace classification by the Federal Aviation Agency, Class G airspace is the airspace at 1,200 feet or less to the ground, which is beneath class E airspace and between classes B-D cylinders around towered airstrips. However, the lack of flight supervision mechanism in this airspace, unmanned aerial system (UAS) missions pose many safety issues. Collision avoidance and route planning for UASs in class G airspace is critical for broad deployment of UASs in commercial and security applications. Yet, unlike road network, there is no stationary marker in airspace to identify corridors that are available and safe for UASs to navigate. In this paper, we present an automatic LiDAR-based airspace corridor construction method for navigation in class G airspace and a method for route planning to minimize collision and intrusion. Our idea is to combine LiDAR to automatically identify ground objects that pose navigation restrictions such as airports and high-rises. Digital terrain model (DTM) is derived from LiDAR point cloud to provide an altitude-based class G airspace description. Following the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, the ground objects that define the restricted airspaces are used together with digital surface model derived from LiDAR data to construct the aerial corridor for navigation of UASs. Preliminary results demonstrate competitive performance and the construction of aerial corridor can be automated with much great efficiency.

Production and aerial application of wood shreds as a post-fire hillslope erosion mitigation treatment

Treesearch

Peter R. Robichaud; Louise E. Ashmun; Randy B. Foltz; Charles G. Showers; J. Scott Groenier; Jennifer Kesler; Claire DeLeo; Mary Moore

2013-01-01

Guidelines for the production and aerial application of wood shred mulch as a post-fire hillslope treatment were developed from laboratory and field studies, several field operations, and the evaluations of professionals involved in those operations. At two early trial sites, the wood shred mulch was produced off-site and transported to the area of use. At the 2010...

Improved chemical control for the Mexican rice borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in sugarcane: Larval exposure, a novel scouting method, and efficacy of a single aerial insecticide application

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A three-treatment aerial application insecticide experiment was conducted in five commercial sugarcane, Saccharum spp., fields in south Texas to evaluate the use of pheromone traps for improving chemical control of the Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar), in 2009 and 2010. A threshold of 20 m...

Image Understanding Research and Its Application to Cartography and Computer-Based Analysis of Aerial Imagery

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

Report Al-TR-346. Artifcial Intelligence Laboratory, Mamachusetts Institute of Tech- niugy. Cambridge, Mmeh mett. June 19 [G.usmn@ A. Gaman-Arenas...Testbed Coordinator, 415/859-4395 Artificial Intelligence Center Computer Science and Technology Division Prepared for: Defense Advanced Research...to support processing of aerial photographs for such military applications as cartography, Intelligence , weapon guidance, and targeting. A key

Urban photogrammetric data base for multi-purpose cadastral-based information systems: the Riyadh city case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-garni, Abdullah M.

Urban information systems are economic resources that can benefit decision makers in the planning, development, and management of urban projects and resources. In this research, a conceptual model-based prototype Urban Geographic Information System (UGIS) is developed. The base maps used in developing the system and acquiring visual attributes are obtained from aerial photographs. The system is a multi-purpose parcel-based one that can serve many urban applications such as public utilities, health centres, schools, population estimation, road engineering and maintenance, and many others. A modern region in the capital city of Saudi Arabia is used for the study. The developed model is operational for one urban application (population estimation) and is tested for that particular application. The results showed that the system has a satisfactory accuracy and that it may well be promising for other similar urban applications in countries with similar demographic and social characteristics.

Unmanned Aerial Systems: Further Actions Needed to Fully Address Air Force and Army Pilot Workforce Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-16

UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS Further Actions Needed to Fully Address Air Force and Army Pilot Workforce Challenges...Armed Services, U.S. Senate March 16, 2016 UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS Further Actions Needed to Fully Address Air Force and Army Pilot Workforce ...High-performing organizations use complete and current data to inform their strategic human capital planning and remain open to reevaluating workforce

Unmanned Aerial Systems: Air Force and Army Should Improve Strategic Human Capital Planning for Pilot Workforces

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-01

UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS Air Force and Army Should Improve Strategic Human Capital Planning for Pilot Workforces...Should Improve Strategic Human Capital Planning for Pilot Workforces What GAO Found The Air Force and the Army have not fully applied four of the five...key principles for effective strategic human capital planning for managing pilots of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that are important for resolving

Capabilities Assessment and Employment Recommendations for Full Motion Video Optical Navigation Exploitation (FMV-ONE)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

GEOINT geospatial intelligence GFC ground force commander GPS global positioning system GUI graphical user interface HA/DR humanitarian...transport stream UAS unmanned aerial system . See UAV. UAV unmanned aerial vehicle. See UAS. VM virtual machine VMU Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle... Unmanned Air Systems (UASs). Current programs promise to dramatically increase the number of FMV feeds in the near future. However, there are too

Heterogeneous Multi-Robot System for Mapping Environmental Variables of Greenhouses

PubMed Central

Roldán, Juan Jesús; Garcia-Aunon, Pablo; Garzón, Mario; de León, Jorge; del Cerro, Jaime; Barrientos, Antonio

2016-01-01

The productivity of greenhouses highly depends on the environmental conditions of crops, such as temperature and humidity. The control and monitoring might need large sensor networks, and as a consequence, mobile sensory systems might be a more suitable solution. This paper describes the application of a heterogeneous robot team to monitor environmental variables of greenhouses. The multi-robot system includes both ground and aerial vehicles, looking to provide flexibility and improve performance. The multi-robot sensory system measures the temperature, humidity, luminosity and carbon dioxide concentration in the ground and at different heights. Nevertheless, these measurements can be complemented with other ones (e.g., the concentration of various gases or images of crops) without a considerable effort. Additionally, this work addresses some relevant challenges of multi-robot sensory systems, such as the mission planning and task allocation, the guidance, navigation and control of robots in greenhouses and the coordination among ground and aerial vehicles. This work has an eminently practical approach, and therefore, the system has been extensively tested both in simulations and field experiments. PMID:27376297

49 CFR 236.71 - Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. 236.71..., INSPECTION, MAINTENANCE, AND REPAIR OF SIGNAL AND TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND APPLIANCES Rules and Instructions: All Systems Wires and Cables § 236.71 Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. Signal wire on...

49 CFR 236.71 - Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. 236.71..., INSPECTION, MAINTENANCE, AND REPAIR OF SIGNAL AND TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND APPLIANCES Rules and Instructions: All Systems Wires and Cables § 236.71 Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. Signal wire on...

49 CFR 236.71 - Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. 236.71..., INSPECTION, MAINTENANCE, AND REPAIR OF SIGNAL AND TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND APPLIANCES Rules and Instructions: All Systems Wires and Cables § 236.71 Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. Signal wire on...

New distributed radar technology based on UAV or UGV application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molchanov, Pavlo A.; Contarino, Vincent M.

2013-05-01

Regular micro and nano radars cannot provide reliable tracking of low altitude low profile aerial targets in urban and mountain areas because of reflection and re-reflections from buildings and terrain. They become visible and vulnerable to guided missiles if positioned on a tower or blimp. Doppler radar cannot distinguish moving cars and small low altitude aerial targets in an urban area. A new concept of pocket size distributed radar technology based on the application of UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicles), UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicles) is proposed for tracking of low altitude low profile aerial targets at short and medium distances for protection of stadium, camp, military facility in urban or mountain areas.

Aerial Insecticide Treatments for Management of Dectes Stem Borer, Dectes texanus, in Soybean

PubMed Central

Sloderbeck, P. E.; Buschman, L.L.

2011-01-01

The Dectes stem borer, Dectes texanus LeConte (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), is an increasingly important pest of soybean and sunflower in central North America. Nine large-scale field trials were conducted over a 3-year period to determine if Dectes stem borer could be managed with insecticide treatments. Aerial applications of lambda on July 6, 12 and 15 were successful in significantly reducing adults, but applications on July 1, 20 and 24 were less successful. These data suggest that for central Kansas two aerial applications may be required to control Dectes stem borers in soybean. Based on our experience the first application should be made at the peak of adult flight about July 5th and the second application 10 days later. The local treatment schedule should be developed to follow the local Dectes stem borer adult emergence pattern. Treated aerial strips 59 m (195 ft) wide were not large enough to prevent reinfestation, but treated half-circles (24 ha or 60 acres) were successful in reducing in Dectes stem borer infestation of soybean. Sweep net samples of adults were not successful in identifying a treatment threshold, so treatment decisions will need to be based on field history of infestation. Further studies are needed to identify better sampling methods that can be used to establish treatment thresholds and to refine the best timing for treatments. PMID:21861653

Alaska High Altitude Photography Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petersen, Earl V.; Knutson, Martin A.; Ekstrand, Robert E.

1986-01-01

In 1978, the Alaska High Altitude Photography Program was initiated to obtain simultaneous black and white and color IR aerial photography of Alaska. Dual RC-10 and Zeiss camera systems were used for this program on NASA's U-2 and WB-57F, respectively. Data collection, handling, and distribution are discussed as well as general applications and the current status.

The treatment implementation advisor: a component of the GypsES project

Treesearch

Michael C. Saunders; Michael A. Foster

1991-01-01

The treatment implementation advisor is one of the knowledge based advisory modules of GypsES, a knowledge system environment for decision support in gypsy moth management. Its function is to provide detailed advice on intervention tactics for gypsy moth: e.g. aerial and ground application of insecticides and microbials, inundative or augmentative releases of...

14 CFR 91.501 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

.... (8) Passenger ground transportation. (9) Flight planning and weather contract services. (10) An... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES Large and Turbine-Powered Multiengine...) Ferry or training flights; (2) Aerial work operations such as aerial photography or survey, or pipeline...

14 CFR 91.501 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

.... (8) Passenger ground transportation. (9) Flight planning and weather contract services. (10) An... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES Large and Turbine-Powered Multiengine...) Ferry or training flights; (2) Aerial work operations such as aerial photography or survey, or pipeline...

14 CFR 91.501 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

.... (8) Passenger ground transportation. (9) Flight planning and weather contract services. (10) An... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES Large and Turbine-Powered Multiengine...) Ferry or training flights; (2) Aerial work operations such as aerial photography or survey, or pipeline...

14 CFR 91.501 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

.... (8) Passenger ground transportation. (9) Flight planning and weather contract services. (10) An... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES Large and Turbine-Powered Multiengine...) Ferry or training flights; (2) Aerial work operations such as aerial photography or survey, or pipeline...

14 CFR 91.501 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

.... (8) Passenger ground transportation. (9) Flight planning and weather contract services. (10) An... AND GENERAL OPERATING RULES GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES Large and Turbine-Powered Multiengine...) Ferry or training flights; (2) Aerial work operations such as aerial photography or survey, or pipeline...

Regional agriculture surveys using ERTS-1 data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Draeger, W. C.; Nichols, J. D.; Benson, A. S.; Larrabee, D. G.; Jenkus, W. M.; Hay, C. M.

1974-01-01

The Center for Remote Sensing Research has conducted studies designed to evaluate the potential application of ERTS data in performing agricultural inventories, and to develop efficient methods of data handling and analysis useful in the operational context for performing large area surveys. This work has resulted in the development of an integrated system utilizing both human and computer analysis of ground, aerial, and space imagery, which has been shown to be very efficient for regional crop acreage inventories. The technique involves: (1) the delineation of ERTS images into relatively homogeneous strata by human interpreters, (2) the point-by-point classification of the area within each strata on the basis of crop type using a human/machine interactive digital image processing system; and (3) a multistage sampling procedure for the collection of supporting aerial and ground data used in the adjustment and verification of the classification results.

Application of aerial photography to water-related programs in Michigan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Enslin, W. R.; Hill-Rowley, R.; Tilmann, S. E.

1977-01-01

Aerial photography and information system technology were used to generate information required for the effective operation of three water-related programs in Michigan. Potential mosquito breeding sites were identified from specially acquired low altitude 70 mm color photography for the city of Lansing; the inventory identified 35% more surface water areas than indicated on existing field maps. A comprehensive inventory of surface water sources and potential access sites was prepared to assist fire departments in Antrim County with fire truck water-recharge operations. Remotely-sensed land cover/use data for Windsor Township, Eaton County, were integrated with other resource data into a computer-based information system for regional water quality studies. Eleven thematic maps focusing on landscape features affecting non-point water pollution and waste disposal were generated from analyses of a four-hectare grid-based data file containing land cover/use, soils, topographic and geologic (well-log) data.

Application of aerial photography to water-related programs in Michigan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Enslin, W. R.; Hill-Rowley, R.; Tilmann, S. E.

1977-01-01

The paper describes the use of aerial photography and information system technology in the provision of information required for the effective operation of three water-related programs in Michigan. Potential mosquito breeding sites were identified from specially acquired low altitude 70 mm color photography for the City of Lansing Vector Control Area. A comprehensive inventory of surface water sources and potential access sites was prepared to assist fire departments in Antrim County with fire truck water-recharge operations. Remotely-sensed land cover/use data for Windsor Township, Eaton County were integrated with other resource data into a computer-based information system for regional water quality studies. Eleven thematic maps specifically focussed on landscape features affecting non-point water pollution and waste disposal were generated from analyses of a four-hectare grid-based data file containing land cover/use, soils, topographic and geologic (well-log) data.

Long-term impact of aerial application of 2,4,5-T to longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)

Treesearch

J.L. Michael

1980-01-01

Twenty years after aerial application of 2.24 kg ae/ha of the butoxy ethanol ester of 2,4,5-T [(2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy) acetic acid] to release grass stage longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) seedlings, stocking was the same for each of the three treated and control 4-ha plots. Treated plots, however, had significantly greater tree diameter (10%),...

Aerial pesticide application causes DNA damage in pilots from Sinaloa, Mexico.

PubMed

Martínez-Valenzuela, C; Waliszewski, S M; Amador-Muñoz, O; Meza, E; Calderón-Segura, M E; Zenteno, E; Huichapan-Martínez, J; Caba, M; Félix-Gastélum, R; Longoria-Espinoza, R

2017-01-01

The use of pesticides in agricultural production originates residues in the environment where they are applied. Pesticide aerial application is a frequent source of exposure to pesticides by persons dedicated to agricultural practices and those living in neighboring communities of sprayed fields. The aim of the study was to assess the genotoxic effects of pesticides in workers occupationally exposed to these chemicals during their aerial application to agricultural fields of Sinaloa, Mexico. The study involved 30 pilots of airplanes used to apply pesticides via aerial application and 30 unexposed controls. Damage was evaluated through the micronucleus assay and by other nuclear abnormalities in epithelial cells of oral mucosa. The highest frequency ratios (FR) equal to 269.5 corresponded to binucleated cells followed by 54.2, corresponding to cells with pyknotic nuclei, 45.2 of cells with chromatin condensation, 3.7 of cells with broken-egg, 3.6 of cells with micronucleus, and 2.0 of karyolytic cells. Age, worked time, smoking, and alcohol consumption did not have significant influence on nuclear abnormalities in the pilots studied. Pesticide exposure was the main factor for nuclear abnormality results and DNA damage. Marked genotoxic damage was developed even in younger pilots with 2 years of short working period, caused by their daily occupational exposure to pesticides.

Critical infrastructure monitoring using UAV imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maltezos, Evangelos; Skitsas, Michael; Charalambous, Elisavet; Koutras, Nikolaos; Bliziotis, Dimitris; Themistocleous, Kyriacos

2016-08-01

The constant technological evolution in Computer Vision enabled the development of new techniques which in conjunction with the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) may extract high quality photogrammetric products for several applications. Dense Image Matching (DIM) is a Computer Vision technique that can generate a dense 3D point cloud of an area or object. The use of UAV systems and DIM techniques is not only a flexible and attractive solution to produce accurate and high qualitative photogrammetric results but also is a major contribution to cost effectiveness. In this context, this study aims to highlight the benefits of the use of the UAVs in critical infrastructure monitoring applying DIM. A Multi-View Stereo (MVS) approach using multiple images (RGB digital aerial and oblique images), to fully cover the area of interest, is implemented. The application area is an Olympic venue in Attica, Greece, at an area of 400 acres. The results of our study indicate that the UAV+DIM approach respond very well to the increasingly greater demands for accurate and cost effective applications when provided with, a 3D point cloud and orthomosaic.

Integrated remote sensing and visualization (IRSV) system for transportation infrastructure operations and management, phase two, volume 5 : aerial bridge deck imaging data collection and software revision.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-02-01

For rapid deployment of bridge scan missions, sub-inch aerial imaging using small format aerial photography : is suggested. Under-belly photography is used to generate high resolution aerial images that can be geo-referenced and : used for quantifyin...

RecceMan: an interactive recognition assistance for image-based reconnaissance: synergistic effects of human perception and computational methods for object recognition, identification, and infrastructure analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Bekri, Nadia; Angele, Susanne; Ruckhäberle, Martin; Peinsipp-Byma, Elisabeth; Haelke, Bruno

2015-10-01

This paper introduces an interactive recognition assistance system for imaging reconnaissance. This system supports aerial image analysts on missions during two main tasks: Object recognition and infrastructure analysis. Object recognition concentrates on the classification of one single object. Infrastructure analysis deals with the description of the components of an infrastructure and the recognition of the infrastructure type (e.g. military airfield). Based on satellite or aerial images, aerial image analysts are able to extract single object features and thereby recognize different object types. It is one of the most challenging tasks in the imaging reconnaissance. Currently, there are no high potential ATR (automatic target recognition) applications available, as consequence the human observer cannot be replaced entirely. State-of-the-art ATR applications cannot assume in equal measure human perception and interpretation. Why is this still such a critical issue? First, cluttered and noisy images make it difficult to automatically extract, classify and identify object types. Second, due to the changed warfare and the rise of asymmetric threats it is nearly impossible to create an underlying data set containing all features, objects or infrastructure types. Many other reasons like environmental parameters or aspect angles compound the application of ATR supplementary. Due to the lack of suitable ATR procedures, the human factor is still important and so far irreplaceable. In order to use the potential benefits of the human perception and computational methods in a synergistic way, both are unified in an interactive assistance system. RecceMan® (Reconnaissance Manual) offers two different modes for aerial image analysts on missions: the object recognition mode and the infrastructure analysis mode. The aim of the object recognition mode is to recognize a certain object type based on the object features that originated from the image signatures. The infrastructure analysis mode pursues the goal to analyze the function of the infrastructure. The image analyst extracts visually certain target object signatures, assigns them to corresponding object features and is finally able to recognize the object type. The system offers him the possibility to assign the image signatures to features given by sample images. The underlying data set contains a wide range of objects features and object types for different domains like ships or land vehicles. Each domain has its own feature tree developed by aerial image analyst experts. By selecting the corresponding features, the possible solution set of objects is automatically reduced and matches only the objects that contain the selected features. Moreover, we give an outlook of current research in the field of ground target analysis in which we deal with partly automated methods to extract image signatures and assign them to the corresponding features. This research includes methods for automatically determining the orientation of an object and geometric features like width and length of the object. This step enables to reduce automatically the possible object types offered to the image analyst by the interactive recognition assistance system.

Aerospace toxicology overview: aerial application and cabin air quality.

PubMed

Chaturvedi, Arvind K

2011-01-01

Aerospace toxicology is a rather recent development and is closely related to aerospace medicine. Aerospace toxicology can be defined as a field of study designed to address the adverse effects of medications, chemicals, and contaminants on humans who fly within or outside the atmosphere in aviation or on space flights. The environment extending above and beyond the surface of the Earth is referred to as aerospace. The term aviation is frequently used interchangeably with aerospace. The focus of the literature review performed to prepare this paper was on aerospace toxicology-related subject matters, aerial application and aircraft cabin air quality. Among the important topics addressed are the following: · Aerial applications of agricultural chemicals, pesticidal toxicity, and exposures to aerially applied mixtures of chemicals and their associated formulating solvents/surfactants The safety of aerially encountered chemicals and the bioanalytical methods used to monitor exposures to some of them · The presence of fumes and smoke, as well as other contaminants that may generally be present in aircraft/space vehicle cabin air · And importantly, the toxic effects of aerially encountered contaminants, with emphasis on the degradation products of oils, fluids, and lubricants used in aircraft, and finally · Analytical methods used for monitoring human exposure to CO and HCN are addressed in the review, as are the signs and symptoms associated with exposures to these combustion gases. Although many agricultural chemical monitoring studies have been published, few have dealt with the occurrence of such chemicals in aircraft cabin air. However, agricultural chemicals do appear in cabin air; indeed, attempts have been made to establish maximum allowable concentrations for several of the more potentially toxic ones that are found in aircraft cabin air. In this article, I emphasize the need for precautionary measures to be taken to minimize exposures to aerially encountered chemicals, or aircraft cabin air contaminants and point out the need for future research to better address toxicological evaluation of aircraft-engine oil additives.

Smokey comes of age: Unmanned aerial systems for fire management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Twidwell, Dirac; Allen, Craig R.; Detweiler, Carrick; Higgins, James; Laney, Christian; Elbaum, Sebastian

2016-01-01

During the past century, fire management has focused on techniques both to protect human communities from catastrophic wildfire and to maintain fire-dependent ecological systems. However, despite a large and increasing allocation of resources and personnel to achieve these goals, fire management objectives at regional to global scales are not being met. Current fire management techniques are clearly inadequate for the challenges faced by fire managers, and technological innovations are needed. Advances in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) technology provide opportunities for innovation in fire management and science. In many countries, fire management organizations are beginning to explore the potential of UAS for monitoring fires. We have taken the next step and developed a prototype that can precisely ignite fires as part of wildfire suppression tactics or prescribed fires (fire intentionally ignited within predetermined conditions to reduce hazardous fuels, improve habitat, or mitigate for large wildfires). We discuss the potential for these technologies to benefit fire management activities, while acknowledging the sizeable sociopolitical barriers that prevent their immediate broad application.

UAV State Estimation Modeling Techniques in AHRS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razali, Shikin; Zhahir, Amzari

2017-11-01

Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system is depending on state estimation feedback to control flight operation. Estimation on the correct state improves navigation accuracy and achieves flight mission safely. One of the sensors configuration used in UAV state is Attitude Heading and Reference System (AHRS) with application of Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) or feedback controller. The results of these two different techniques in estimating UAV states in AHRS configuration are displayed through position and attitude graphs.

Titan Aerial Daughtercraft (TAD) for Surface Studies from a Lander or Balloon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matthies, L.; Tokumaru, P.; Sherrit, S.; Beauchamp, P.

2014-06-01

Recent rapid progress on autonomous navigation of micro air vehicles for terrestrial applications opens new possibilities for a small aerial vehicle that could deploy from a Titan lander or balloon to acquire samples for analysis on the mothership.

Earth Surface Monitoring with COSI-Corr, Techniques and Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leprince, S.; Ayoub, F.; Avouac, J.

2009-12-01

Co-registration of Optically Sensed Images and Correlation (COSI-Corr) is a software package developed at the California Institute of Technology (USA) for accurate geometrical processing of optical satellite and aerial imagery. Initially developed for the measurement of co-seismic ground deformation using optical imagery, COSI-Corr is now used for a wide range of applications in Earth Sciences, which take advantage of the software capability to co-register, with very high accuracy, images taken from different sensors and acquired at different times. As long as a sensor is supported in COSI-Corr, all images between the supported sensors can be accurately orthorectified and co-registered. For example, it is possible to co-register a series of SPOT images, a series of aerial photographs, as well as to register a series of aerial photographs with a series of SPOT images, etc... Currently supported sensors include the SPOT 1-5, Quickbird, Worldview 1 and Formosat 2 satellites, the ASTER instrument, and frame camera acquisitions from e.g., aerial survey or declassified satellite imagery. Potential applications include accurate change detection between multi-temporal and multi-spectral images, and the calibration of pushbroom cameras. In particular, COSI-Corr provides a powerful correlation tool, which allows for accurate estimation of surface displacement. The accuracy depends on many factors (e.g., cloud, snow, and vegetation cover, shadows, temporal changes in general, steadiness of the imaging platform, defects of the imaging system, etc...) but in practice, the standard deviation of the measurements obtained from the correlation of mutli-temporal images is typically around 1/20 to 1/10 of the pixel size. The software package also includes post-processing tools such as denoising, destriping, and stacking tools to facilitate data interpretation. Examples drawn from current research in, e.g., seismotectonics, glaciology, and geomorphology will be presented. COSI-Corr is developed in IDL (Interactive Data Language), integrated under the user friendly interface ENVI (Environment for Visualizing Images), and is distributed free of charge for academic research purposes.

Applicability of New Approaches of Sensor Orientation to Micro Aerial Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rehak, M.; Skaloud, J.

2016-06-01

This study highlights the benefits of precise aerial position and attitude control in the context of mapping with Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). Accurate mapping with MAVs is gaining importance in applications such as corridor mapping, road and pipeline inspections or mapping of large areas with homogeneous surface structure, e.g. forests or agricultural fields. There, accurate aerial control plays a major role in successful terrain reconstruction and artifact-free ortophoto generation. The presented experiments focus on new approaches of aerial control. We confirm practically that the relative aerial position and attitude control can improve accuracy in difficult mapping scenarios. Indeed, the relative orientation method represents an attractive alternative in the context of MAVs for two reasons. First, the procedure is somewhat simplified, e.g. the angular misalignment, so called boresight, between the camera and the inertial measurement unit (IMU) does not have to be determined and, second, the effect of possible systematic errors in satellite positioning (e.g. due to multipath and/or incorrect recovery of differential carrier-phase ambiguities) is mitigated. First, we present a typical mapping project over an agricultural field and second, we perform a corridor road mapping. We evaluate the proposed methods in scenarios with and without automated image observations. We investigate a recently proposed concept where adjustment is performed using image observations limited to ground control and check points, so called fast aerial triangulation (Fast AT). In this context we show that accurate aerial control (absolute or relative) together with a few image observations can deliver accurate results comparable to classical aerial triangulation with thousands of image measurements. This procedure in turns reduces the demands on processing time and the requirements on the existence of surface texture. Finally, we compare the above mentioned procedures with direct sensor orientation (DiSO) to show its potential for rapid mapping.

Aerial image based die-to-model inspections of advanced technology masks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jun; Lei, Wei-Guo; McCall, Joan; Zaatri, Suheil; Penn, Michael; Nagpal, Rajesh; Faivishevsky, Lev; Ben-Yishai, Michael; Danino, Udy; Tam, Aviram; Dassa, Oded; Balasubramanian, Vivek; Shah, Tejas H.; Wagner, Mark; Mangan, Shmoolik

2009-10-01

Die-to-Model (D2M) inspection is an innovative approach to running inspection based on a mask design layout data. The D2M concept takes inspection from the traditional domain of mask pattern to the preferred domain of the wafer aerial image. To achieve this, D2M transforms the mask layout database into a resist plane aerial image, which in turn is compared to the aerial image of the mask, captured by the inspection optics. D2M detection algorithms work similarly to an Aerial D2D (die-to-die) inspection, but instead of comparing a die to another die it is compared to the aerial image model. D2M is used whenever D2D inspection is not practical (e.g., single die) or when a validation of mask conformity to design is needed, i.e., for printed pattern fidelity. D2M is of particular importance for inspection of logic single die masks, where no simplifying assumption of pattern periodicity may be done. The application can tailor the sensitivity to meet the needs at different locations, such as device area, scribe lines and periphery. In this paper we present first test results of the D2M mask inspection application at a mask shop. We describe the methodology of using D2M, and review the practical aspects of the D2M mask inspection.

Design and implementation of a remote UAV-based mobile health monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Songwei; Wan, Yan; Fu, Shengli; Liu, Mushuang; Wu, H. Felix

2017-04-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) play increasing roles in structure health monitoring. With growing mobility in modern Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications, the health monitoring of mobile structures becomes an emerging application. In this paper, we develop a UAV-carried vision-based monitoring system that allows a UAV to continuously track and monitor a mobile infrastructure and transmit back the monitoring information in real- time from a remote location. The monitoring system uses a simple UAV-mounted camera and requires only a single feature located on the mobile infrastructure for target detection and tracking. The computation-effective vision-based tracking solution based on a single feature is an improvement over existing vision-based lead-follower tracking systems that either have poor tracking performance due to the use of a single feature, or have improved tracking performance at a cost of the usage of multiple features. In addition, a UAV-carried aerial networking infrastructure using directional antennas is used to enable robust real-time transmission of monitoring video streams over a long distance. Automatic heading control is used to self-align headings of directional antennas to enable robust communication in mobility. Compared to existing omni-communication systems, the directional communication solution significantly increases the operation range of remote monitoring systems. In this paper, we develop the integrated modeling framework of camera and mobile platforms, design the tracking algorithm, develop a testbed of UAVs and mobile platforms, and evaluate system performance through both simulation studies and field tests.

Surrogate Joint Aerial Layer Network (JALN) Experiment: Applications of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Technologies for Researching Future JALN Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

CHALLENGES DECEMBER 2014 TECHNICAL REPORT APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED STINFO COPY AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY INFORMATION...JOINT AERIAL LAYER NETWORK (JALN) EXPERIMENT: APPLICATION OF COMMERCIAL-OFF-THE-SHELF TECHNOLOGIES FOR RESEARCHING FUTURE JALN CHALLENGES 5a... challenge JALN developers. The use of low-cost COTS wireless technology is found to be a suitable surrogate for military hardware for investigating

Floating aerial 3D display based on the freeform-mirror and the improved integral imaging system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Xunbo; Sang, Xinzhu; Gao, Xin; Yang, Shenwu; Liu, Boyang; Chen, Duo; Yan, Binbin; Yu, Chongxiu

2018-09-01

A floating aerial three-dimensional (3D) display based on the freeform-mirror and the improved integral imaging system is demonstrated. In the traditional integral imaging (II), the distortion originating from lens aberration warps elemental images and degrades the visual effect severely. To correct the distortion of the observed pixels and to improve the image quality, a directional diffuser screen (DDS) is introduced. However, the improved integral imaging system can hardly present realistic images with the large off-screen depth, which limits floating aerial visual experience. To display the 3D image in the free space, the off-axis reflection system with the freeform-mirror is designed. By combining the improved II and the designed freeform optical element, the floating aerial 3D image is presented.

Applications of low-cost radio-controlled airplanes to environmental restoration at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nyquist, J.E.

1996-10-01

The US DOE is endeavoring to clean up contamination created by the disposal of chemical and nuclear waste on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), Tennessee, with an emphasis on minimizing off-site migration of contaminated surface and ground water. The task is complicated by inadequate disposal records and by the complexity of the local geology. Remote sensing data, including aerial photography and geophysics, have played an important role in the ORR site characterization. Are there advantages to collecting remote sensing data using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV`s)? In this paper, I will discuss the applications of UAV`s being explored at Oak Ridgemore » National Laboratory (ORNL) under the sponsorship of the Department of Energy`s Office of Science and technology. These applications are : aerial photography, magnetic mapping, and Very Low Frequency (VLF) electromagnetic mapping.« less

U.S. Air Forces Aerial Spray Mission: Should the Department of Defense Continue to Operate this Weapon of Mass Dispersion

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

pesticide application over farm fields to produce a better crop.2 On 3 August 1921 in a joint effort between the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Dayton, Ohio... pesticide dissemination because of the relatively small amount of product needed to spray for nuisance insects over a vast area. The ULV system is... pesticide per minute. Applications that require massive amounts of liquid herbicide to neutralize cheatgrass and other fire-prone, invasive vegetation on

Fuel Evaluation for a Missouri Pine Plantation Released by Aerial Spraying

Treesearch

Robert M. Loomis; John S. Crosby

1968-01-01

Fuel changes resulting from aerial herbicide application to control hardwoods competing with 13-year-old underplanted pine in Missouri are described. Fuel hazard is generally maximum about the fifth year after treatment and is affected by relative pine and hardwood densities.

A Hierarchical Learning Control Framework for an Aerial Manipulation System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Le; Chi, yanxun; Li, Jiapeng; Li, Zhongsheng; Ding, Yalei; Liu, Lixing

2017-07-01

A hierarchical learning control framework for an aerial manipulation system is proposed. Firstly, the mechanical design of aerial manipulation system is introduced and analyzed, and the kinematics and the dynamics based on Newton-Euler equation are modeled. Secondly, the framework of hierarchical learning for this system is presented, in which flight platform and manipulator are controlled by different controller respectively. The RBF (Radial Basis Function) neural networks are employed to estimate parameters and control. The Simulation and experiment demonstrate that the methods proposed effective and advanced.

A Large Scale Biorational Approach Using Bacillus thuringiensis israeliensis (Strain AM65-52) for Managing Aedes aegypti Populations to Prevent Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika Transmission

PubMed Central

Pruszynski, Catherine A.; Hribar, Lawrence J.; Mickle, Robert; Leal, Andrea L.

2017-01-01

Background Aedes aegypti is a container-inhabiting mosquito and a vector of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. In 2009 several cases of autochthonous dengue transmission were reported in Key West, Florida, USA prompting a comprehensive response to control A. aegypti. In Key West, larvae of this mosquito develop in containers around human habitations which can be numerous and labor intensive to find and treat. Aerial applications of larvicide covering large areas in a short time can be an efficient and economical method to control A. aegypti. Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) is a bacterial larvicide which is highly target specific and appropriate for wide area spraying over urban areas, but to date, there are no studies that evaluate aerial spraying of Bti to control container mosquitoes like A. aegypti. Methodology This paper examines the effectiveness of aerial larvicide applications using VectoBac® WG, a commercially available Bti formulation, for A. aegypti control in an urban setting in the USA. Droplet characteristics and spray drop deposition were evaluated in Key West, Florida, USA. The mortality of A. aegypti in containers placed under canopy in an urban environment was also evaluated. Efficacy of multiple larvicide applications on adult female A. aegypti population reduction was compared between an untreated control and treatment site. Conclusions Droplet characteristics showed that small droplets can penetrate through dense canopy to reach small containers. VectoBac WG droplets reached small containers under heavy canopy in sufficient amounts to cause > 55% mortality on all application days and >90% mortality on 3 of 5 application days while controls had <5% mortality. Aerial applications of VectoBac WG caused significant decrease in adult female populations throughout the summer and during the 38th week (last application) the difference in adult female numbers between untreated and treated sites was >50%. Aerial larvicide applications using VectoBac WG can cover wide areas in a short period of time and can be effective in controlling A. aegypti and reducing A. aegypti-borne transmission in urban areas similar to Key West, Florida, USA. PMID:28199323

Examination of Frameworks for Safe Integration of Intelligent Small UAS into the NAS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Logan, Michael J.

2012-01-01

This paper discusses a proposed framework for the safe integration of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS). The paper briefly examines the potential uses of sUAS to build an understanding of the location and frequency of potential future flight operations based on the future applications of the sUAS systems. The paper then examines the types of systems that would be required to meet the application-level demand to determine "classes" of platforms and operations. A framework for categorization of the "intelligence" level of the UAS is postulated for purposes of NAS integration. Finally, constraints on the intelligent systems are postulated to ensure their ease of integration into the NAS.

Greenhouse Gas Sensing Using Small Unmanned Aerial Systems - Field Experiment Results and Future Directions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aubrey, A. D.; Christensen, L. E.; Brockers, R.; Thompson, D. R.

2014-12-01

Requirements for greenhouse gas point source detection and quantification often require high spatial resolution on the order of meters. These applications, which help close the gap in emissions estimate uncertainties, also demand sensing with high sensitivity and in a fashion that accounts for spatiotemporal variability on the order of seconds to minutes. Low-cost vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) provide a means to detect and identify the location of point source gas emissions while offering ease of deployment and high maneuverability. Our current fielded gas sensing sUAS platforms are able to provide instantaneous in situ concentration measurements at locations within line of sight of the operator. Recent results from field experiments demonstrating methane detection and plume characterization will be discussed here, including performance assessment conducted via a controlled release experiment in 2013. The logical extension of sUAS gas concentration measurement is quantification of flux rate. We will discuss the preliminary strategy for quantitative flux determination, including intrinsic challenges and heritage from airborne science campaigns, associated with this point source flux quantification. This system approach forms the basis for intelligent autonomous quantitative characterization of gas plumes, which holds great value for applications in commercial, regulatory, and safety environments.

The use of historical imagery in the remediation of an urban hazardous waste site

USGS Publications Warehouse

Slonecker, E.T.

2011-01-01

The information derived from the interpretation of historical aerial photographs is perhaps the most basic multitemporal application of remote-sensing data. Aerial photographs dating back to the early 20th century can be extremely valuable sources of historical landscape activity. In this application, imagery from 1918 to 1927 provided a wealth of information about chemical weapons testing, storage, handling, and disposal of these hazardous materials. When analyzed by a trained photo-analyst, the 1918 aerial photographs resulted in 42 features of potential interest. When compared with current remedial activities and known areas of contamination, 33 of 42 or 78.5% of the features were spatially correlated with areas of known contamination or other remedial hazardous waste cleanup activity. ?? 2010 IEEE.

The use of historical imagery in the remediation of an urban hazardous waste site

USGS Publications Warehouse

Slonecker, E.T.

2011-01-01

The information derived from the interpretation of historical aerial photographs is perhaps the most basic multitemporal application of remote-sensing data. Aerial photographs dating back to the early 20th century can be extremely valuable sources of historical landscape activity. In this application, imagery from 1918 to 1927 provided a wealth of information about chemical weapons testing, storage, handling, and disposal of these hazardous materials. When analyzed by a trained photo-analyst, the 1918 aerial photographs resulted in 42 features of potential interest. When compared with current remedial activities and known areas of contamination, 33 of 42 or 78.5% of the features were spatially correlated with areas of known contamination or other remedial hazardous waste cleanup activity.

A new android smartphone app for geospatial mapping from drones and kites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, Karen; Griffiths, Dave; Debell, Leon; Steve, Hancock; James, Duffy; Jamie, Shutler; Liam, Reinhardt; Griffiths, Amber; Threadgill, Katie

2016-04-01

This paper will describe the development, testing and deployment of a free-to-use, open-source, android-based smartphone application for capturing geo-tagged aerial photographs for grass-roots remote sensing (RS) and mapping applications. Historically, RS data have been acquired from sensors on platforms such as piloted aircraft or satellites but a new self-service, and to some extent, 'grassroots' (participatory and distributed) RS revolution is underway making use of drones and kites as platforms for proximal observations of environmental phenomena. There are a growing number of papers in the geosciences and in landscape ecology utilising such platforms for cost-effective, self-service acquisition of RS data. These platforms cannot carry the heavy payloads used on satellites or aircraft, but they offer a more flexible way of gathering responsive survey data, and their low flying capability means that very fine-grained data can be captured easily. The current scientific focus for drone- and kite-based aerial mapping relies on automatically-triggered camera systems, followed by complex post-processing algorithms (e.g. computer vision-based 'structure-from-motion' software) to convert the resulting aerial photography data into orthorectified maps and point clouds. Whilst these approaches generate high quality products, for many applications the complexity is a barrier to uptake. Wiring the camera to an autopilot trigger is non-trivial, and the post-processing stage demands expensive and complex software and high performance computing. For many basic mapping applications, the workflow is too complex and the detail in the products exceed what is really needed. We asked: what if a basic smartphone, with its plethora of on-board sensors (accelerometer, GPS, compass, camera) could be used to generate ready-to-use spatial data from lightweight aerial platforms such as drones or kites? We built an android application to test the capability of standard smartphones as remote sensing devices. The application uses a visual coding 'scheme blocks' framework, so that users can customise their own data capture tools in the field. In our presentation we will demonstrate the coding framework, and then we will show the results that were gathered when we used the app to collect data during test flights - utilising various kite and lightweight drone platforms. We have also developed a simple to use open-source geospatial toolkit to allow geographical information system (GIS)-ready GeoTIFF images to be processed from the metadata stored by the app. We will demonstrate how this works in our presentation. Two Android smartphones were used in testing - a high specification OnePlus One handset and a lower cost Acer Liquid Z3 handset. We will show that the best results were obtained with the higher specification phone when it was attached to a single line kite or to a gliding drone. Finally, we will use data collected using the app, over a farmyard to demonstrate the power of the resultant fine-grained products for a simple application - advising farmers about small-scale interventions they can make to improve the quality of water run-off from their farms. The app can be downloaded freely, and used wherever an Android smartphone and aerial platform are available to deliver rapid spatial data (e.g. disaster zones, in teaching or for grassroots democratic mapping). [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=foam.uavtoolkit&hl=en

A Spherical Aerial Terrestrial Robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dudley, Christopher J.

This thesis focuses on the design of a novel, ultra-lightweight spherical aerial terrestrial robot (ATR). The ATR has the ability to fly through the air or roll on the ground, for applications that include search and rescue, mapping, surveillance, environmental sensing, and entertainment. The design centers around a micro-quadcopter encased in a lightweight spherical exoskeleton that can rotate about the quadcopter. The spherical exoskeleton offers agile ground locomotion while maintaining characteristics of a basic aerial robot in flying mode. A model of the system dynamics for both modes of locomotion is presented and utilized in simulations to generate potential trajectories for aerial and terrestrial locomotion. Details of the quadcopter and exoskeleton design and fabrication are discussed, including the robot's turning characteristic over ground and the spring-steel exoskeleton with carbon fiber axle. The capabilities of the ATR are experimentally tested and are in good agreement with model-simulated performance. An energy analysis is presented to validate the overall efficiency of the robot in both modes of locomotion. Experimentally-supported estimates show that the ATR can roll along the ground for over 12 minutes and cover the distance of 1.7 km, or it can fly for 4.82 minutes and travel 469 m, on a single 350 mAh battery. Compared to a traditional flying-only robot, the ATR traveling over the same distance in rolling mode is 2.63-times more efficient, and in flying mode the system is only 39 percent less efficient. Experimental results also demonstrate the ATR's transition from rolling to flying mode.

47 CFR 32.2421 - Aerial cable.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Aerial cable. 32.2421 Section 32.2421 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Instructions for Balance Sheet Accounts § 32.2421 Aerial cable. (a...

Military Applications of Fiber Optics Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-05-01

Research Projects Agency DNA Defense Nuclear Agency EMI Electromagnetic interference EMP Electromagnetic pulse FET Field effect transistor FOFA Follow...Organization SEED Self electro-optic effect device TBM Tactical ballistic missile TOW Tube launched, optically tracked, wire-guided UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle...systems, coupled with novel but effective transducing technology, have set the stage for a powerful class of fiber optic sensors. 8 Optical fibers have

Virtual Machine Language Controls Remote Devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2014-01-01

Kennedy Space Center worked with Blue Sun Enterprises, based in Boulder, Colorado, to enhance the company's virtual machine language (VML) to control the instruments on the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction mission. Now the NASA-improved VML is available for crewed and uncrewed spacecraft, and has potential applications on remote systems such as weather balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles, and submarines.

Calculated Drag of an Aerial Refueling Assembly Through Airplane Performance Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vachon, Jake; Ray, Ronald; Calianno, Carl

2004-01-01

This viewgraph document reviews NASA Dryden's work on Aerial refueling, with specific interest in calculating the drag of the refueling system. The aerodynamic drag of an aerial refueling assembly was calculated during the Automated Aerial Refueling project at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. An F/A-18A airplane was specially instrumented to obtain accurate fuel flow measurements and to determine engine thrust

AGDRIFT: A MODEL FOR ESTIMATING NEAR-FIELD SPRAY DRIFT FROM AERIAL APPLICATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

The aerial spray prediction model AgDRIFT(R) embodies the computational engine found in the near-wake Lagrangian model AGricultural DISPersal (AGDISP) but with several important features added that improve the speed and accuracy of its predictions. This article summarizes those c...

Applications of low altitude photogrammetry for morphometry, displacements, and landform modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomez, F. G.; Polun, S. G.; Hickcox, K.; Miles, C.; Delisle, C.; Beem, J. R.

2016-12-01

Low-altitude aerial surveying is emerging as a tool that greatly improves the ease and efficiency of measuring landforms for quantitative geomorphic analyses. High-resolution, close-range photogrammetry produces dense, 3-dimensional point clouds that facilitate the construction of digital surface models, as well as a potential means of classifying ground targets using spatial structure. This study presents results from recent applications of UAS-based photogrammetry, including high resolution surface morphometry of a lava flow, repeat-pass applications to mass movements, and fault scarp degradation modeling. Depending upon the desired photographic resolution and the platform/payload flown, aerial photos are typically acquired at altitudes of 40 - 100 meters above the ground surface. In all cases, high-precision ground control points are key for accurate (and repeatable) orientation - relying on low-precision GPS coordinates (whether on the ground or geotags in the aerial photos) typically results in substantial rotations (tilt) of the reference frame. Using common ground control points between repeat surveys results in matching point clouds with RMS residuals better than 10 cm. In arid regions, the point cloud is used to assess lava flow surface roughness using multi-scale measurements of point cloud dimensionality. For the landslide study, the point cloud provides a basis for assessing possible displacements. In addition, the high resolution orthophotos facilitate mapping of fractures and their growth. For neotectonic applications, we compare fault scarp modeling results from UAV-derived point clouds versus field-based surveys (kinematic GPS and electronic distance measurements). In summary, there is a wide ranging toolbox of low-altitude aerial platforms becoming available for field geoscientists. In many instances, these tools will present convenience and reduced cost compared with the effort and expense to contract acquisitions of aerial imagery.

Hardware Implementation of COTS Avionics System on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yeh, Yoo-Hsiu; Kumar, Parth; Ishihara, Abraham; Ippolito, Corey

2010-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can serve as low cost and low risk platforms for flight testing in Aeronautics research. The NASA Exploration Aerial Vehicle (EAV) and Experimental Sensor-Controlled Aerial Vehicle (X-SCAV) UAVs were developed in support of control systems research at NASA Ames Research Center. The avionics hardware for both systems has been redesigned and updated, and the structure of the EAV has been further strengthened. Preliminary tests show the avionics operate properly in the new configuration. A linear model for the EAV also was estimated from flight data, and was verified in simulation. These modifications and results prepare the EAV and X-SCAV to be used in a wide variety of flight research projects.

National aerial photography program as a geographic information system resource

USGS Publications Warehouse

Light, Donald L.

1991-01-01

The National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) is jointly funded by Federal agencies and States that choose to participate in a 50-50 cost sharing cooperative arrangement. The NAPP is designed to acquire black-and-white (B&W) or color infrared (CIR) photography at a scale of 1:40,000. The status of NAPP flying, now going into the first year of its second 5-year cycle, is reviewed to inform the user community of NAPP's coverage. The resolution, geometric quality and flight parameters are used to estimate the system's cartographic potential to produce orthophotoquads, digital elevation models, topographic maps and digital information to meet national map accuracy standards at 1:12,000 and 1:24,000-scale and serve as a geographic information system resource. Also, a technique is presented to compute the optimum scanning spot size (15 ??m) and storage required for converting the B&W or CIR photography to digital, machine-readable pixel form. The resulting digital NAPP data are suitable for a wide variety of new applications, including use in geographic information systems.

Aerial photography summary record system - five years later.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lauterborn, T.J.

1980-01-01

Describes the APSRS, an automated information system for conventional aerial photography projects, established after the formation of the National Cartographic Information Center in the US Geological Survey in 1974. -after Author

Spatio-temporal monitoring of cotton cultivation using ground-based and airborne multispectral sensors in GIS environment.

PubMed

Papadopoulos, Antonis; Kalivas, Dionissios; Theocharopoulos, Sid

2017-07-01

Multispectral sensor capability of capturing reflectance data at several spectral channels, together with the inherent reflectance responses of various soils and especially plant surfaces, has gained major interest in crop production. In present study, two multispectral sensing systems, a ground-based and an aerial-based, were applied for the multispatial and temporal monitoring of two cotton fields in central Greece. The ground-based system was Crop Circle ACS-430, while the aerial consisted of a consumer-level quadcopter (Phantom 2) and a modified Hero3+ Black digital camera. The purpose of the research was to monitor crop growth with the two systems and investigate possible interrelations between the derived well-known normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Five data collection campaigns were conducted during the cultivation period and concerned scanning soil and plants with the ground-based sensor and taking aerial photographs of the fields with the unmanned aerial system. According to the results, both systems successfully monitored cotton growth stages in terms of space and time. The mean values of NDVI changes through time as retrieved by the ground-based system were satisfactorily modelled by a second-order polynomial equation (R 2 0.96 in Field 1 and 0.99 in Field 2). Further, they were highly correlated (r 0.90 in Field 1 and 0.74 in Field 2) with the according values calculated via the aerial-based system. The unmanned aerial system (UAS) can potentially substitute crop scouting as it concerns a time-effective, non-destructive and reliable way of soil and plant monitoring.

Low-cost, quantitative assessment of highway bridges through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellenberg, Andrew; Kontsos, Antonios; Moon, Franklin; Bartoli, Ivan

2016-04-01

Many envision that in the near future the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will impact the civil engineering industry. Use of UAVs is currently experiencing tremendous growth, primarily in military and homeland security applications. It is only a matter of time until UAVs will be widely accepted as platforms for implementing monitoring/surveillance and inspection in other fields. Most UAVs already have payloads as well as hardware/software capabilities to incorporate a number of non-contact remote sensors, such as high resolution cameras, multi-spectral imaging systems, and laser ranging systems (LIDARs). Of critical importance to realizing the potential of UAVs within the infrastructure realm is to establish how (and the extent to which) such information may be used to inform preservation and renewal decisions. Achieving this will depend both on our ability to quantify information from images (through, for example, optical metrology techniques) and to fuse data from the array of non-contact sensing systems. Through a series of applications to both laboratory-scale and field implementations on operating infrastructure, this paper will present and evaluate (through comparison with conventional approaches) various image processing and data fusion strategies tailored specifically for the assessment of highway bridges. Example scenarios that guided this study include the assessment of delaminations within reinforced concrete bridge decks, the quantification of the deterioration of steel coatings, assessment of the functionality of movement mechanisms, and the estimation of live load responses (inclusive of both strain and displacement).

Analyzing the reliability of mechanical parts in 10 kV aerial transmission lines under ice-coating and wind effects in view of their design features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doletskaya, L. I.; Solopov, R. V.; Kavchenkov, V. P.; Andreenkov, E. S.

2017-12-01

The physical features of the damage of aerial lines with a voltage of 10 kV under ice and wind loads are examined, mathematical models for estimating the reliability the mechanical part in aerial lines with the application of analytical theoretical methods and corresponding mathematical models taking into account the probabilistic nature of ice and wind loads are described, calculation results on reliability, specific damage and average time for restoration in case of emergency outages of 10 kV high-voltage transmission aerial lines with the use of uninsulated and protected wires are presented.

Overview of meteorological measurements for aerial spray modeling.

PubMed

Rafferty, J E; Biltoft, C A; Bowers, J F

1996-06-01

The routine meteorological observations made by the National Weather Service have a spatial resolution on the order of 1,000 km, whereas the resolution needed to conduct or model aerial spray applications is on the order of 1-10 km. Routinely available observations also do not include the detailed information on the turbulence and thermal structure of the boundary layer that is needed to predict the transport, dispersion, and deposition of aerial spray releases. This paper provides an overview of the information needed to develop the meteorological inputs for an aerial spray model such as the FSCBG and discusses the different types of instruments that are available to make the necessary measurements.

Aerial spray deposition on corn silks applied at high and low spray rates

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Corn earworm is a major pest of sweet corn, especially when grown organically. Aerial application of insecticides is important for both conventionally- and organically-grown sweet corn production as sweet corn is frequently irrigated to assure return on investment given the high production costs. ...

Development of Air Force aerial spray night operations: High altitude swath characterization

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Multiple trials were conducted from 2006 to 2014 in an attempt to validate aerial spray efficacy at altitudes conducive to night spray operations using night vision goggles (NVG). Higher altitude application of pesticide (>400 feet above ground level [AGL]) suggested that effective vector control mi...

Determination of OB/OD/SF Emission Factors using Unmanned Aerial Systems

EPA Science Inventory

Instrumented, unmanned aerial systems (UASs) have been used successfully in eight campaigns since 2010 to determine emission factors from open burning (OB), open detonation (OD), and static firing (SF) demilitarization activities. These systems have sampled directly from the plu...

International-Aerial Measuring System (I-AMS) Training Program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wasiolek, Piotre T.; Malchor, Russell L.; Maurer, Richard J.

2015-10-01

Since the Fukushima reactor accident in 2011, there has been an increased interest worldwide in developing national capabilities to rapidly map and assess ground contamination resulting from nuclear reactor accidents. The capability to rapidly measure the size of the contaminated area, determine the activity level, and identify the radionuclides can aid emergency managers and decision makers in providing timely protective action recommendations to the public and first responders. The development of an aerial detection capability requires interagency coordination to assemble the radiation experts, detection system operators, and aviation aircrews to conduct the aerial measurements, analyze and interpret the data, andmore » provide technical assessments. The Office of International Emergency Management and Cooperation (IEMC) at the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) sponsors an International - Aerial Measuring System (I-AMS) training program for partner nations to develop and enhance their response to radiological emergencies. An initial series of courses can be conducted in the host country to assist in developing an aerial detection capability. As the capability develops and expands, additional experience can be gained through advanced courses with the opportunity to conduct aerial missions over a broad range of radiation environments.« less

Concept and realization of unmanned aerial system with different modes of operation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Czyba, Roman; Szafrański, Grzegorz; Janusz, Wojciech

2014-12-10

In this paper we describe the development process of unmanned aerial system, its mechanical components, electronics and software solutions. During the stage of design, we have formulated some necessary requirements for the multirotor vehicle and ground control station in order to build an optimal system which can be used for the reconnaissance missions. Platform is controlled by use of the ground control station (GCS) and has possibility of accomplishing video based observation tasks. In order to fulfill this requirement the on-board payload consists of mechanically stabilized camera augmented with machine vision algorithms to enable object tracking tasks. Novelty of themore » system are four modes of flight, which give full functionality of the developed UAV system. Designed ground control station is consisted not only of the application itself, but also a built-in dedicated components located inside the chassis, which together creates an advanced UAV system supporting the control and management of the flight. Mechanical part of quadrotor is designed to ensure its robustness while meeting objectives of minimizing weight of the platform. Finally the designed electronics allows for implementation of control and estimation algorithms without the needs for their excessive computational optimization.« less

Reducing environmental damage through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedulova, E. A.; Akulov, A. O.; Rada, A. O.; Alabina, T. A.; Savina, Ju Ju

2018-01-01

The article examines the possibilities of using unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technologies in the field of agriculture and mining. The object of the study is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technology. The main areas of application of this technology are identified: agro technical operations, aerial photography of mining operations. The technology of unmanned aerial vehicles is compared with the technologies of ground agricultural machinery. The research methodology includes an expert evaluation of the unmanned aerial vehicle technology belonging to the class of the best available technologies by the criteria: the level of environmental impact, resource saving, the use of low-waste, non-waste processes, the existence of at least two objects, economic efficiency. Expert evaluations were processed using the apparatus of fuzzy sets, which make it possible to construct membership functions. This allowed us to prove that the technology of unmanned aerial vehicles belongs to a fuzzy set of the best available technologies. The results of the research show that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles provides a saving of resources, especially non-renewable combustible minerals, reduces emissions and discharges of pollutants into the atmosphere, and also reduces soil erosion. Unmanned aerial vehicles should be included in the national directories of the best available technologies for the mining industry and agriculture.

Multi-Gnss Receiver for Aerospace Navigation and Positioning Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peres, T. R.; Silva, J. S.; Silva, P. F.; Carona, D.; Serrador, A.; Palhinha, F.; Pereira, R.; Véstias, M.

2014-03-01

The upcoming Galileo system opens a wide range of new opportunities in the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) market. However, the characteristics of the future GNSS signals require the development of new GNSS receivers. In the frame of the REAGE project, DEIMOS and ISEL have developed a GNSS receiver targeted for aerospace applications, supporting current and future GPS L1 and Galileo E1 signals, based on commercial (or, in the furthest extent, industrial) grade components. Although the REAGE project aimed at space applications, the REAGE receiver is also applicable to many terrestrial applications (ground or airborne), such as Georeferencing and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) navigation. This paper presents the architecture and features of the REAGE receiver, as well as some results of the validation campaign with GPS L1 and Galileo E1 signals.

Effects of Formulated Glyphosate and Adjuvant Tank Mixes on Atomization from Aerial Application Flat Fan Nozzles

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

Bradley K. Fritz,1 W. Clint Hoffmann,1 and W. E. Bagley2 Effects of Formulated Glyphosate and Adjuvant Tank Mixes on Atomization from Aerial...Application Flat Fan Nozzles REFERENCE: Fritz, Bradley K., Hoffmann, W. Clint, and Bagley, W. E., “Effects of Formulated Glyphosate and Adjuvant Tank Mixes on...factors. Twelve spray-solution treatments were evaluated, ten of which contained a formulated glyphosate product and nine of these con- tained an

Digital computer processing of peach orchard multispectral aerial photography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Atkinson, R. J.

1976-01-01

Several methods of analysis using digital computers applicable to digitized multispectral aerial photography, are described, with particular application to peach orchard test sites. This effort was stimulated by the recent premature death of peach trees in the Southeastern United States. The techniques discussed are: (1) correction of intensity variations by digital filtering, (2) automatic detection and enumeration of trees in five size categories, (3) determination of unhealthy foliage by infrared reflectances, and (4) four band multispectral classification into healthy and declining categories.

Learning Scene Categories from High Resolution Satellite Image for Aerial Video Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cheriyadat, Anil M

2011-01-01

Automatic scene categorization can benefit various aerial video processing applications. This paper addresses the problem of predicting the scene category from aerial video frames using a prior model learned from satellite imagery. We show that local and global features in the form of line statistics and 2-D power spectrum parameters respectively can characterize the aerial scene well. The line feature statistics and spatial frequency parameters are useful cues to distinguish between different urban scene categories. We learn the scene prediction model from highresolution satellite imagery to test the model on the Columbus Surrogate Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (CSUAV) dataset ollected bymore » high-altitude wide area UAV sensor platform. e compare the proposed features with the popular Scale nvariant Feature Transform (SIFT) features. Our experimental results show that proposed approach outperforms te SIFT model when the training and testing are conducted n disparate data sources.« less

Use of micro unmanned aerial vehicles for roadside condition assessment

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-12-01

Micro unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs) that are equipped with digital imaging systems and global : positioning systems provide a potential opportunity for improving the effectiveness and safety of roadside : condition and inventory surveys. This stud...

Utilization of Local Law Enforcement Aerial Resources in Consequence Management (CM) Response

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wasiolek, Piotr T.; Malchow, Russell L.

2013-03-12

During the past decade the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was instrumental in enhancing the nation’s ability to detect and prevent a radiological or nuclear attack in the highest risk cities. Under the DHS Securing the Cities initiative, nearly 13,000 personnel in the New York City region have been trained in preventive radiological and nuclear detection operations, and nearly 8,500 pieces of radiological detection equipment have been funded. As part of the preventive radiological/nuclear detection (PRND) mission, several cities have received funding to purchase commercial aerial radiation detection systems. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Securitymore » Administration Aerial Measuring System (AMS) program started providing Mobile Aerial Radiological Surveillance (MARS) training to such assets, resulting in over 150 HAZMAT teams’ officers and pilots from 10 law enforcement organizations and fire departments being trained in the aerial radiation detection. From the beginning, the MARS training course covered both the PRND and consequence management (CM) missions. Even if the law enforcement main focus is PRND, their aerial assets can be utilized in the collection of initial radiation data for post-event radiological CM response. Based on over 50 years of AMS operational experience and information collected during MARS training, this presentation will focus on the concepts of CM response using aerial assets as well as utilizing law enforcement/fire department aerial assets in CM. Also discussed will be the need for establishing closer relationships between local jurisdictions’ aerial radiation detection capabilities and state and local radiation control program directors, radiological health department managers, etc. During radiological events these individuals may become primary experts/advisers to Incident Commanders for radiological emergency response, especially in the early stages of a response. The knowledge of the existence, specific capabilities, and use of local aerial radiation detection systems would be critical in planning the response, even before federal assets arrive on the scene. The relationship between local and federal aerial assets and the potential role for the further use of the MARS training and expanded AMS Reachback capabilities in facilitating such interactions will be discussed.« less

Eastern Regional Remote Sensing Applications Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Short, N. M. (Editor)

1981-01-01

The roles and activities of NASA and the National Conference of State Legislatures in fostering remote sensing technology utilization by the states and in promoting interstate communication and cooperation are reviewed. The reduction and interpretation of LANDSAT MSS and aerial reconnaissance data for resources management and environment assessment are described as well as resource information systems, and the value of SEASAT synthetic aperture radar and LANDSAT 4 data.

The application of remote sensing techniques: Technical and methodological issues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polcyn, F. C.; Wagner, T. W.

1974-01-01

Capabilities and limitations of modern imaging electromagnetic sensor systems are outlined, and the products of such systems are compared with those of the traditional aerial photographic system. Focus is given to the interface between the rapidly developing remote sensing technology and the information needs of operational agencies, and communication gaps are shown to retard early adoption of the technology by these agencies. An assessment is made of the current status of imaging remote sensors and their potential for the future. Public sources of remote sensor data and several cost comparisons are included.

The Pixhawk Open-Source Computer Vision Framework for Mavs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meier, L.; Tanskanen, P.; Fraundorfer, F.; Pollefeys, M.

2011-09-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and micro air vehicles (MAV) are already intensively used in geodetic applications. State of the art autonomous systems are however geared towards the application area in safe and obstacle-free altitudes greater than 30 meters. Applications at lower altitudes still require a human pilot. A new application field will be the reconstruction of structures and buildings, including the facades and roofs, with semi-autonomous MAVs. Ongoing research in the MAV robotics field is focusing on enabling this system class to operate at lower altitudes in proximity to nearby obstacles and humans. PIXHAWK is an open source and open hardware toolkit for this purpose. The quadrotor design is optimized for onboard computer vision and can connect up to four cameras to its onboard computer. The validity of the system design is shown with a fully autonomous capture flight along a building.

Microencapsuling aerial conidia of Trichoderma harzianum through spray drying at elevated temperatures

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Trichoderma conidia are mostly produced by solid fermentation systems. Inoculum is produced by liquid culturing, and then transferred to solid substrate for aerial conidial production. Aerial conidia of T. harzianum are hydrophilic in nature, and it is difficult to separate them from the solid subst...

Natural resources inventory system ASVT project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Joyce, A. T. (Principal Investigator)

1978-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. One of the main advantages, both cost-wise and time-wise, of the natural resource inventory system involved the use of LANDSAT-acquired digital data for the land cover information component; thereby, eliminating the need to digitize such dynamic information from a map or aerial photo base. It was thought that the utility and the cost of information as derived from LANDSAT data for the various applications justified the operational use of data generated by LANDSAT.

Emission Measurements of Open Area Combustion Sources with an Unmanned Aerial System

EPA Science Inventory

miniaturized sensor/sampler system (“Kolibri”) on a six-motor, unmanned aerial system (UAS) was used to quantify emissions from open burning of obsolete military propellants. The UAS afforded the ability to sample plume emissions at altitude and from a safe distance ...

Enhancing Autonomy of Aerial Systems Via Integration of Visual Sensors into Their Avionics Suite

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

aerial platform for subsequent visual sensor integration. 14. SUBJECT TERMS autonomous system, quadrotors, direct method, inverse ...CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE .....................................................43 B. INVERSE DYNAMICS IN THE VIRTUAL DOMAIN ......................45 1...control station GPS Global-Positioning System IDVD inverse dynamics in the virtual domain ILP integer linear program INS inertial-navigation system

Applications of remote sensing to estuarine management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Munday, J. C., Jr.; Gordon, H. H.; Hennigar, H. F.

1977-01-01

Remote sensing was used in the resolution of estuarine problems facing federal and Virginia governmental agencies. A prototype Elizabeth River Surface Circulation Atlas was produced from photogrammetry to aid in oil spill cleanup and source identification. Aerial photo analysis twice led to selection of alternative plans for dredging and spoil disposal which minimized marsh damage. Marsh loss due to a mud wave from a highway dyke was measured on sequential aerial photographs. An historical aerial photographic sequence gave basis to a potential Commonwealth of Virginia legal claim to accreting and migrating coastal islands.

Initial Efforts toward Mission-Representative Imaging Surveys from Aerial Explorers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pisanich, Greg; Plice, Laura; Ippolito, Corey; Young, Larry A.; Lau, Benton; Lee, Pascal

2004-01-01

Numerous researchers have proposed the use of robotic aerial explorers to perform scientific investigation of planetary bodies in our solar system. One of the essential tasks for any aerial explorer is to be able to perform scientifically valuable imaging surveys. The focus of this paper is to discuss the challenges implicit in, and recent observations related to, acquiring mission-representative imaging data from a small fixed-wing UAV, acting as a surrogate planetary aerial explorer. This question of successfully performing aerial explorer surveys is also tied to other topics of technical investigation, including the development of unique bio-inspired technologies.

47 CFR 1.1306 - Actions which are categorically excluded from environmental processing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... the installation of aerial wire or cable over existing aerial corridors of prior or permitted use or the underground installation of wire or cable along existing underground corridors of prior or permitted use, established by the applicant or others. The use of existing buildings, towers or corridors is...

7 CFR 1755.704 - Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR aerial service wires.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... service wires. 1755.704 Section 1755.704 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... aerial service wires. (a) Acceptance testing. (1) The tests described in §§ 1755.700 through 1755.704 are intended for acceptance of wire designs and major modifications of accepted designs. What constitutes a...

7 CFR 1755.704 - Requirements applicable to both CCSR and NMR aerial service wires.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... service wires. 1755.704 Section 1755.704 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... aerial service wires. (a) Acceptance testing. (1) The tests described in §§ 1755.700 through 1755.704 are intended for acceptance of wire designs and major modifications of accepted designs. What constitutes a...

Pheromone-based disruption of Eucosma sonomana and Rhyacionia zozana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) using aerially applied microencapsulated pheromone

Treesearch

Nancy E. Gillette; John D. Stein; Donald R. Owen; Jeffrey N. Webster; Sylvia R. Mori

2006-01-01

Two aerial applications of microencapsulated pheromone were conducted on five 20.2 ha plots to disrupt western pine shoot borer (Eucosma sonomana Kearfott) and ponderosa pine tip moth (Rhyacionia zowna (Kearfott): Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) orientation to pheromones and oviposition in ponderosa pine plantations in 2002 and 2004...

Application of high resolution images from unmanned aerial vehicles for hydrology and range science

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A common problem in many natural resource disciplines is the lack of high-enough spatial resolution images that can be used for monitoring and modeling purposes. Advances have been made in the utilization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in hydrology and rangeland science. By utilizing low fligh...

Remotely deployable aerial inspection using tactile sensors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MacLeod, C. N.; Cao, J.; Pierce, S. G.

For structural monitoring applications, the use of remotely deployable Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) inspection platforms offer many advantages, including improved accessibility, greater safety and reduced cost, when compared to traditional manual inspection techniques. The use of such platforms, previously reported by researchers at the University Strathclyde facilitates the potential for rapid scanning of large areas and volumes in hazardous locations. A common problem for both manual and remote deployment approaches lies in the intrinsic stand-off and surface coupling issues of typical NDE probes. The associated complications of these requirements are obviously significantly exacerbated when considering aerial based remote inspection and deployment,more » resulting in simple visual techniques being the preferred sensor payload. Researchers at Bristol Robotics Laboratory have developed biomimetic tactile sensors modelled on the facial whiskers (vibrissae) of animals such as rats and mice, with the latest sensors actively sweeping their tips across the surface in a back and forth motion. The current work reports on the design and performance of an aerial inspection platform and the suitability of tactile whisking sensors to aerial based surface monitoring applications.« less

Historical pesticide applications coincided with an altered diet of aerially foraging insectivorous chimney swifts

PubMed Central

Nocera, Joseph J.; Blais, Jules M.; Beresford, David V.; Finity, Leah K.; Grooms, Christopher; Kimpe, Lynda E.; Kyser, Kurt; Michelutti, Neal; Reudink, Matthew W.; Smol, John P.

2012-01-01

Numerous environmental pressures have precipitated long-term population reductions of many insect species. Population declines in aerially foraging insectivorous birds have also been detected, but the cause remains unknown partly because of a dearth of long-term monitoring data on avian diets. Chimney swifts (Chaetura pelagica) are a model aerial insectivore to fill such information gaps because their roosting behaviour makes them easy to sample in large numbers over long time periods. We report a 48-year-long (1944–1992) dietary record for the chimney swift, determined from a well-preserved deposit of guano and egested insect remains in Ontario (Canada). This unique archive of palaeo-environmental data reflecting past chimney swift diets revealed a steep rise in dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and metabolites, which were correlated with a decrease in Coleoptera remains and an increase in Hemiptera remains, indicating a significant change in chimney swift prey. We argue that DDT applications decimated Coleoptera populations and dramatically altered insect community structure by the 1960s, triggering nutritional consequences for swifts and other aerial insectivores. PMID:22513860

Energetics in robotic flight at small scales

PubMed Central

Kumar, Vijay

2017-01-01

Recent advances in design, sensing and control have led to aerial robots that offer great promise in a range of real-world applications. However, one critical open question centres on how to improve the energetic efficiency of aerial robots so that they can be useful in practical situations. This review paper provides a survey on small-scale aerial robots (i.e. less than 1 m2 area foot print, and less than 3 kg weight) from the point of view of energetics. The paper discusses methods to improve the efficiency of aerial vehicles, and reports on recent findings by the authors and other groups on modelling the impact of aerodynamics for the purpose of building energy-aware motion planners and controllers. PMID:28163880

Energetics in robotic flight at small scales.

PubMed

Karydis, Konstantinos; Kumar, Vijay

2017-02-06

Recent advances in design, sensing and control have led to aerial robots that offer great promise in a range of real-world applications. However, one critical open question centres on how to improve the energetic efficiency of aerial robots so that they can be useful in practical situations. This review paper provides a survey on small-scale aerial robots (i.e. less than 1 m 2 area foot print, and less than 3 kg weight) from the point of view of energetics. The paper discusses methods to improve the efficiency of aerial vehicles, and reports on recent findings by the authors and other groups on modelling the impact of aerodynamics for the purpose of building energy-aware motion planners and controllers.

Performance Characterization of a Lithium-ion Gel Polymer Battery Power Supply System for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reid, Concha M.; Manzo, Michelle A.; Logan, Michael J.

2004-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are currently under development for NASA missions, earth sciences, aeronautics, the military, and commercial applications. The design of an all electric power and propulsion system for small UAVs was the focus of a detailed study. Currently, many of these small vehicles are powered by primary (nonrechargeable) lithium-based batteries. While this type of battery is capable of satisfying some of the mission needs, a secondary (rechargeable) battery power supply system that can provide the same functionality as the current system at the same or lower system mass and volume is desired. A study of commercially available secondary battery cell technologies that could provide the desired performance characteristics was performed. Due to the strict mass limitations and wide operating temperature requirements of small UAVs, the only viable cell chemistries were determined to be lithium-ion liquid electrolyte systems and lithium-ion gel polymer electrolyte systems. Two lithium-ion gel polymer cell designs were selected as candidates and were tested using potential load profiles for UAV applications. Because lithium primary batteries have a higher specific energy and energy density, for the same mass and volume allocation, the secondary batteries resulted in shorter flight times than the primary batteries typically provide. When the batteries were operated at lower ambient temperatures (0 to -20 C), flight times were even further reduced. Despite the reduced flight times demonstrated, for certain UAV applications, the secondary batteries operated within the acceptable range of flight times at room temperature and above. The results of this testing indicate that a secondary battery power supply system can provide some benefits over the primary battery power supply system. A UAV can be operated for hundreds of flights using a secondary battery power supply system that provides the combined benefits of rechargeability and an inherently safer chemistry.

Holarchical Systems and Emotional Holons : Biologically-Inspired System Designs for Control of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ippolito, Corey; Plice, Laura; Pisanich, Greg

2003-01-01

The BEES (Bio-inspired Engineering for Exploration Systems) for Mars project at NASA Ames Research Center has the goal of developing bio-inspired flight control strategies to enable aerial explorers for Mars scientific investigations. This paper presents a summary of our ongoing research into biologically inspired system designs for control of unmanned autonomous aerial vehicle communities for Mars exploration. First, we present cooperative design considerations for robotic explorers based on the holarchical nature of biological systems and communities. Second, an outline of an architecture for cognitive decision making and control of individual robotic explorers is presented, modeled after the emotional nervous system of cognitive biological systems. Keywords: Holarchy, Biologically Inspired, Emotional UAV Flight Control

Apis - a Digital Inventory of Archaeological Heritage Based on Remote Sensing Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doneus, M.; Forwagner, U.; Liem, J.; Sevara, C.

2017-08-01

Heritage managers are in need of dynamic spatial inventories of archaeological and cultural heritage that provide them with multipurpose tools to interactively understand information about archaeological heritage within its landscape context. Specifically, linking site information with the respective non-invasive prospection data is of increasing importance as it allows for the assessment of inherent uncertainties related to the use and interpretation of remote sensing data by the educated and knowledgeable heritage manager. APIS, the archaeological prospection information system of the Aerial Archive of the University of Vienna, is specifically designed to meet these needs. It provides storage and easy access to all data concerning aerial photographs and archaeological sites through a single GIS-based application. Furthermore, APIS has been developed in an open source environment, which allows it to be freely distributed and modified. This combination in one single open source system facilitates an easy workflow for data management, interpretation, storage, and retrieval. APIS and a sample dataset will be released free of charge under creative commons license in near future.

Integrated solution for the complete remote sensing process - Earth Observation Mission Control Centre (EOMC2)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czapski, Paweł

2016-07-01

We are going to show the latest achievements of the Remote Sensing Division of the Institute of Aviation in the area of remote sensing, i.e. the project of the integrated solution for the whole remote sensing process ranging from acquiring to providing the end user with required information. Currently, these tasks are partially performed by several centers in Poland, however there is no leader providing an integrated solution. Motivated by this fact, the Earth Observation Mission Control Centre (EOMC2) was established in the Remote Sensing Division of the Institute of Aviation that will provide such a comprehensive approach. Establishing of EOMC2 can be compared with creating Data Center Aerial and Satellite Data Centre (OPOLIS) in the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography in the mid-70s in Poland. OPOLIS was responsible for broadly defined data processing, it was a breakthrough innovation that initiated the use of aerial image analysis in Poland. Operation center is a part of the project that will be created, which in comparison with the competitors will provide better solutions, i.e.: • Centralization of the acquiring, processing, publishing and archiving of data, • Implementing elements of the INSPIRE directive recommendations on spatial data management, • Providing the end-user with information in the near real-time, • Ability of supplying the system with images of various origin (aerial, satellite, e.g. EUMETCast, Sentinel, Landsat) and diversity of telemetry data, data aggregation and using the same algorithms to images obtained from different sources, • System reconfiguration and batch processing of large data sets at any time, • A wide range of potential applications: precision agriculture, environmental protection, crisis management and national security, aerial, small satellite and sounding rocket missions monitoring.

Safely Enabling Civilian Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Operations in Low-Altitude Airspace by Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management (UTM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kopardekar, Parimal Hemchandra

2015-01-01

Many UAS will operate at lower altitude (Class G, below 2000 feet). There is an urgent need for a system for civilian low-altitude airspace and UAS operations. Stakeholders want to work with NASA to enable safe operations.

Safely Enabling Civilian Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Operations In Low-Altitude Airspace By Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management (UTM)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kopardekar, Parimal H.

2015-01-01

Many UAS will operate at lower altitude (Class G, below 2000 feet)There is urgent need for a system for civilian low-altitude airspace and UAS operations. Stakeholders want to work with NASA to enable safe operations.

Detail design of empennage of an unmanned aerial vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarker, Md. Samad; Panday, Shoyon; Rasel, Md; Salam, Md. Abdus; Faisal, Kh. Md.; Farabi, Tanzimul Hasan

2017-12-01

In order to maintain the operational continuity of air defense systems, unmanned autonomous or remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plays a great role as a target for the anti-aircraft weapons. The aerial vehicle must comply with the requirements of high speed, remotely controlled tracking and navigational aids, operational sustainability and sufficient loiter time. It can also be used for aerial reconnaissance, ground surveillance and other intelligence operations. This paper aims to develop a complete tail design of an unmanned aerial vehicle using Systems Engineering approach. The design fulfils the requirements of longitudinal and directional trim, stability and control provided by the horizontal and vertical tail. Tail control surfaces are designed to provide sufficient control of the aircraft in critical conditions. Design parameters obtained from wing design are utilized in the tail design process as required. Through chronological calculations and successive iterations, optimum values of 26 tail design parameters are determined.

Supporting Remote Sensing Research with Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, R. C.; Shanks, P. C.; Kritis, L. A.; Trani, M. G.

2014-11-01

We describe several remote sensing research projects supported with small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) operated by the NGA Basic and Applied Research Office. These sUAS collections provide data supporting Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), NGA University Research Initiative (NURI), and Cooperative Research And Development Agreements (CRADA) efforts in addition to inhouse research. Some preliminary results related to 3D electro-optical point clouds are presented, and some research goals discussed. Additional details related to the autonomous operational mode of both our multi-rotor and fixed wing small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) platforms are presented.

Suitability of low cost commercial off-the-shelf aerial platforms and consumer grade digital cameras for small format aerial photography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turley, Anthony Allen

Many research projects require the use of aerial images. Wetlands evaluation, crop monitoring, wildfire management, environmental change detection, and forest inventory are but a few of the applications of aerial imagery. Low altitude Small Format Aerial Photography (SFAP) is a bridge between satellite and man-carrying aircraft image acquisition and ground-based photography. The author's project evaluates digital images acquired using low cost commercial digital cameras and standard model airplanes to determine their suitability for remote sensing applications. Images from two different sites were obtained. Several photo missions were flown over each site, acquiring images in the visible and near infrared electromagnetic bands. Images were sorted and analyzed to select those with the least distortion, and blended together with Microsoft Image Composite Editor. By selecting images taken within minutes apart, radiometric qualities of the images were virtually identical, yielding no blend lines in the composites. A commercial image stitching program, Autopano Pro, was purchased during the later stages of this study. Autopano Pro was often able to mosaic photos that the free Image Composite Editor was unable to combine. Using telemetry data from an onboard data logger, images were evaluated to calculate scale and spatial resolution. ERDAS ER Mapper and ESRI ArcGIS were used to rectify composite images. Despite the limitations inherent in consumer grade equipment, images of high spatial resolution were obtained. Mosaics of as many as 38 images were created, and the author was able to record detailed aerial images of forest and wetland areas where foot travel was impractical or impossible.

3D Modelling of Inaccessible Areas using UAV-based Aerial Photography and Structure from Motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obanawa, Hiroyuki; Hayakawa, Yuichi; Gomez, Christopher

2014-05-01

In hardly accessible areas, the collection of 3D point-clouds using TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanner) can be very challenging, while airborne equivalent would not give a correct account of subvertical features and concave geometries like caves. To solve such problem, the authors have experimented an aerial photography based SfM (Structure from Motion) technique on a 'peninsular-rock' surrounded on three sides by the sea at a Pacific coast in eastern Japan. The research was carried out using UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) combined with a commercial small UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) carrying a compact camera. The UAV is a DJI PHANTOM: the UAV has four rotors (quadcopter), it has a weight of 1000 g, a payload of 400 g and a maximum flight time of 15 minutes. The camera is a GoPro 'HERO3 Black Edition': resolution 12 million pixels; weight 74 g; and 0.5 sec. interval-shot. The 3D model has been constructed by digital photogrammetry using a commercial SfM software, Agisoft PhotoScan Professional®, which can generate sparse and dense point-clouds, from which polygonal models and orthophotographs can be calculated. Using the 'flight-log' and/or GCPs (Ground Control Points), the software can generate digital surface model. As a result, high-resolution aerial orthophotographs and a 3D model were obtained. The results have shown that it was possible to survey the sea cliff and the wave cut-bench, which are unobservable from land side. In details, we could observe the complexity of the sea cliff that is nearly vertical as a whole while slightly overhanging over the thinner base. The wave cut bench is nearly flat and develops extensively at the base of the cliff. Although there are some evidences of small rockfalls at the upper part of the cliff, there is no evidence of very recent activity, because no fallen rock exists on the wave cut bench. This system has several merits: firstly lower cost than the existing measuring methods such as manned-flight survey and aerial laser scanning. Secondly, compared to these other methods, the one the authors have presented also enables frequent measurements. Thirdly lightweight and compact system realizes higher applicability to various fields. However, the method is still in need of development, as the measurable range is narrower than the other airborne methods, normally up to several hectares, and data accuracy of coordinate and elevation is unknown from SfM alone.

Uav Photogrammetry with Oblique Images: First Analysis on Data Acquisition and Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aicardi, I.; Chiabrando, F.; Grasso, N.; Lingua, A. M.; Noardo, F.; Spanò, A.

2016-06-01

In recent years, many studies revealed the advantages of using airborne oblique images for obtaining improved 3D city models (e.g. including façades and building footprints). Expensive airborne cameras, installed on traditional aerial platforms, usually acquired the data. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possibility of acquire and use oblique images for the 3D reconstruction of a historical building, obtained by UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and traditional COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) digital cameras (more compact and lighter than generally used devices), for the realization of high-level-of-detail architectural survey. The critical issues of the acquisitions from a common UAV (flight planning strategies, ground control points, check points distribution and measurement, etc.) are described. Another important considered aspect was the evaluation of the possibility to use such systems as low cost methods for obtaining complete information from an aerial point of view in case of emergency problems or, as in the present paper, in the cultural heritage application field. The data processing was realized using SfM-based approach for point cloud generation: different dense image-matching algorithms implemented in some commercial and open source software were tested. The achieved results are analysed and the discrepancies from some reference LiDAR data are computed for a final evaluation. The system was tested on the S. Maria Chapel, a part of the Novalesa Abbey (Italy).

Dhaksha, the Unmanned Aircraft System in its New Avatar-Automated Aerial Inspection of INDIA'S Tallest Tower

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, K. S.; Rasheed, A. Mohamed; Krishna Kumar, R.; Giridharan, M.; Ganesh

2013-08-01

DHAKSHA, the unmanned aircraft system (UAS), developed after several years of research by Division of Avionics, Department of Aerospace Engineering, MIT Campus of Anna University has recently proved its capabilities during May 2012 Technology demonstration called UAVforge organised by Defence Research Project Agency, Department of Defence, USA. Team Dhaksha with its most stable design outperformed all the other contestants competing against some of the best engineers from prestigi ous institutions across the globe like Middlesex University from UK, NTU and NUS from Singapore, Tudelft Technical University, Netherlands and other UAV industry participants in the world's toughest UAV challenge. This has opened up an opportunity for Indian UAVs making a presence in the international scenario as well. In furtherance to the above effort at Fort Stewart military base at Georgia,USA, with suitable payloads, the Dhaksha team deployed the UAV in a religious temple festival during November 2012 at Thiruvannamalai District for Tamil Nadu Police to avail the instant aerial imagery services over the crowd of 10 lakhs pilgrims and also about the investigation of the structural strength of the India's tallest structure, the 300 m RCC tower during January 2013. The developed system consists of a custom-built Rotary Wing model with on-board navigation, guidance and control systems (NGC) and ground control station (GCS), for mission planning, remote access, manual overrides and imagery related computations. The mission is to fulfill the competition requirements by using an UAS capable of providing complete solution for the stated problem. In this work the effort to produce multirotor unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for civilian applications at the MIT, Avionics Laboratory is presented

Comparison of binary mask defect printability analysis using virtual stepper system and aerial image microscope system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phan, Khoi A.; Spence, Chris A.; Dakshina-Murthy, S.; Bala, Vidya; Williams, Alvina M.; Strener, Steve; Eandi, Richard D.; Li, Junling; Karklin, Linard

1999-12-01

As advanced process technologies in the wafer fabs push the patterning processes toward lower k1 factor for sub-wavelength resolution printing, reticles are required to use optical proximity correction (OPC) and phase-shifted mask (PSM) for resolution enhancement. For OPC/PSM mask technology, defect printability is one of the major concerns. Current reticle inspection tools available on the market sometimes are not capable of consistently differentiating between an OPC feature and a true random defect. Due to the process complexity and high cost associated with the making of OPC/PSM reticles, it is important for both mask shops and lithography engineers to understand the impact of different defect types and sizes to the printability. Aerial Image Measurement System (AIMS) has been used in the mask shops for a number of years for reticle applications such as aerial image simulation and transmission measurement of repaired defects. The Virtual Stepper System (VSS) provides an alternative method to do defect printability simulation and analysis using reticle images captured by an optical inspection or review system. In this paper, pre- programmed defects and repairs from a Defect Sensitivity Monitor (DSM) reticle with 200 nm minimum features (at 1x) will be studied for printability. The simulated resist lines by AIMS and VSS are both compared to SEM images of resist wafers qualitatively and quantitatively using CD verification.Process window comparison between unrepaired and repaired defects for both good and bad repair cases will be shown. The effect of mask repairs to resist pattern images for the binary mask case will be discussed. AIMS simulation was done at the International Sematech, Virtual stepper simulation at Zygo and resist wafers were processed at AMD-Submicron Development Center using a DUV lithographic process for 0.18 micrometer Logic process technology.

Low-cost Tools for Aerial Video Geolocation and Air Traffic Analysis for Delay Reduction Using Google Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zetterlind, V.; Pledgie, S.

2009-12-01

Low-cost, low-latency, robust geolocation and display of aerial video is a common need for a wide range of earth observing as well as emergency response and security applications. While hardware costs for aerial video collection systems, GPS, and inertial sensors have been decreasing, software costs for geolocation algorithms and reference imagery/DTED remain expensive and highly proprietary. As part of a Federal Small Business Innovative Research project, MosaicATM and EarthNC, Inc have developed a simple geolocation system based on the Google Earth API and Google's 'built-in' DTED and reference imagery libraries. This system geolocates aerial video based on platform and camera position, attitude, and field-of-view metadata using geometric photogrammetric principles of ray-intersection with DTED. Geolocated video can be directly rectified and viewed in the Google Earth API during processing. Work is underway to extend our geolocation code to NASA World Wind for additional flexibility and a fully open-source platform. In addition to our airborne remote sensing work, MosaicATM has developed the Surface Operations Data Analysis and Adaptation (SODAA) tool, funded by NASA Ames, which supports analysis of airport surface operations to optimize aircraft movements and reduce fuel burn and delays. As part of SODAA, MosaicATM and EarthNC, Inc have developed powerful tools to display national airspace data and time-animated 3D flight tracks in Google Earth for 4D analysis. The SODAA tool can convert raw format flight track data, FAA National Flight Data (NFD), and FAA 'Adaptation' airport surface data to a spatial database representation and then to Google Earth KML. The SODAA client provides users with a simple graphical interface through which to generate queries with a wide range of predefined and custom filters, plot results, and export for playback in Google Earth in conjunction with NFD and Adaptation overlays.

Route constraints model based on polychromatic sets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Xianjun; Cai, Chao; Wang, Houjun; Li, Dongwu

2018-03-01

With the development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, the fields of its application are constantly expanding. The mission planning of UAV is especially important, and the planning result directly influences whether the UAV can accomplish the task. In order to make the results of mission planning for unmanned aerial vehicle more realistic, it is necessary to consider not only the physical properties of the aircraft, but also the constraints among the various equipment on the UAV. However, constraints among the equipment of UAV are complex, and the equipment has strong diversity and variability, which makes these constraints difficult to be described. In order to solve the above problem, this paper, referring to the polychromatic sets theory used in the advanced manufacturing field to describe complex systems, presents a mission constraint model of UAV based on polychromatic sets.

Applications of thermal infrared imagery for energy conservation and environmental surveys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carney, J. R.; Vogel, T. C.; Howard, G. E., Jr.; Love, E. R.

1977-01-01

The survey procedures, developed during the winter and summer of 1976, employ color and color infrared aerial photography, thermal infrared imagery, and a handheld infrared imaging device. The resulting imagery was used to detect building heat losses, deteriorated insulation in built-up type building roofs, and defective underground steam lines. The handheld thermal infrared device, used in conjunction with the aerial thermal infrared imagery, provided a method for detecting and locating those roof areas that were underlain with wet insulation. In addition, the handheld infrared device was employed to conduct a survey of a U.S. Army installation's electrical distribution system under full operating loads. This survey proved to be cost effective procedure for detecting faulty electrical insulators and connections that if allowed to persist could have resulted in both safety hazards and loss in production.

A UAV-Mounted Whole Cell Biosensor System for Environmental Monitoring Applications

PubMed Central

Lu, Yi; Macias, Dominique; Dean, Zachary S.; Kreger, Nicole R.; Wong, Pak Kin

2016-01-01

This study reports the development of a portable whole cell biosensor system for environmental monitoring applications, such as air quality control, water pollution monitoring and radiation leakage detection. The system consists of a lightweight mechanical housing, a temperature regulating system, and a microfluidic bacterial inoculation channel. The overall system, which is less than 200 g, serves as a portable incubator for cell inoculation and can be mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle for monitoring remote and unreachable locations. The feedback control system maintains the inoculation temperature within 0.05 degree Celsius. The large surface-to-volume ratio of the polydimethylsiloxane microchannel facilitates effective gas exchange for rapid bacterial growth. Molecular dynamic simulation shows effective diffusion of major gas pollutants in PDMS toward gas sensing applications. By optimizing the design, we demonstrate the operation of the system in ambient temperatures from 5°C to 32°C and rapid bacterial growth in microchannels compared to standard bacterial culture techniques. PMID:26584498

A Grassroots Remote Sensing Toolkit Using Live Coding, Smartphones, Kites and Lightweight Drones

PubMed Central

Anderson, K.; Griffiths, D.; DeBell, L.; Hancock, S.; Duffy, J. P.; Shutler, J. D.; Reinhardt, W. J.; Griffiths, A.

2016-01-01

This manuscript describes the development of an android-based smartphone application for capturing aerial photographs and spatial metadata automatically, for use in grassroots mapping applications. The aim of the project was to exploit the plethora of on-board sensors within modern smartphones (accelerometer, GPS, compass, camera) to generate ready-to-use spatial data from lightweight aerial platforms such as drones or kites. A visual coding ‘scheme blocks’ framework was used to build the application (‘app’), so that users could customise their own data capture tools in the field. The paper reports on the coding framework, then shows the results of test flights from kites and lightweight drones and finally shows how open-source geospatial toolkits were used to generate geographical information system (GIS)-ready GeoTIFF images from the metadata stored by the app. Two Android smartphones were used in testing–a high specification OnePlus One handset and a lower cost Acer Liquid Z3 handset, to test the operational limits of the app on phones with different sensor sets. We demonstrate that best results were obtained when the phone was attached to a stable single line kite or to a gliding drone. Results show that engine or motor vibrations from powered aircraft required dampening to ensure capture of high quality images. We demonstrate how the products generated from the open-source processing workflow are easily used in GIS. The app can be downloaded freely from the Google store by searching for ‘UAV toolkit’ (UAV toolkit 2016), and used wherever an Android smartphone and aerial platform are available to deliver rapid spatial data (e.g. in supporting decision-making in humanitarian disaster-relief zones, in teaching or for grassroots remote sensing and democratic mapping). PMID:27144310

A Grassroots Remote Sensing Toolkit Using Live Coding, Smartphones, Kites and Lightweight Drones.

PubMed

Anderson, K; Griffiths, D; DeBell, L; Hancock, S; Duffy, J P; Shutler, J D; Reinhardt, W J; Griffiths, A

2016-01-01

This manuscript describes the development of an android-based smartphone application for capturing aerial photographs and spatial metadata automatically, for use in grassroots mapping applications. The aim of the project was to exploit the plethora of on-board sensors within modern smartphones (accelerometer, GPS, compass, camera) to generate ready-to-use spatial data from lightweight aerial platforms such as drones or kites. A visual coding 'scheme blocks' framework was used to build the application ('app'), so that users could customise their own data capture tools in the field. The paper reports on the coding framework, then shows the results of test flights from kites and lightweight drones and finally shows how open-source geospatial toolkits were used to generate geographical information system (GIS)-ready GeoTIFF images from the metadata stored by the app. Two Android smartphones were used in testing-a high specification OnePlus One handset and a lower cost Acer Liquid Z3 handset, to test the operational limits of the app on phones with different sensor sets. We demonstrate that best results were obtained when the phone was attached to a stable single line kite or to a gliding drone. Results show that engine or motor vibrations from powered aircraft required dampening to ensure capture of high quality images. We demonstrate how the products generated from the open-source processing workflow are easily used in GIS. The app can be downloaded freely from the Google store by searching for 'UAV toolkit' (UAV toolkit 2016), and used wherever an Android smartphone and aerial platform are available to deliver rapid spatial data (e.g. in supporting decision-making in humanitarian disaster-relief zones, in teaching or for grassroots remote sensing and democratic mapping).

Aerial thermography for energy conservation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jack, J. R.

1978-01-01

Thermal infrared scanning from an aircraft is a convenient and commercially available means for determining relative rates of energy loss from building roofs. The need to conserve energy as fuel costs makes the mass survey capability of aerial thermography an attractive adjunct to community energy awareness programs. Background information on principles of aerial thermography is presented. Thermal infrared scanning systems, flight and environmental requirements for data acquisition, preparation of thermographs for display, major users and suppliers of thermography, and suggested specifications for obtaining aerial scanning services were reviewed.

Aerial Explorers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, Larry A.; Pisanich, Greg; Ippolito, Corey

2005-01-01

This paper presents recent results from a mission architecture study of planetary aerial explorers. In this study, several mission scenarios were developed in simulation and evaluated on success in meeting mission goals. This aerial explorer mission architecture study is unique in comparison with previous Mars airplane research activities. The study examines how aerial vehicles can find and gain access to otherwise inaccessible terrain features of interest. The aerial explorer also engages in a high-level of (indirect) surface interaction, despite not typically being able to takeoff and land or to engage in multiple flights/sorties. To achieve this goal, a new mission paradigm is proposed: aerial explorers should be considered as an additional element in the overall Entry, Descent, Landing System (EDLS) process. Further, aerial vehicles should be considered primarily as carrier/utility platforms whose purpose is to deliver air-deployed sensors and robotic devices, or symbiotes, to those high-value terrain features of interest.

Statistical comparisons of AGDISP prediction with Mission III data

Treesearch

Baozhong Duan; Karl Mierzejewski; William G. Yendol

1991-01-01

Statistical comparison of AGDISP prediction were made against data obtained during aerial spray field trials ("Mission III") conducted in March 1987 at the APHIS Facility, Moore Air Base, Edinburg, Texas, by the NEFAAT group (Northeast Forest Aerial Application Technology). Seven out of twenty one runs were observed and predicted means (O and P), mean bias...

Determination of OB/OD/SF Emission Factors Using Unmanned Aerial Systems

EPA Science Inventory

A presentation to the Demilitarization Symposium. This proposal will present the methods of tethered aerostat and unmanned aerial system for collection of plume samples and determination of emission factors form open burning, open detonation, and static firing for weapon demilita...

Real-time implementations of acoustic signal enhancement techniques for aerial based surveillance and rescue applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramos, Antonio L. L.; Shao, Zhili; Holthe, Aleksander; Sandli, Mathias F.

2017-05-01

The introduction of the System-on-Chip (SoC) technology has brought exciting new opportunities for the development of smart low cost embedded systems spanning a wide range of applications. Currently available SoC devices are capable of performing high speed digital signal processing tasks in software while featuring relatively low development costs and reduced time-to-market. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are an application example that has shown tremendous potential in an increasing number of scenarios, ranging from leisure to surveillance as well as in search and rescue missions. Video capturing from UAV platforms is a relatively straightforward task that requires almost no preprocessing. However, that does not apply to audio signals, especially in cases where the data is to be used to support real-time decision making. In fact, the enormous amount of acoustic interference from the surroundings, including the noise from the UAVs propellers, becomes a huge problem. This paper discusses a real-time implementation of the NLMS adaptive filtering algorithm applied to enhancing acoustic signals captured from UAV platforms. The model relies on a combination of acoustic sensors and a computational inexpensive algorithm running on a digital signal processor. Given its simplicity, this solution can be incorporated into the main processing system of an UAV using the SoC technology, and run concurrently with other required tasks, such as flight control and communications. Simulations and real-time DSP-based implementations have shown significant signal enhancement results by efficiently mitigating the interference from the noise generated by the UAVs propellers as well as from other external noise sources.

Development and evaluation of a lightweight sensor system for aerial emission sampling from open area sources

EPA Science Inventory

A new sensor system for mobile and aerial emission sampling was developed for open area pollutant sources, such as prescribed forest burns. The sensor system, termed “Kolibri”, consists of multiple low-cost air quality sensors measuring CO2, CO, samplers for particulate matter wi...

Development and evaluation of a lightweight sensor system for aerial emission sampling from open area sources (Abstract)

EPA Science Inventory

A new sensor system for mobile and aerial emission sampling was developed for open area pollutant sources, such as prescribed forest burns. The sensor system, termed “Kolibri”, consists of multiple low-cost air quality sensors measuring CO2, CO, samplers for particulate matter wi...

Human factors considerations for the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles in the National Airspace System : an analysis of reports submitted to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-06-06

Successful integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations into the National Airspace System requires the identification and mitigation of operational risks. This report reviews human factors issues that have been identified in operational as...

Advanced Laser Semi-Conductor Air to Air Training Device Concept

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-12-01

The LATAGS system will allow aerial gunnery training over inhabitated areas with no live ammunition. The proposed LATAGS system will also allow free ... play of the aircraft and calculate the bullets hit and miss distances from a aerial banner. in the old system the laser is pointed to a point in space

NASA Experience with UAS Science Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curry, Robert E.; Jennison, Chris

2007-01-01

Viewgraphs of NASA's Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) as it applies to Earth science missions is presented. The topics include: 1) Agenda; 2) Background; 3) NASA Science Aircraft Endurance; 4) Science UAS Development Challenges; 5) USCG Alaskan Maritime Surveillance; 6) NOAA/NASA UAV Demonstration Project; 7) Western States Fire Mission; 8) Esperanza Fire Emergency Response; 9) Ikhana (Predator B); 10) UAV Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR); 11) Global Hawk; and 12) Related Technologies

Aerial cooperative transporting and assembling control using multiple quadrotor-manipulator systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, Yuhua; Wang, Jianan; Shan, Jiayuan

2018-02-01

In this paper, a fully distributed control scheme for aerial cooperative transporting and assembling is proposed using multiple quadrotor-manipulator systems with each quadrotor equipped with a robotic manipulator. First, the kinematic and dynamic models of a quadrotor with multi-Degree of Freedom (DOF) robotic manipulator are established together using Euler-Lagrange equations. Based on the aggregated dynamic model, the control scheme consisting of position controller, attitude controller and manipulator controller is presented. Regarding cooperative transporting and assembling, multiple quadrotor-manipulator systems should be able to form a desired formation without collision among quadrotors from any initial position. The desired formation is achieved by the distributed position controller and attitude controller, while the collision avoidance is guaranteed by an artificial potential function method. Then, the transporting and assembling tasks request the manipulators to reach the desired angles cooperatively, which is achieved by the distributed manipulator controller. The overall stability of the closed-loop system is proven by a Lyapunov method and Matrosov's theorem. In the end, the proposed control scheme is simplified for the real application and then validated by two formation flying missions of four quadrotors with 2-DOF manipulators.

The application of remote sensing techniques to selected inter and intra urban data acquisition problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horton, F. E.

1970-01-01

The utility of remote sensing techniques to urban data acquisition problems in several distinct areas was identified. This endeavor included a comparison of remote sensing systems for urban data collection, the extraction of housing quality data from aerial photography, utilization of photographic sensors in urban transportation studies, urban change detection, space photography utilization, and an application of remote sensing techniques to the acquisition of data concerning intra-urban commercial centers. The systematic evaluation of variable extraction for urban modeling and planning at several different scales, and the model derivation for identifying and predicting economic growth and change within a regional system of cities are also studied.

Study of guidance techniques for aerial application of agricultural compounds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caldwell, J. D.; Dimmock, P. B. A.; Watkins, R. H.

1980-01-01

Candidate systems were identified for evaluation of suitability in meeting specified accuracy requirements for a swath guidance system in an agriculture aircraft. Further examination reduced the list of potential candidates to a single category, i.e., transponder type systems, for detailed evaluation. Within this category three systems were found which met the basic accuracy requirements of the work statement. The Flying Flagman, the Electronic Flagging and the Raydist Director System. In addition to evaluating the systems against the specified requirements, each system was compared with the other two systems on a relative basis. The conclusions supported by the analyses show the Flying Flagman system to be the most suitable system currently available to meet the requirements.

Verification of aerial photo stand volume tables for southeast Alaska.

Treesearch

Theodore S. Setzer; Bert R. Mead

1988-01-01

Aerial photo volume tables are used in the multilevel sampling system of Alaska Forest Inventory and Analysis. These volume tables are presented with a description of the data base and methods used to construct the tables. Volume estimates compiled from the aerial photo stand volume tables and associated ground-measured values are compared and evaluated.

Aeronautic Instruments. Section VI : Aerial Navigation and Navigating Instruments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eaton, H N

1923-01-01

This report outlines briefly the methods of aerial navigation which have been developed during the past few years, with a description of the different instruments used. Dead reckoning, the most universal method of aerial navigation, is first discussed. Then follows an outline of the principles of navigation by astronomical observation; a discussion of the practical use of natural horizons, such as sea, land, and cloud, in making extant observations; the use of artificial horizons, including the bubble, pendulum, and gyroscopic types. A description is given of the recent development of the radio direction finder and its application to navigation.

Evaluation of Deep Learning Based Stereo Matching Methods: from Ground to Aerial Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, J.; Ji, S.; Zhang, C.; Qin, Z.

2018-05-01

Dense stereo matching has been extensively studied in photogrammetry and computer vision. In this paper we evaluate the application of deep learning based stereo methods, which were raised from 2016 and rapidly spread, on aerial stereos other than ground images that are commonly used in computer vision community. Two popular methods are evaluated. One learns matching cost with a convolutional neural network (known as MC-CNN); the other produces a disparity map in an end-to-end manner by utilizing both geometry and context (known as GC-net). First, we evaluate the performance of the deep learning based methods for aerial stereo images by a direct model reuse. The models pre-trained on KITTI 2012, KITTI 2015 and Driving datasets separately, are directly applied to three aerial datasets. We also give the results of direct training on target aerial datasets. Second, the deep learning based methods are compared to the classic stereo matching method, Semi-Global Matching(SGM), and a photogrammetric software, SURE, on the same aerial datasets. Third, transfer learning strategy is introduced to aerial image matching based on the assumption of a few target samples available for model fine tuning. It experimentally proved that the conventional methods and the deep learning based methods performed similarly, and the latter had greater potential to be explored.

Developments in Emission Measurements Using Lightweight Sensors and Samplers

EPA Science Inventory

Lightweight emission measurement systems making use of miniaturized sensors and samplers have been developed for portable and aerial sampling for an array of pollutants. Shoebox-sized systems called “Kolibri”, weighing 3-5 kg, have been deployed on NASA-flown unmanned aerial syst...

The natural resources inventory system ASVT project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Joyce, A. T.

1979-01-01

The hardware/software and the associated procedures for a natural resource inventory and information system based on the use of LANDSAT-acquired multispectral scanner digital data is described. The system is designed to derive land cover/vegetation information from LANDSAT data and geographically reference this information for the production of various types of maps and for the compilation of acreage by land cover/vegetation category. The system also provides for data base building so that the LANDSAT-derived information can be related to information digitized from other sources (e.g., soils maps) in a geographic context in order to address specific applications. These applications include agricultural crop production estimation, erosion hazard-reforestation need assessment, whitetail deer habitat assessment, and site selection. The system is tested in demonstration areas located in the state of Mississippi, and the results of these application demonstrations are presented. A cost-efficiency comparison of producing land cover/vegetation maps and statistics with this system versus the use of small-scale aerial photography is made.

Proposed tethered unmanned aerial system for the detection of pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodman, J.; McKay, J.; Evans, W.; Gadsden, S. Andrew

2016-05-01

This paper is based on a proposed unmanned aerial system platform that is to be outfitted with high-resolution sensors. The proposed system is to be tethered to a moveable ground station, which may be a research vessel or some form of ground vehicle (e.g., car, truck, or rover). The sensors include, at a minimum: camera, infrared sensor, thermal, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) camera, global positioning system (GPS), and a light-based radar (LIDAR). The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of existing methods for pollution detection of failing septic systems, and to introduce the proposed system. Future work will look at the high-resolution data from the sensors and integrating the data through a process called information fusion. Typically, this process is done using the popular and well-published Kalman filter (or its nonlinear formulations, such as the extended Kalman filter). However, future work will look at using a new type of strategy based on variable structure estimation for the information fusion portion of the data processing. It is hypothesized that fusing data from the thermal and NDVI sensors will be more accurate and reliable for a multitude of applications, including the detection of pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay area.

Development of test methods for scale model simulation of aerial applications in the NASA Langley Vortex Research Facility. [agricultural aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jordan, F. L., Jr.

1980-01-01

As part of basic research to improve aerial applications technology, methods were developed at the Langley Vortex Research Facility to simulate and measure deposition patterns of aerially-applied sprays and granular materials by means of tests with small-scale models of agricultural aircraft and dynamically-scaled test particles. Interactions between the aircraft wake and the dispersed particles are being studied with the objective of modifying wake characteristics and dispersal techniques to increase swath width, improve deposition pattern uniformity, and minimize drift. The particle scaling analysis, test methods for particle dispersal from the model aircraft, visualization of particle trajectories, and measurement and computer analysis of test deposition patterns are described. An experimental validation of the scaling analysis and test results that indicate improved control of chemical drift by use of winglets are presented to demonstrate test methods.

Methods for Evaluating the Temperature Structure-Function Parameter Using Unmanned Aerial Systems and Large-Eddy Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wainwright, Charlotte E.; Bonin, Timothy A.; Chilson, Phillip B.; Gibbs, Jeremy A.; Fedorovich, Evgeni; Palmer, Robert D.

2015-05-01

Small-scale turbulent fluctuations of temperature are known to affect the propagation of both electromagnetic and acoustic waves. Within the inertial-subrange scale, where the turbulence is locally homogeneous and isotropic, these temperature perturbations can be described, in a statistical sense, using the structure-function parameter for temperature, . Here we investigate different methods of evaluating , using data from a numerical large-eddy simulation together with atmospheric observations collected by an unmanned aerial system and a sodar. An example case using data from a late afternoon unmanned aerial system flight on April 24 2013 and corresponding large-eddy simulation data is presented and discussed.

ARM Unmanned Aerial Systems Implementation Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schmid, Beat; Ivey, Mark

Recent advances in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) coupled with changes in the regulatory environment for operations of UAS in the National Airspace increase the potential value of UAS to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility. UAS include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and tethered balloon systems (TBS). The roles UAVs and TBSs could play within the ARM Facility, particularly science questions they could help address, have been discussed in several workshops, reports, and vision documents, including: This document describes the implementation of a robust and vigorous program for use of UAV and TBS formore » the science missions ARM supports.« less

Toward autonomous avian-inspired grasping for micro aerial vehicles.

PubMed

Thomas, Justin; Loianno, Giuseppe; Polin, Joseph; Sreenath, Koushil; Kumar, Vijay

2014-06-01

Micro aerial vehicles, particularly quadrotors, have been used in a wide range of applications. However, the literature on aerial manipulation and grasping is limited and the work is based on quasi-static models. In this paper, we draw inspiration from agile, fast-moving birds such as raptors, that are able to capture moving prey on the ground or in water, and develop similar capabilities for quadrotors. We address dynamic grasping, an approach to prehensile grasping in which the dynamics of the robot and its gripper are significant and must be explicitly modeled and controlled for successful execution. Dynamic grasping is relevant for fast pick-and-place operations, transportation and delivery of objects, and placing or retrieving sensors. We show how this capability can be realized (a) using a motion capture system and (b) without external sensors relying only on onboard sensors. In both cases we describe the dynamic model, and trajectory planning and control algorithms. In particular, we present a methodology for flying and grasping a cylindrical object using feedback from a monocular camera and an inertial measurement unit onboard the aerial robot. This is accomplished by mapping the dynamics of the quadrotor to a level virtual image plane, which in turn enables dynamically-feasible trajectory planning for image features in the image space, and a vision-based controller with guaranteed convergence properties. We also present experimental results obtained with a quadrotor equipped with an articulated gripper to illustrate both approaches.

Nervus terminalis projection to the retina in the 'four-eyed' fish, Anableps anableps.

PubMed

Meyer, D L; Malz, C R; Jadhao, A G

1996-08-02

The eye of the surface dwelling 'four-eyed' fish, Anableps possesses an aquatic and an aerial optical system. The aerial system is strongly hyperopic when the animal dives, i.e. during mating, and the dorsal pupil is submerged. We studied the retino-petal nervus terminals projection to the aerial and to the aquatic retina by Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2 (FMRF) immunocytochemistry and found both to be equally innervated. This finding sheds doubt on the proposed functional significance of this projection for reproductive behaviour.

A scheduling model for the aerial relay system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ausrotas, R. A.; Liu, E. W.

1980-01-01

The ability of the Aerial Relay System to handle the U.S. transcontinental large hub passenger flow was analyzed with a flexible, interactive computer model. The model incorporated city pair time of day demand and a demand allocation function which assigned passengers to their preferred flights.

A workflow for extracting plot-level biophysical indicators from aerially acquired multispectral imagery

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Advances in technologies associated with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has allowed for researchers, farmers and agribusinesses to incorporate UAVs coupled with various imaging systems into data collection activities and aid expert systems for making decisions. Multispectral imageries allow for a q...

Propeller wash effects on spray drift

Treesearch

Steven J. Thompson; Alvin R. Womac; Joseph Mulrooney; Sidney Deck

2005-01-01

for aerial spray application, there is some question if off-target drift (both near and far) is influenced by which boom is spraying and the direction of propeller wash rotation. This information may be useful when switching off one boom close to a field boundary. The effect of alternate boom switching and propeller wash direction on aerial spray drift from a turbine-...

Persistent effects of aerial applications of disparlure on gypsy moth: trap catch and mating success

Treesearch

Kevin W. Thorpe; Ksenia S. Tcheslavskaia; Patrick C. Tobin; Laura M. Blackburn; Donna S. Leonard; E. Anderson Roberts

2007-01-01

In forest plots treated aerially with a plastic laminated flake formulation (Disrupt® II) of the gypsy moth sex pheromone disparlure to disrupt gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), mating was monitored the year of treatment and 1-2 years after treatment to determine the effects of the treatment on suppression of...

An evaluation of a UAV guidance system with consumer grade GPS receivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenberg, Abigail Stella

Remote sensing has been demonstrated an important tool in agricultural and natural resource management and research applications, however there are limitations that exist with traditional platforms (i.e., hand held sensors, linear moves, vehicle mounted, airplanes, remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and satellites). Rapid technological advances in electronics, computers, software applications, and the aerospace industry have dramatically reduced the cost and increased the availability of remote sensing technologies. Remote sensing imagery vary in spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions and are available from numerous providers. Appendix A presented results of a test project that acquired high-resolution aerial photography with a RPV to map the boundary of a 0.42 km2 fire area. The project mapped the boundaries of the fire area from a mosaic of the aerial images collected and compared this with ground-based measurements. The project achieved a 92.4% correlation between the aerial assessment and the ground truth data. Appendix B used multi-objective analysis to quantitatively assess the tradeoffs between different sensor platform attributes to identify the best overall technology. Experts were surveyed to identify the best overall technology at three different pixel sizes. Appendix C evaluated the positional accuracy of a relatively low cost UAV designed for high resolution remote sensing of small areas in order to determine the positional accuracy of sensor readings. The study evaluated the accuracy and uncertainty of a UAV flight route with respect to the programmed waypoints and of the UAV's GPS position, respectively. In addition, the potential displacement of sensor data was evaluated based on (1) GPS measurements on board the aircraft and (2) the autopilot's circuit board with 3-axis gyros and accelerometers (i.e., roll, pitch, and yaw). The accuracies were estimated based on a 95% confidence interval or similar methods. The accuracy achieved in the second and third manuscripts demonstrates that reasonably priced, high resolution remote sensing via RPVs and UAVs is practical for agriculture and natural resource professionals.

49 CFR 236.71 - Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. 236.71... Instructions: All Systems Wires and Cables § 236.71 Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. Signal wire on... pole or other support. Signal wire shall not interfere with, or be interfered by, other wires on the...

49 CFR 236.71 - Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. 236.71... Instructions: All Systems Wires and Cables § 236.71 Signal wires on pole line and aerial cable. Signal wire on... pole or other support. Signal wire shall not interfere with, or be interfered by, other wires on the...

Vehicle detection in aerial surveillance using dynamic Bayesian networks.

PubMed

Cheng, Hsu-Yung; Weng, Chih-Chia; Chen, Yi-Ying

2012-04-01

We present an automatic vehicle detection system for aerial surveillance in this paper. In this system, we escape from the stereotype and existing frameworks of vehicle detection in aerial surveillance, which are either region based or sliding window based. We design a pixelwise classification method for vehicle detection. The novelty lies in the fact that, in spite of performing pixelwise classification, relations among neighboring pixels in a region are preserved in the feature extraction process. We consider features including vehicle colors and local features. For vehicle color extraction, we utilize a color transform to separate vehicle colors and nonvehicle colors effectively. For edge detection, we apply moment preserving to adjust the thresholds of the Canny edge detector automatically, which increases the adaptability and the accuracy for detection in various aerial images. Afterward, a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) is constructed for the classification purpose. We convert regional local features into quantitative observations that can be referenced when applying pixelwise classification via DBN. Experiments were conducted on a wide variety of aerial videos. The results demonstrate flexibility and good generalization abilities of the proposed method on a challenging data set with aerial surveillance images taken at different heights and under different camera angles.

Unmanned Aerial Mass Spectrometer Systems for In-Situ Volcanic Plume Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diaz, Jorge Andres; Pieri, David; Wright, Kenneth; Sorensen, Paul; Kline-Shoder, Robert; Arkin, C. Richard; Fladeland, Matthew; Bland, Geoff; Buongiorno, Maria Fabrizia; Ramirez, Carlos; Corrales, Ernesto; Alan, Alfredo; Alegria, Oscar; Diaz, David; Linick, Justin

2015-02-01

Technology advances in the field of small, unmanned aerial vehicles and their integration with a variety of sensor packages and instruments, such as miniature mass spectrometers, have enhanced the possibilities and applications of what are now called unmanned aerial systems (UAS). With such technology, in situ and proximal remote sensing measurements of volcanic plumes are now possible without risking the lives of scientists and personnel in charge of close monitoring of volcanic activity. These methods provide unprecedented, and otherwise unobtainable, data very close in space and time to eruptions, to better understand the role of gas volatiles in magma and subsequent eruption products. Small mass spectrometers, together with the world's smallest turbo molecular pump, have being integrated into NASA and University of Costa Rica UAS platforms to be field-tested for in situ volcanic plume analysis, and in support of the calibration and validation of satellite-based remote sensing data. These new UAS-MS systems are combined with existing UAS flight-tested payloads and assets, such as temperature, pressure, relative humidity, SO2, H2S, CO2, GPS sensors, on-board data storage, and telemetry. Such payloads are capable of generating real time 3D concentration maps of the Turrialba volcano active plume in Costa Rica, while remote sensing data are simultaneously collected from the ASTER and OMI space-borne instruments for comparison. The primary goal is to improve the understanding of the chemical and physical properties of emissions for mitigation of local volcanic hazards, for the validation of species detection and abundance of retrievals based on remote sensing, and to validate transport models.

Unmanned aerial mass spectrometer systems for in-situ volcanic plume analysis.

PubMed

Diaz, Jorge Andres; Pieri, David; Wright, Kenneth; Sorensen, Paul; Kline-Shoder, Robert; Arkin, C Richard; Fladeland, Matthew; Bland, Geoff; Buongiorno, Maria Fabrizia; Ramirez, Carlos; Corrales, Ernesto; Alan, Alfredo; Alegria, Oscar; Diaz, David; Linick, Justin

2015-02-01

Technology advances in the field of small, unmanned aerial vehicles and their integration with a variety of sensor packages and instruments, such as miniature mass spectrometers, have enhanced the possibilities and applications of what are now called unmanned aerial systems (UAS). With such technology, in situ and proximal remote sensing measurements of volcanic plumes are now possible without risking the lives of scientists and personnel in charge of close monitoring of volcanic activity. These methods provide unprecedented, and otherwise unobtainable, data very close in space and time to eruptions, to better understand the role of gas volatiles in magma and subsequent eruption products. Small mass spectrometers, together with the world's smallest turbo molecular pump, have being integrated into NASA and University of Costa Rica UAS platforms to be field-tested for in situ volcanic plume analysis, and in support of the calibration and validation of satellite-based remote sensing data. These new UAS-MS systems are combined with existing UAS flight-tested payloads and assets, such as temperature, pressure, relative humidity, SO2, H2S, CO2, GPS sensors, on-board data storage, and telemetry. Such payloads are capable of generating real time 3D concentration maps of the Turrialba volcano active plume in Costa Rica, while remote sensing data are simultaneously collected from the ASTER and OMI space-borne instruments for comparison. The primary goal is to improve the understanding of the chemical and physical properties of emissions for mitigation of local volcanic hazards, for the validation of species detection and abundance of retrievals based on remote sensing, and to validate transport models.

STRUCTURAL AND HYDROGEOLOGIC APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING DATA, EASTERN YUCATAN PENINSULA, MEXICO.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Southworth, C. Scott; ,

1984-01-01

Landsat and Seasat satellite images and aerial photographs of eastern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, were analyzed to delineate geologic controls of ground water. Significant interpretation results include the delineation of linear topographic swales, interpreted as fractures, extending more than 50 km along strike from the previously known limit of the Holbox fracture system; the alignment of sink holes (cenotes) and inlets (caletas) on strike with existing faults and fracture systems; and the identification of tonal anomalies in Ingles Lagoon suggesting fresh-water discharge from a submarine spring.

Geohazard reconnaissance mapping for potential rock boulder fall using low altitude UAV photogrammetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharan Kumar, N.; Ashraf Mohamad Ismail, Mohd; Sukor, Nur Sabahiah Abdul; Cheang, William

2018-05-01

This paper discusses potential applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for evaluation of risk immediately with photos and 3-dimensional digital element. Aerial photography using UAV ready to give a powerful technique for potential rock boulder fall recognition. High-resolution outputs from this method give the chance to evaluate the site for potential rock boulder falls spatially. The utilization of UAV to capture the aerial photos is a quick, reliable, and cost-effective technique contrasted with terrestrial laser scanning method. Reconnaissance of potential rock boulder susceptible to fall is very crucial during the geotechnical investigation. This process is essential in the view of the rock fall hazards nearby site before the beginning of any preliminary work. Photogrammetric applications have empowered the automated way to deal with identification of rock boulder susceptible to fall by recognizing the location, size, and position. A developing examination of the utilization of digital photogrammetry gives numerous many benefits for civil engineering application. These advancements have made important contributions to our capabilities to create the geohazard map on potential rock boulder fall.

Number of lightning discharges causing damage to lightning arrester cables for aerial transmission lines in power systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nikiforov, E. P.

2009-07-15

Damage by lightning discharges to lightning arrester cables for 110-175 kV aerial transmission lines is analyzed using data from power systems on incidents with aerial transmission lines over a ten year operating period (1997-2006). It is found that failures of lightning arrester cables occur when a tensile force acts on a cable heated to the melting point by a lightning current. The lightning currents required to heat a cable to this extent are greater for larger cable cross sections. The probability that a lightning discharge will develop decreases as the amplitude of the lightning current increases, which greatly reduces themore » number of lightning discharges which damage TK-70 cables compared to TK-50 cables. In order to increase the reliability of lightning arrester cables for 110 kV aerial transmission lines, TK-70 cables should be used in place of TK-50 cables. The number of lightning discharges per year which damage lightning arrester cables is lowered when the density of aerial transmission lines is reduced within the territory of electrical power systems. An approximate relationship between these two parameters is obtained.« less

Development of a wireless air pollution sensor package for aerial-sampling of emissions

EPA Science Inventory

A new sensor system for mobile and aerial emission sampling was developed for open area pollutant sources, such as prescribed forest burns. The sensor system, termed “Kolibri”, consists of multiple low-cost air quality sensors measuring CO2, CO, samplers for particulate matter wi...

Aerial Networking for the Implementation of Cooperative Control on Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

the relay aircraft to an optimal location. Secondly, a mesh network was configured and tested. This configuration successfully relayed aircraft...functionality, such as updating navigation waypoints to each aircraft. The results suggest the system be updated with more capable modems in a mesh ...

Balloon logging with the inverted skyline

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mosher, C. F.

1975-01-01

There is a gap in aerial logging techniques that has to be filled. The need for a simple, safe, sizeable system has to be developed before aerial logging will become effective and accepted in the logging industry. This paper presents such a system designed on simple principles with realistic cost and ecological benefits.

Applicability of Unmanned Aerial Systems to Homeland Defense Missions

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

adopted many of the suggestion from the NAPA report. A significant milestone in the agency’s history occurred in 1996 when President Clinton extended...Surveillance and Civil Liberties”, in Information Ethics: Privacy and Intellectual Property, Lee Freeman and A. Graham Peace, Hershey , Pa, 2005. p.165. 164...of registry first. The second expectation is for aircraft to follow the “air 197 Mark Peterson , “The UAV and the Current and Future Regulatory

A Survey of Theoretical and Experimental Coaxial Rotor Aerodynamic Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coleman, Colin P.

1997-01-01

The recent appearance of the Kamov Ka-50 helicopter and the application of coaxial rotors to unmanned aerial vehicles have renewed international interest in the coaxial rotor configuration. This report addresses the aerodynamic issues peculiar to coaxial rotors by surveying American, Russian, Japanese, British, and German research. (Herein, 'coaxial rotors' refers to helicopter, not propeller, rotors. The intermeshing rotor system was not investigated.) Issues addressed are separation distance, load sharing between rotors, wake structure, solidity effects, swirl recovery, and the effects of having no tail rotor. A general summary of the coaxial rotor configuration explores the configuration's advantages and applications.

Advances in image compression and automatic target recognition; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Mar. 30, 31, 1989

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tescher, Andrew G. (Editor)

1989-01-01

Various papers on image compression and automatic target recognition are presented. Individual topics addressed include: target cluster detection in cluttered SAR imagery, model-based target recognition using laser radar imagery, Smart Sensor front-end processor for feature extraction of images, object attitude estimation and tracking from a single video sensor, symmetry detection in human vision, analysis of high resolution aerial images for object detection, obscured object recognition for an ATR application, neural networks for adaptive shape tracking, statistical mechanics and pattern recognition, detection of cylinders in aerial range images, moving object tracking using local windows, new transform method for image data compression, quad-tree product vector quantization of images, predictive trellis encoding of imagery, reduced generalized chain code for contour description, compact architecture for a real-time vision system, use of human visibility functions in segmentation coding, color texture analysis and synthesis using Gibbs random fields.

A small, lightweight multipollutant sensor system for ground-mobile and aerial emission sampling from open area sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Xiaochi; Aurell, Johanna; Mitchell, William; Tabor, Dennis; Gullett, Brian

2017-04-01

Characterizing highly dynamic, transient, and vertically lofted emissions from open area sources poses unique measurement challenges. This study developed and applied a multipollutant sensor and time-integrated sampler system for use on mobile applications such as vehicles, tethered balloons (aerostats) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to determine emission factors. The system is particularly applicable to open area sources, such as forest fires, due to its light weight (3.5 kg), compact size (6.75 L), and internal power supply. The sensor system, termed ;Kolibri;, consists of sensors measuring CO2 and CO, and samplers for particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The Kolibri is controlled by a microcontroller which can record and transfer data in real time through a radio module. Selection of the sensors was based on laboratory testing for accuracy, response delay and recovery, cross-sensitivity, and precision. The Kolibri was compared against rack-mounted continuous emissions monitoring system (CEMs) and another mobile sampling instrument (the ;Flyer;) that has been used in over ten open area pollutant sampling events. Our results showed that the time series of CO, CO2, and PM2.5 concentrations measured by the Kolibri agreed well with those from the CEMs and the Flyer, with a laboratory-tested percentage error of 4.9%, 3%, and 5.8%, respectively. The VOC emission factors obtained using the Kolibri were consistent with existing literature values that relate concentration to modified combustion efficiency. The potential effect of rotor downwash on particle sampling was investigated in an indoor laboratory and the preliminary results suggested that its influence is minimal. Field application of the Kolibri sampling open detonation plumes indicated that the CO and CO2 sensors responded dynamically and their concentrations co-varied with emission transients. The Kolibri system can be applied to various challenging open area scenarios such as fires, lagoons, flares, and landfills.

Inertial instrument system for aerial surveying

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brown, R.H.; Chapman, W.H.; Hanna, W.F.; Mongan, C.E.; Hursh, J.W.

1985-01-01

An inertial guidance system for aerial surveying has been developed under contract to the U.S. Geological Survey. This prototype system, known as the aerial profiling of terrain (APT) system, is designed to determine continuously the positions of points along an aircraft flight path, or the underlying terrain profile, to an accuracy of + or - 0.5 ft (15 cm) vertically and + or - 2 ft (61 cm) horizontally. The system 's objective thus is to accomplish, from a fixed-wing aircraft, what would traditionally be accomplished from ground-based topographic surveys combined with aerial photography and photogrammetry. The two-part strategy for measuring the terrain profile entails: (1) use of an inertial navigator for continuous determination of the three-coordinate position of the aircraft, and (2) use of an eye-safe pulsed laser profiler for continuous measurement of the vertical distance from aircraft to land surface, so that the desired terrain profile can then be directly computed. The APT system, installed in a DeHavilland Twin Otter aircraft, is typically flown at a speed of 115 mph (105 knots) at an altitude of 2,000 ft (610 m) above the terrain. Performance-evaluation flights have shown that the vertical and horizontal accuracy specifications are met. (USGS)

Fuel cell system with sodium borohydride as hydrogen source for unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Kyunghwan; Kim, Taegyu; Lee, Kiseong; Kwon, Sejin

In this study, we design and fabricate a fuel cell system for application as a power source in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The fuel cell system consists of a fuel cell stack, hydrogen generator, and hybrid power management system. PEMFC stack with an output power of 100 W is prepared and tested to decide the efficient operating conditions; the stack must be operated in the dead-end mode with purge in order to ensure prolonged stack performance. A hydrogen generator is fabricated to supply gaseous hydrogen to the stack. Sodium borohydride (NaBH 4) is used as the hydrogen source in the present study. Co/Al 2O 3 catalyst is prepared for the hydrolysis of the alkaline NaBH 4 solution at room temperature. The fabricated Co catalyst is comparable to the Ru catalyst. The UAV consumes more power in the takeoff mode than in the cruising mode. A hybrid power management system using an auxiliary battery is developed and evaluated for efficient energy management. Hybrid power from both the fuel cell and battery powers takeoff and turning flight operations, while the fuel cell supplies steady power during the cruising flight. The capabilities of the fuel-cell UAVs for long endurance flights are validated by successful flight tests.

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for high resolution topography and monitoring: civil protection purposes on hydrogeological contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertacchini, Eleonora; Castagnetti, Cristina; Corsini, Alessandro; De Cono, Stefano

2014-10-01

The proposed work concerns the analysis of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), also known as drones, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or UAS (Unmanned Aerial System), on hydrogeological contexts for civil protection purposes, underlying the advantages of using a flexible and relatively low cost system. The capabilities of photogrammetric RPAS multi-sensors platform were examined in term of mapping, creation of orthophotos, 3D models generation, data integration into a 3D GIS (Geographic Information System) and validation through independent techniques such as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). The RPAS used (multirotor OktoXL, of the Mikrokopter) was equipped with a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, digital cameras for photos and videos, an inertial navigation system, a radio device for communication and telemetry, etc. This innovative way of viewing and understanding the environment showed huge potentialities for the study of the territory, and due to its characteristics could be well integrated with aircraft surveys. However, such characteristics seem to give priority to local applications for rigorous and accurate analysis, while it remains a means of expeditious investigation for more extended areas. According to civil protection purposes, the experimentation was carried out by simulating operational protocols, for example for inspection, surveillance, monitoring, land mapping, georeferencing methods (with or without Ground Control Points - GCP) based on high resolution topography (2D and 3D information).

Final Environmental Assessment for Aerial Spraying for Invasive Species Control MacDill AFB, Florida

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

bark tree (Melaleuca quinquinervia), Australian pine (Casuarina equisetifolia), Japanese mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) and, cogan grass (Imperata...inaccessible areas of the base. 2.1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION Invasive plant species such as Brazilian pepper, melaleuca, and mimosa are...principle invasive plant species proposed for treatment through the aerial application of herbicides include Brazilian pepper, melaleuca, and mimosa

Individual tree detection from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) derived canopy height model in an open canopy mixed conifer forest

Treesearch

Midhun Mohan; Carlos Alberto Silva; Carine Klauberg; Prahlad Jat; Glenn Catts; Adrian Cardil; Andrew Thomas Hudak; Mahendra Dia

2017-01-01

Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology and data processing capabilities have made it feasible to obtain high-resolution imagery and three dimensional (3D) data which can be used for forest monitoring and assessing tree attributes. This study evaluates the applicability of low consumer grade cameras attached to UAVs and structure-from-motion (SfM)...

Selected reading in agricultural applications of small-format aerial photography

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anderson, William H.; Kroeger, Kevin J.

1980-01-01

This collection of material has been assembled in response to a growing.interest in the use of low-cost, small-format aerial photography in the management of agricultural resources. Together, these articles serve to document the prevailing level of interest in the subject and provide an insight as to what can reasonably be expected from the use of this powerful agricultural management tool. 

Efficacy of fipronil aerially applied in oil adjuvants and drift retardants against boll weevils, Anthonomus Grandis Boheman (Coleoptera:Curculionidae)

Treesearch

Joseph E. Mulrooney

2002-01-01

Results of aerial application tests in the field and insecticide transfer tests in the laboratory showed that cottonseed oil was the most effective oil adjuvant to use with fipronil for controlling boll weevils under field conditions and for transferring fipronil from cotton leaf surfaces to boll weevils. The mineral oil and mineral oil + drift retardant more...

Aerial spraying of low-grade hardwood stands with 2,4,5-T in West Virginia

Treesearch

George W. Wendel

1966-01-01

Aerial application of herbicides to poor hardwood stands shows promise of being an effective aid in converting stands of low-grade hardwoods to conifers in West Virginia. Many of the sites now occupied by low-grade hardwoods are incapable of producing quality hardwoods - even under good management - and are generally much better suited to certain conifers, particularly...

Transport properties of the mung bean (Vigna radiata) non-aerial hypocotyl membrane: permselectivity to hydrophilic compounds.

PubMed

Aponte, John; Baur, Peter

2014-01-01

Aerial plant surfaces are covered by a lipophilic cuticular membrane (CM) that restricts the transport of water and small solutes. Non-aerial tissues do not exhibit such a barrier. Recent data have shown that large relative to CM hydrophilic agrochemicals were able to pass at high rates through the non-aerial coleoptile. A moderately large hydrophilic solute like PEG 1000 with a mean molar volume of 782 cm(3) mol(-1) was rejected by the non-aerial hypocotyl. Uptake of smaller solutes like urea (46.5 cm(3) mol(-1) ) was fast and with 99% after 1 day. Cut-off size estimations suggest a pore size diameter below 1.5 nm. Aerial and non-aerial CM differ largely in their absolute barrier properties. This difference is related to the absence of embedded cuticular waxes in the non-aerial hypocotyl membrane, which make the CM physically dense and cause low solubility of hydrophilic solutes. The free volume for diffusion at the interface of the non-aerial hypocotyl cuticle to the environment is much larger resulting in higher penetration rates. It is suggested that diffusion through the non-aerial hypocotyl does not proceed in a real channel system with continuous aqueous phase but is more like transport through a filter with restricted diffusion in the pore openings. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

Real-Time Implementation of an Asynchronous Vision-Based Target Tracking System for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

Chin Khoon Quek. “Vision Based Control and Target Range Estimation for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.” Master’s Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School...December 2005. [6] Kwee Chye Yap. “Incorporating Target Mensuration System for Target Motion Estimation Along a Road Using Asynchronous Filter

Field determination of multipollutant, open area combustion source emission factors with a hexacopter unmanned aerial vehicle

EPA Science Inventory

An emission sensor/sampler system was coupled to a NASA hexacopter unmanned aerial system (UAS) to characterize gases and particles in the plume emitted from open burning of military ordnance. The UAS/sampler was tested at two field sites resulting in 33 flights at Radford, VA a...

aerial and ground measurements of emissions from agricultural and forest burns

EPA Science Inventory

This poster describes our measurement capabilities, particularly as they relate to interests within Region 7. Aerial instrumentation systems are discussed and field measurement campaigns are described in text and photos.

The Codacs™ direct acoustic cochlear implant actuator: exploring alternative stimulation sites and their stimulation efficiency.

PubMed

Grossöhmichen, Martin; Salcher, Rolf; Kreipe, Hans-Heinrich; Lenarz, Thomas; Maier, Hannes

2015-01-01

This work assesses the efficiency of the Codacs system actuator (Cochlear Ltd., Sydney Australia) in different inner ear stimulation modalities. Originally the actuator was intended for direct perilymph stimulation after stapedotomy using a piston prosthesis. A possible alternative application is the stimulation of middle ear structures or the round window (RW). Here the perilymph stimulation with a K-piston through a stapes footplate (SFP) fenestration (N = 10) as well as stimulation of the stapes head (SH) with a Bell prosthesis (N = 9), SFP stimulation with an Omega/Aerial prosthesis (N = 8) and reverse RW stimulation (N = 10) were performed in cadaveric human temporal bones (TBs). Codacs actuator output is expressed as equivalent sound pressure level (eq. SPL) using RW and SFP displacement responses, measured by Laser Doppler velocimetry as reference. The axial actuator coupling force in stimulation of stapes and RW was adjusted to ~5 mN. The Bell prosthesis and Omega/Aerial prosthesis stimulation generated similar mean eq. SPLs (Bell: 127.5-141.8 eq. dB SPL; Omega/Aerial: 123.6-143.9 eq. dB SPL), being significantly more efficient than K-piston perilymph stimulation (108.6-131.6 eq. dB SPL) and RW stimulation (108.3-128.2 eq. dB SPL). Our results demonstrate that SH, SFP and RW are adequate alternative stimulation sites for the Codacs actuator using coupling prostheses and an axial coupling force of ~5 mN. Based on the eq. SPLs, all investigated methods were adequate for in vivo hearing aid applications, provided that experimental conditions including constant coupling force will be implemented.

Some Aspects in Photogrammetry Education at the Department of Geodesy and Cadastre of the VGTU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruzgienė, Birutė

2008-03-01

The education in photogrammetry is very important when applying photogrammetric methods for the terrain mapping purposes, for spatial data modelling, solving engineering tasks, measuring of architectural monuments etc. During the time the traditional photogrammetric technologies have been changing to modern fully digital photogrammetric workflow. The number of potential users of the photogrammetric methods tends to increase, because of high-degree automation in photographs (images) processing. The main subjects in Photogrammetry (particularly in Digital Photogrammetry) educational process are discussed. Different methods and digital systems are demonstrated with the examples of aerial photogrammetry products. The main objective is to search the possibilities for training in the photogrammetric measurements. Special attention is paid to the stereo plotting from aerial photography applying modified for teaching analytical technology. The integration of functionality of Digital Photogrammetric Systems and Digital Image Processing is analysed as well with an intention of extending the application areas and possibilities for usage of modern technologies in urban mapping and land cadastre. The practical presentation of photos geometry restitution is implemented as significant part of the studies. The interactive teaching for main photogrammetric procedures and controlling systems are highly desirable that without any doubt improve the quality of educational process.

Investigation of Phototriangulation Accuracy with Using of Various Techniques Laboratory and Field Calibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chibunichev, A. G.; Kurkov, V. M.; Smirnov, A. V.; Govorov, A. V.; Mikhalin, V. A.

2016-10-01

Nowadays, aerial survey technology using aerial systems based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) becomes more popular. UAVs physically can not carry professional aerocameras. Consumer digital cameras are used instead. Such cameras usually have rolling, lamellar or global shutter. Quite often manufacturers and users of such aerial systems do not use camera calibration. In this case self-calibration techniques are used. However such approach is not confirmed by extensive theoretical and practical research. In this paper we compare results of phototriangulation based on laboratory, test-field or self-calibration. For investigations we use Zaoksky test area as an experimental field provided dense network of target and natural control points. Racurs PHOTOMOD and Agisoft PhotoScan software were used in evaluation. The results of investigations, conclusions and practical recommendations are presented in this article.

Aerial vehicles collision avoidance using monocular vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balashov, Oleg; Muraviev, Vadim; Strotov, Valery

2016-10-01

In this paper image-based collision avoidance algorithm that provides detection of nearby aircraft and distance estimation is presented. The approach requires a vision system with a single moving camera and additional information about carrier's speed and orientation from onboard sensors. The main idea is to create a multi-step approach based on a preliminary detection, regions of interest (ROI) selection, contour segmentation, object matching and localization. The proposed algorithm is able to detect small targets but unlike many other approaches is designed to work with large-scale objects as well. To localize aerial vehicle position the system of equations relating object coordinates in space and observed image is solved. The system solution gives the current position and speed of the detected object in space. Using this information distance and time to collision can be estimated. Experimental research on real video sequences and modeled data is performed. Video database contained different types of aerial vehicles: aircrafts, helicopters, and UAVs. The presented algorithm is able to detect aerial vehicles from several kilometers under regular daylight conditions.

Unmanned aerial systems-based remote sensing for monitoring sorghum growth and development

PubMed Central

Shafian, Sanaz; Schnell, Ronnie; Bagavathiannan, Muthukumar; Valasek, John; Shi, Yeyin; Olsenholler, Jeff

2018-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Systems (UAV or UAS) have become increasingly popular in recent years for agricultural research applications. UAS are capable of acquiring images with high spatial and temporal resolutions that are ideal for applications in agriculture. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a UAS-based remote sensing system for quantification of crop growth parameters of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) including leaf area index (LAI), fractional vegetation cover (fc) and yield. The study was conducted at the Texas A&M Research Farm near College Station, Texas, United States. A fixed-wing UAS equipped with a multispectral sensor was used to collect image data during the 2016 growing season (April–October). Flight missions were successfully carried out at 50 days after planting (DAP; 25 May), 66 DAP (10 June) and 74 DAP (18 June). These flight missions provided image data covering the middle growth period of sorghum with a spatial resolution of approximately 6.5 cm. Field measurements of LAI and fc were also collected. Four vegetation indices were calculated using the UAS images. Among those indices, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) showed the highest correlation with LAI, fc and yield with R2 values of 0.91, 0.89 and 0.58 respectively. Empirical relationships between NDVI and LAI and between NDVI and fc were validated and proved to be accurate for estimating LAI and fc from UAS-derived NDVI values. NDVI determined from UAS imagery acquired during the flowering stage (74 DAP) was found to be the most highly correlated with final grain yield. The observed high correlations between UAS-derived NDVI and the crop growth parameters (fc, LAI and grain yield) suggests the applicability of UAS for within-season data collection of agricultural crops such as sorghum. PMID:29715311

Deep convolutional neural network for classifying Fusarium wilt of radish from unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ha, Jin Gwan; Moon, Hyeonjoon; Kwak, Jin Tae; Hassan, Syed Ibrahim; Dang, Minh; Lee, O. New; Park, Han Yong

2017-10-01

Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have gained much attention. In particular, there is a growing interest in utilizing UAVs for agricultural applications such as crop monitoring and management. We propose a computerized system that is capable of detecting Fusarium wilt of radish with high accuracy. The system adopts computer vision and machine learning techniques, including deep learning, to process the images captured by UAVs at low altitudes and to identify the infected radish. The whole radish field is first segmented into three distinctive regions (radish, bare ground, and mulching film) via a softmax classifier and K-means clustering. Then, the identified radish regions are further classified into healthy radish and Fusarium wilt of radish using a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). In identifying radish, bare ground, and mulching film from a radish field, we achieved an accuracy of ≥97.4%. In detecting Fusarium wilt of radish, the CNN obtained an accuracy of 93.3%. It also outperformed the standard machine learning algorithm, obtaining 82.9% accuracy. Therefore, UAVs equipped with computational techniques are promising tools for improving the quality and efficiency of agriculture today.

Aerial Vehicle Surveys of other Planetary Atmospheres and Surfaces: Imaging, Remote-sensing, and Autonomy Technology Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, Larry A.; Pisanich, Gregory; Ippolito, Corey; Alena, Rick

2005-01-01

The objective of this paper is to review the anticipated imaging and remote-sensing technology requirements for aerial vehicle survey missions to other planetary bodies in our Solar system that can support in-atmosphere flight. In the not too distant future such planetary aerial vehicle (a.k.a. aerial explorers) exploration missions will become feasible. Imaging and remote-sensing observations will be a key objective for these missions. Accordingly, it is imperative that optimal solutions in terms of imaging acquisition and real-time autonomous analysis of image data sets be developed for such vehicles.

Fate of methoprene in temperate salt marsh ditches following aerial applications.

PubMed

Tonjes, David J; McElroy, Anne E; Barnes-Pohjonen, Robin K; Ninivaggi, Dominick V; Dawydiak, Walter; Greene, Gregory T; Brownawell, Bruce J

2018-06-12

Aerial applications of liquid methoprene are used in salt marshes to control mosquitoes by preventing adult emergence. Despite concern about toxicity to non-target organisms, little is known about environmental concentrations after applications, nor methoprene's persistence in salt marsh environments. Aqueous and sediment samples were collected from two marshes receiving weekly applications. Aqueous samples were collected as early as 30 min after applications and as long as nine days afterwards; sediment samples were taken within hours of application and as long as 19 days post-application. Use of time-of-flight liquid chromatography - mass spectral analysis allowed for ultra-low detection limits (0.5 ng/L) in water samples. The data show loss of nearly all methoprene from 1 m deep marsh ditches within 1 day and presence but not accumulation of methoprene in marsh sediments despite repeated applications. Methoprene concentrations observed in salt-marsh mosquito ditches were below those found to be of toxicological significance in other studies. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Impact of Conflicting Spatial Representations in Airborne Unmanned Aerial System Sensor Control

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-01

Spatial Discordance 1 Running head: SPATIAL DISCORDANCE IN AIRBORNE UAS OPERATIONS The impact of conflicting spatial...representations in airborne unmanned aerial system sensor control Joseph W Geeseman, James E Patrey, Caroline Davy, Katherine Peditto, & Christine Zernickow...system (UAS) simulation while riding in the fuselage of an airborne Lockheed P-3 Orion. The P-3 flew a flight profile of intermittent ascending

Security Engineering Project

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-31

from a wireless joystick console broadcasting at 2.4 GHz. Figure 6. GTRI Airborne Unmanned Sensor System As shown in Figure 7 the autopilot has a...generating wind turbines , and video reconnaissance systems on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The most basic decision problem in designing a...chosen test UAV case was the GTRI Aerial Unmanned Sensor System (GAUSS) aircraft. The GAUSS platform is a small research UAV with a widely used

Implementation of AN Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System for Large Scale Mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mah, S. B.; Cryderman, C. S.

2015-08-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), digital cameras, powerful personal computers, and software have made it possible for geomatics professionals to capture aerial photographs and generate digital terrain models and orthophotographs without using full scale aircraft or hiring mapping professionals. This has been made possible by the availability of miniaturized computers and sensors, and software which has been driven, in part, by the demand for this technology in consumer items such as smartphones. The other force that is in play is the increasing number of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) people who are building UAVs as a hobby or for professional use. Building a UAV system for mapping is an alternative to purchasing a turnkey system. This paper describes factors to be considered when building a UAV mapping system, the choices made, and the test results of a project using this completed system.

Unmanned Carrier-Based Aircraft System: Debate over Systems Role Led to Focus on Aerial Refueling

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-24

Unmanned Carrier-Based Aircraft System: Debate over System’s Role Led to Focus on Aerial Refueling Prior to February 2016, the Navy had planned to...award of the air system development contract by about 3 years from 2014 to 2017. In that report, we also found that knowledge the Navy had obtained...strike 1Pub. L. No. 113-66, § 213(d) (2013). 2GAO, Unmanned Carrier-Based Aircraft System: Navy Needs

Use of Open Architecture Middleware for Autonomous Platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naranjo, Hector; Diez, Sergio; Ferrero, Francisco

2011-08-01

Network Enabled Capabilities (NEC) is the vision for next-generation systems in the defence domain formulated by governments, the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It involves the federation of military information systems, rather than just a simple interconnection, to provide each user with the "right information, right place, right time - and not too much". It defines openness, standardization and flexibility principles in military systems, likewise applicable in the civilian space applications.This paper provides the conclusions drawn from "Architecture for Embarked Middleware" (EMWARE) study, funded by the European Defence Agency (EDA).The aim of the EMWARE project was to provide the information and understanding to facilitate the adoption of informed decisions regarding the specification and implementation of Open Architecture Middleware in future distributed systems, linking it with the NEC goal.EMWARE project included the definition of four business cases, each devoted to a different field of application (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Helicopters, Unmanned Ground Vehicles and the Satellite Ground Segment).

Evaluation of pyrethrin aerial ultra-low volume applications for adult Culex tarsalis control in the desert environments of the Coachella Valley, Riverside County, California.

PubMed

Lothrop, Hugh; Lothrop, Branka; Palmer, Mark; Wheeler, Sarah; Gutierrez, Arturo; Miller, Patrick; Gomsi, Donald; Reisen, William K

2007-12-01

Eliminating infected female mosquitoes by aerial applications of ultra-low volume adulticides is the intervention strategy currently recommended to interrupt the epidemic transmission of encephalitis viruses, including West Nile. The current research optimized pyrethrin formulations and evaluated their efficacy in the desert environment of the Coachella Valley, Riverside County, California. After seven trials during 2004, a 1:2 by volume mixture of Pyrenone 25-5 in BVA oil optimized particle size, droplet descent to ground level, and kill of sentinel mosquitoes. Three subsequent experiments used 3 aerial applications of the 1:2 Pyrenone 25-5:BVA oil mixture on alternate nights to suppress Culex tarsalis Coquillett host-seeking abundance over a 1-square-mile target area. Mortality patterns among caged sentinel mosquitoes varied among sites and replicate sprays, indicating variable particle dispersion at ground level within the target area. In addition, mortality was observed for sentinels up to 1 mile downwind from the target area, indicating considerable particle drift. Geometric mean abundance of host-seeking Cx. tarsalis females collected at dry ice-baited traps within each of 3 sprayed and 2 unsprayed negative control strata varied similarly over time, indicating that our sprays minimally impacted the target population or that drift combined with other factors led to widespread area control. Experiments during March and June when recruitment rates were minimal showed general area-wide suppression of abundance following spray, whereas an experiment during September when recruitment rates were high from newly flooded marshes failed to prevent an area-wide increase in abundance. Clearly additional research is needed to standardize the efficacy of aerial applications of pyrethrins in hot dry desert environments.

Small Unmanned Aerial Systems: Implications of the Evolving Legal Context for Use in Natural Resources Science and Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, M. J.

2016-12-01

Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS, also known as drones) potentially provide researchers and managers with the capacity to enhance temporal and spatial resolution of data sets for natural resources science and management. sUAS have been used for many types of data collection and have a partial definition in mass of the aircraft, ranging from 0.5 to <55 lbs (0.2 to <24.9 kg). Aircraft within this range of mass can present a collision hazard to other aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently faced the challenge of removing regulatory barriers to sUAS application while minimizing risk in the national airspace. The regulatory and legal framework developed for using sUAS in natural resources science and management has evolved from a very conservative approach prior in the first decade of the 21st century. FAA's recently revised operating rules for sUAS, significantly changing pilot certification requirements and operating rules in the national airspace. The next 2-5 years will bring advances in sUAS applications for science and management, building upon the accomplishments of users who complied with the former regulatory environment. We review the current operating rules (49 CFR, part 107) that apply specifically to sUAS and discuss the implications for researchers and managers. While part 107 relaxed many restrictions, it is important to understand the regulatory framework currently in place that encourages development of applications for sUAS while adhering to the mandate that the national airspace be safe and secure. We consider potential applications for natural resources science and management in the context of the recently released operating rules, especially with respect to training requirements and protocols for use.

A New Vegetation Segmentation Approach for Cropped Fields Based on Threshold Detection from Hue Histograms

PubMed Central

Hassanein, Mohamed; El-Sheimy, Naser

2018-01-01

Over the last decade, the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has evolved significantly in different applications as it provides a special platform capable of combining the benefits of terrestrial and aerial remote sensing. Therefore, such technology has been established as an important source of data collection for different precision agriculture (PA) applications such as crop health monitoring and weed management. Generally, these PA applications depend on performing a vegetation segmentation process as an initial step, which aims to detect the vegetation objects in collected agriculture fields’ images. The main result of the vegetation segmentation process is a binary image, where vegetations are presented in white color and the remaining objects are presented in black. Such process could easily be performed using different vegetation indexes derived from multispectral imagery. Recently, to expand the use of UAV imagery systems for PA applications, it was important to reduce the cost of such systems through using low-cost RGB cameras Thus, developing vegetation segmentation techniques for RGB images is a challenging problem. The proposed paper introduces a new vegetation segmentation methodology for low-cost UAV RGB images, which depends on using Hue color channel. The proposed methodology follows the assumption that the colors in any agriculture field image can be distributed into vegetation and non-vegetations colors. Therefore, four main steps are developed to detect five different threshold values using the hue histogram of the RGB image, these thresholds are capable to discriminate the dominant color, either vegetation or non-vegetation, within the agriculture field image. The achieved results for implementing the proposed methodology showed its ability to generate accurate and stable vegetation segmentation performance with mean accuracy equal to 87.29% and standard deviation as 12.5%. PMID:29670055

Design and realization of an AEC&AGC system for the CCD aerial camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Hai ying; Feng, Bing; Wang, Peng; Li, Yan; Wei, Hao yun

2015-08-01

An AEC and AGC(Automatic Exposure Control and Automatic Gain Control) system was designed for a CCD aerial camera with fixed aperture and electronic shutter. The normal AEC and AGE algorithm is not suitable to the aerial camera since the camera always takes high-resolution photographs in high-speed moving. The AEC and AGE system adjusts electronic shutter and camera gain automatically according to the target brightness and the moving speed of the aircraft. An automatic Gamma correction is used before the image is output so that the image is better for watching and analyzing by human eyes. The AEC and AGC system could avoid underexposure, overexposure, or image blurring caused by fast moving or environment vibration. A series of tests proved that the system meet the requirements of the camera system with its fast adjusting speed, high adaptability, high reliability in severe complex environment.

Spread Spectrum Applications in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-06-01

Specter can be launched from the ground or F/A-18 and F-16 aircraft. The Specter carries the Advanced Tactical Air Reconnaissance System ( ATARS ...the transition should be easy. While ATARS is Specter’s designated payload, it can carry other payloads weighing up to 400 pounds: electronic...implement a 650 km UAV. The combination of ATARS digital imagery and a real-time data link, together with the Specter’s ability to fly low, fast, navigate

Application of Thin Film Photovoltaic CIGS Cells to Extend the Endurance of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

Sherif Michael Second Reader: James Calusdian THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK i REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704–0188...Unclassified 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT Unclassified 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT UU NSN 7540–01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2–89...States Military utilizes an extensive variety of UAVs, whether electric or fossil fuel propulsion. In this section, we review the distinctive sorts of

Modeling and Simulation Behavior Validation Methodology and Extension Model Validation for the Individual Soldier

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

domains. Major model functions include: • Ground combat: Light and heavy forces. • Air mobile forces. • Future forces. • Fixed-wing and rotary-wing...Constraints: • Study must be completed no later than 31 December 2014. • Entity behavior limited to select COMBATXXI Mobility , Unmanned Aerial System...and SQL backend , as well as any open application programming interface API. • Allows data transparency and data driven navigation through the model

A Parametric Model for Large Scale Agent Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-04-01

what are the critical parameters that it depends on? We have argued in a companion paper (also in this vol- ume) that the common prescriptions of...the companion paper immediately preced- ing this paper. 241 3 An Application A collection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on a multi-task mission...Narciso Mart́ı-Oliet Dpto. de Sistemas Informáticos y Programación Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain narciso@sip.ucm.es Abstract We describe

Low SWaP multispectral sensors using dichroic filter arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dougherty, John; Varghese, Ron

2015-06-01

The benefits of multispectral imaging are well established in a variety of applications including remote sensing, authentication, satellite and aerial surveillance, machine vision, biomedical, and other scientific and industrial uses. However, many of the potential solutions require more compact, robust, and cost-effective cameras to realize these benefits. The next generation of multispectral sensors and cameras needs to deliver improvements in size, weight, power, portability, and spectral band customization to support widespread deployment for a variety of purpose-built aerial, unmanned, and scientific applications. A novel implementation uses micro-patterning of dichroic filters1 into Bayer and custom mosaics, enabling true real-time multispectral imaging with simultaneous multi-band image acquisition. Consistent with color image processing, individual spectral channels are de-mosaiced with each channel providing an image of the field of view. This approach can be implemented across a variety of wavelength ranges and on a variety of detector types including linear, area, silicon, and InGaAs. This dichroic filter array approach can also reduce payloads and increase range for unmanned systems, with the capability to support both handheld and autonomous systems. Recent examples and results of 4 band RGB + NIR dichroic filter arrays in multispectral cameras are discussed. Benefits and tradeoffs of multispectral sensors using dichroic filter arrays are compared with alternative approaches - including their passivity, spectral range, customization options, and scalable production.

Environmental Concentrations, Fate, and Risk Assessment of Pyrethrins and Piperonyl Butoxide After Aerial Ultralow-Volume Applications for Adult Mosquito Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

aerially at a rate of 2.8 g/ha of pyrethrins and 28 g/ha of PBO using a fixed-wing Piper Aztec aircraft by ADAPCO Vector Control Services (Greenville, MS...0.213 g/L) were found in five of the eight subsamples. The demonstrated rapid decline of pyrethrins observed during the present study and the

Biologically Inspired Behavioral Strategies for Autonomous Aerial Explorers on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plice, Laura; Pisanich, Greg; Lau, Benton; Young, Larry A.

2002-01-01

The natural world is a rich source of problem- solving approaches. This paper discusses the feasibility and technical challenges underlying mimicking, or analogously adapting, biological behavioral strategies to mission/flight planning for aerial vehicles engaged in planetary exploration. Two candidate concepts based on natural resource utilization and searching behaviors are adapted io technological applications. Prototypes and test missions addressing the difficulties of implementation and their solutions are also described.

Building block extraction and classification by means of aerial images fused with super-resolution reconstructed elevation data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panagiotopoulou, Antigoni; Bratsolis, Emmanuel; Charou, Eleni; Perantonis, Stavros

2017-10-01

The detailed three-dimensional modeling of buildings utilizing elevation data, such as those provided by light detection and ranging (LiDAR) airborne scanners, is increasingly demanded today. There are certain application requirements and available datasets to which any research effort has to be adapted. Our dataset includes aerial orthophotos, with a spatial resolution 20 cm, and a digital surface model generated from LiDAR, with a spatial resolution 1 m and an elevation resolution 20 cm, from an area of Athens, Greece. The aerial images are fused with LiDAR, and we classify these data with a multilayer feedforward neural network for building block extraction. The innovation of our approach lies in the preprocessing step in which the original LiDAR data are super-resolution (SR) reconstructed by means of a stochastic regularized technique before their fusion with the aerial images takes place. The Lorentzian estimator combined with the bilateral total variation regularization performs the SR reconstruction. We evaluate the performance of our approach against that of fusing unprocessed LiDAR data with aerial images. We present the classified images and the statistical measures confusion matrix, kappa coefficient, and overall accuracy. The results demonstrate that our approach predominates over that of fusing unprocessed LiDAR data with aerial images.

Analysis of the performance of a passive hybrid powerplant to power a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle for a high altitude mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Renau, Jordi; Sánchez, Fernando; Lozano, Antonio; Barroso, Jorge; Barreras, Félix

2017-07-01

The objective of this research is to analyze the performance of a passive hybrid powerplant control system to be implemented in a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle capable to ascend up to the high troposphere (10,000 m). The powerplant is based on a high-temperature PEM fuel cell connected in parallel to a set of lithium-polymer batteries and regulated by two power diodes. Test performed in steady state demonstrates that the use of the hybrid system increases the efficiency of the stack by more than 7% because the voltage at the main DC bus is limited by the batteries. The robustness of the passive control system is proved in a long-term test in which random perturbations of ±15% are applied to the average power that would be demanded during the ascent flight. The hybridization of the stack with the batteries eliminates sudden peaks in the current generated by the stack, which are responsible for prompt degradation phenomena that drastically reduce its useful lifetime. The study demonstrates that with the passive hybrid powerplant it is possible to reach the target height with the gas storage system considered in the application, contrary to what happens with the simple power plant.

Efficient Forest Fire Detection Index for Application in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs).

PubMed

Cruz, Henry; Eckert, Martina; Meneses, Juan; Martínez, José-Fernán

2016-06-16

This article proposes a novel method for detecting forest fires, through the use of a new color index, called the Forest Fire Detection Index (FFDI), developed by the authors. The index is based on methods for vegetation classification and has been adapted to detect the tonalities of flames and smoke; the latter could be included adaptively into the Regions of Interest (RoIs) with the help of a variable factor. Multiple tests have been performed upon database imagery and present promising results: a detection precision of 96.82% has been achieved for image sizes of 960 × 540 pixels at a processing time of 0.0447 seconds. This achievement would lead to a performance of 22 f/s, for smaller images, while up to 54 f/s could be reached by maintaining a similar detection precision. Additional tests have been performed on fires in their early stages, achieving a precision rate of p = 96.62%. The method could be used in real-time in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), with the aim of monitoring a wider area than through fixed surveillance systems. Thus, it would result in more cost-effective outcomes than conventional systems implemented in helicopters or satellites. UASs could also reach inaccessible locations without jeopardizing people's safety. On-going work includes implementation into a commercially available drone.

Solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reinhardt, K.C.; Lamp, T.R.; Geis, J.W.

1996-12-31

An analysis was performed to determine the impact of various power system components and mission requirements on the size of solar-powered high altitude long endurance (HALE)-type aircraft. The HALE unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has good potential for use in many military and civil applications. The primary power system components considered in this study were photovoltaic (PV) modules for power generation and regenerative fuel cells for energy storage. The impact of relevant component performance on UAV size and capability were considered; including PV module efficiency and mass, power electronics efficiency, and fuel cell specific energy. Mission parameters such as time ofmore » year, flight altitude, flight latitude, and payload mass and power were also varied to determine impact on UAV size. The aircraft analysis method used determines the required aircraft wing aspect ratio, wing area, and total mass based on maximum endurance or minimum required power calculations. The results indicate that the capacity of the energy storage system employed, fuel cells in this analysis, greatly impacts aircraft size, whereas the impact of PV module efficiency and mass is much less important. It was concluded that an energy storage specific energy (total system) of 250--500 Whr/kg is required to enable most useful missions, and that PV cells with efficiencies greater than {approximately} 12% are suitable for use.« less

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles unique cost estimating requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malone, P.; Apgar, H.; Stukes, S.; Sterk, S.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also referred to as drones, are aerial platforms that fly without a human pilot onboard. UAVs are controlled autonomously by a computer in the vehicle or under the remote control of a pilot stationed at a fixed ground location. There are a wide variety of drone shapes, sizes, configurations, complexities, and characteristics. Use of these devices by the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, civil and commercial organizations continues to grow. UAVs are commonly used for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR). They are also use for combat operations, and civil applications, such as firefighting, non-military security work, surveillance of infrastructure (e.g. pipelines, power lines and country borders). UAVs are often preferred for missions that require sustained persistence (over 4 hours in duration), or are “ too dangerous, dull or dirty” for manned aircraft. Moreover, they can offer significant acquisition and operations cost savings over traditional manned aircraft. Because of these unique characteristics and missions, UAV estimates require some unique estimating methods. This paper describes a framework for estimating UAV systems total ownership cost including hardware components, software design, and operations. The challenge of collecting data, testing the sensitivities of cost drivers, and creating cost estimating relationships (CERs) for each key work breakdown structure (WBS) element is discussed. The autonomous operation of UAVs is especially challenging from a software perspective.

Evaluating effective swath width and droplet distribution of aerial spraying systems on M-18B and Thrush 510G airplanes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Aerial spraying plays an important role in promoting agricultural production and protecting the biological environment due to its flexibility, high effectiveness, and large operational area per unit of time. In order to evaluate the performance parameters of the spraying systems on two fixed wing ai...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in pest management: Progress in the development of a UAV-deployed mating disruption system for Wisconsin cranberries

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) hold significant promise for agriculture. Currently, UAVs are being employed for various reconnaissance purposes (“eyes in the sky”), but not as pest control delivery systems. Research in Wisconsin cranberries is taking UAVs in a new direction. The Steffan and Luck La...

Three approaches to the classification of inland wetlands. [Dismal Swamp, Tennessee, and Florida

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gammon, P. T.; Malone, D.; Brooks, P. D.; Carter, V.

1977-01-01

In the Dismal Swamp project, seasonal, color-infrared aerial photographs and LANDSAT digital data were interpreted for a detailed analysis of the vegetative communities in a large, highly altered wetland. In Western Tennessee, seasonal high altitude color-infrared aerial photographs provided the hydrologic and vegetative information needed to map inland wetlands, using a classification system developed for the Tennessee Valley Region. In Florida, color-infrared aerial photographs were analyzed to produce wetland maps using three existing classification systems to evaluate the information content and mappability of each system. The methods used in each of the three projects can be extended or modified for use in the mapping of inland wetlands in other parts of the United States.

The application of GPS precise point positioning technology in aerial triangulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Xiuxiao; Fu, Jianhong; Sun, Hongxing; Toth, Charles

In traditional GPS-supported aerotriangulation, differential GPS (DGPS) positioning technology is used to determine the 3-dimensional coordinates of the perspective centers at exposure time with an accuracy of centimeter to decimeter level. This method can significantly reduce the number of ground control points (GCPs). However, the establishment of GPS reference stations for DGPS positioning is not only labor-intensive and costly, but also increases the implementation difficulty of aerial photography. This paper proposes aerial triangulation supported with GPS precise point positioning (PPP) as a way to avoid the use of the GPS reference stations and simplify the work of aerial photography. Firstly, we present the algorithm for GPS PPP in aerial triangulation applications. Secondly, the error law of the coordinate of perspective centers determined using GPS PPP is analyzed. Thirdly, based on GPS PPP and aerial triangulation software self-developed by the authors, four sets of actual aerial images taken from surveying and mapping projects, different in both terrain and photographic scale, are given as experimental models. The four sets of actual data were taken over a flat region at a scale of 1:2500, a mountainous region at a scale of 1:3000, a high mountainous region at a scale of 1:32000 and an upland region at a scale of 1:60000 respectively. In these experiments, the GPS PPP results were compared with results obtained through DGPS positioning and traditional bundle block adjustment. In this way, the empirical positioning accuracy of GPS PPP in aerial triangulation can be estimated. Finally, the results of bundle block adjustment with airborne GPS controls from GPS PPP are analyzed in detail. The empirical results show that GPS PPP applied in aerial triangulation has a systematic error of half-meter level and a stochastic error within a few decimeters. However, if a suitable adjustment solution is adopted, the systematic error can be eliminated in GPS-supported bundle block adjustment. When four full GCPs are emplaced in the corners of the adjustment block, then the systematic error is compensated using a set of independent unknown parameters for each strip, the final result of the bundle block adjustment with airborne GPS controls from PPP is the same as that of bundle block adjustment with airborne GPS controls from DGPS. Although the accuracy of the former is a little lower than that of traditional bundle block adjustment with dense GCPs, it can still satisfy the accuracy requirement of photogrammetric point determination for topographic mapping at many scales.

Aerial Application of Malathion: Information for Mosquito Control Professionals

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA recently completed the malathion draft human health risk assessment for all uses. This letter to mosquito control professionals provides modifications to application directions that can reduce malathion deposition while maintaining effectiveness.

Generating land cover boundaries from remotely sensed data using object-based image analysis: overview and epidemiological application

PubMed Central

Maxwell, Susan K.

2010-01-01

Satellite imagery and aerial photography represent a vast resource to significantly enhance environmental mapping and modeling applications for use in understanding spatio-temporal relationships between environment and health. Deriving boundaries of land cover objects, such as trees, buildings, and crop fields, from image data has traditionally been performed manually using a very time consuming process of hand digitizing. Boundary detection algorithms are increasingly being applied using object-based image analysis (OBIA) technology to automate the process. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview and demonstrate the application of OBIA for delineating land cover features at multiple scales using a high resolution aerial photograph (1 m) and a medium resolution Landsat image (30 m) time series in the context of a pesticide spray drift exposure application. PMID:21135917

Astronomical Methods in Aerial Navigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beij, K Hilding

1925-01-01

The astronomical method of determining position is universally used in marine navigation and may also be of service in aerial navigation. The practical application of the method, however, must be modified and adapted to conform to the requirements of aviation. Much of this work of adaptation has already been accomplished, but being scattered through various technical journals in a number of languages, is not readily available. This report is for the purpose of collecting under one cover such previous work as appears to be of value to the aerial navigator, comparing instruments and methods, indicating the best practice, and suggesting future developments. The various methods of determining position and their application and value are outlined, and a brief resume of the theory of the astronomical method is given. Observation instruments are described in detail. A complete discussion of the reduction of observations follows, including a rapid method of finding position from the altitudes of two stars. Maps and map cases are briefly considered. A bibliography of the subject is appended.

A prospective study of the effects of ultralow volume (ULV) aerial application of malathion on epidemic Plasmodium falciparum malaria. II. Entomologic and operational aspects.

PubMed

Taylor, R T; Solis, M; Weathers, D B; Taylor, J W

1975-03-01

In a large-scale study in the Miragoane Valley of Haiti, designed to test the effects of aerial ultralow volume (ULV) malathion on epidemic Plasmodium falciparum malaria, spray operations resulted in an immediate and sharp decline in numbers of the vector, Anopheles albimanus. The adult population of this mosquito remained at less than 1% of previous levels until several weeks after a 50-day spray period (27 October-16 December 1972) during which six cycles were completed. The study area offered ideal conditions of wind, temperature, humidity, and mountain barriers. Mosquitoes in the area were highly susceptible to malathion. Results indicated that aerial ULV treatment with malathion can reduce A. albimanus populations rapidly and effectively when applications are made over an area as large as 20,000 acres. Preliminary results showed that effective control was not achieved in areas one-quarter that size; these areas were not sufficiently large, and infiltration of mosquitoes from adjacent untreated areas was possible.

Research of maneuvering target prediction and tracking technology based on IMM algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Zheng; Mao, Yao; Deng, Chao; Liu, Qiong; Chen, Jing

2016-09-01

Maneuvering target prediction and tracking technology is widely used in both military and civilian applications, the study of those technologies is all along the hotspot and difficulty. In the Electro-Optical acquisition-tracking-pointing system (ATP), the primary traditional maneuvering targets are ballistic target, large aircraft and other big targets. Those targets have the features of fast velocity and a strong regular trajectory and Kalman Filtering and polynomial fitting have good effects when they are used to track those targets. In recent years, the small unmanned aerial vehicles developed rapidly for they are small, nimble and simple operation. The small unmanned aerial vehicles have strong maneuverability in the observation system of ATP although they are close-in, slow and small targets. Moreover, those vehicles are under the manual operation, therefore, the acceleration of them changes greatly and they move erratically. So the prediction and tracking precision is low when traditional algorithms are used to track the maneuvering fly of those targets, such as speeding up, turning, climbing and so on. The interacting multiple model algorithm (IMM) use multiple models to match target real movement trajectory, there are interactions between each model. The IMM algorithm can switch model based on a Markov chain to adapt to the change of target movement trajectory, so it is suitable to solve the prediction and tracking problems of the small unmanned aerial vehicles because of the better adaptability of irregular movement. This paper has set up model set of constant velocity model (CV), constant acceleration model (CA), constant turning model (CT) and current statistical model. And the results of simulating and analyzing the real movement trajectory data of the small unmanned aerial vehicles show that the prediction and tracking technology based on the interacting multiple model algorithm can get relatively lower tracking error and improve tracking precision comparing with traditional algorithms.

Measurement of Emissions from Prescribed Burning of Forests and Grasslands

EPA Science Inventory

Aerial sampling methods for open area sources, such as prescribed fires, are described. Evolution from the tethered aerostat and instrument package to the smaller lighter package flown on an unmanned aerial system is described.

Crack identification for rigid pavements using unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bahaddin Ersoz, Ahmet; Pekcan, Onur; Teke, Turker

2017-09-01

Pavement condition assessment is an essential piece of modern pavement management systems as rehabilitation strategies are planned based upon its outcomes. For proper evaluation of existing pavements, they must be continuously and effectively monitored using practical means. Conventionally, truck-based pavement monitoring systems have been in-use in assessing the remaining life of in-service pavements. Although such systems produce accurate results, their use can be expensive and data processing can be time consuming, which make them infeasible considering the demand for quick pavement evaluation. To overcome such problems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be used as an alternative as they are relatively cheaper and easier-to-use. In this study, we propose a UAV based pavement crack identification system for monitoring rigid pavements’ existing conditions. The system consists of recently introduced image processing algorithms used together with conventional machine learning techniques, both of which are used to perform detection of cracks on rigid pavements’ surface and their classification. Through image processing, the distinct features of labelled crack bodies are first obtained from the UAV based images and then used for training of a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model. The performance of the developed SVM model was assessed with a field study performed along a rigid pavement exposed to low traffic and serious temperature changes. Available cracks were classified using the UAV based system and obtained results indicate it ensures a good alternative solution for pavement monitoring applications.

Aerial Observation Needs Workshop, May 13-14, 2015

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nasiri, Shaima; Serbin, Shawn; Lesmes, David

2015-10-01

The mission of the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) within the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science is "to advance a robust, predictive understanding of Earth's climate and environmental systems and to inform the development of sustainable solutions to the nation's energy and environmental challenges." Accomplishing this mission requires aerial observations of the atmospheric and terrestrial components of the climate system. CESD is assessing its current and future aerial observation needs to develop a strategy and roadmap of capability requirements for the next decade. To facilitate this process,more » a workshop was convened that consisted of invited experts in the atmospheric and terrestrial sciences, airborne observations, and modeling. This workshop report summarizes the community input prior to and during the workshop on research challenges and opportunities, as well as specific science questions and observational needs that require aerial observations to address.« less

Science of Test Research Consortium: Year Two Final Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-02

July 2012. Analysis of an Intervention for Small Unmanned Aerial System ( SUAS ) Accidents, submitted to Quality Engineering, LQEN-2012-0056. Stone... Systems Engineering. Wolf, S. E., R. R. Hill, and J. J. Pignatiello. June 2012. Using Neural Networks and Logistic Regression to Model Small Unmanned ...Human Retina. 6. Wolf, S. E. March 2012. Modeling Small Unmanned Aerial System Mishaps using Logistic Regression and Artificial Neural Networks. 7

Analysis of landfills with historic airphotos

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erb, T. L.; Philipson, W. R.; Teng, W. L.; Liang, T.

1981-01-01

An investigation is conducted regarding the value of existing aerial photographs for waste management, including landfill monitoring. The value of historic aerial photographs for documenting landfill boundaries is shown in a graph in which the expansion of an active landfill is traced over a 40-year period. Historic aerial photographs can also be analyzed to obtain general or detailed land-use and land-cover information. In addition, the photographs provide information regarding other elements of the physical environment, including geology, soils, and surface and subsurface drainage. The value of historic photos is discussed, taking into account applications for inventory, assessing contamination/health hazards, planning corrective measures, planning waste collection and facilities, developing inactive landfills, and research concerning improved land-filling operations.

Optimization of the choice of unmanned aerial vehicles used to monitor the implementation of selected construction projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skorupka, Dariusz; Duchaczek, Artur; Waniewska, Agnieszka; Kowacka, Magdalena

2017-07-01

Due to their properties unmanned aerial vehicles have huge number of possibilities for application in construction engineering. The nature and extent of construction works performedmakes the decision to purchase the right equipment significant for the possibility for its further use while monitoring the implementation of these works. Technical factors, such as the accuracy and quality of the applied measurement instruments are especially important when monitoring the realization of construction projects. The paper presents the optimization of the choice of unmanned aerial vehicles using the Bellinger method. The decision-making analysis takes into account criteria that are particularly crucial by virtue of the range of monitoring of ongoing construction works.

Data Acquisition (DAQ) system dedicated for remote sensing applications on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keleshis, C.; Ioannou, S.; Vrekoussis, M.; Levin, Z.; Lange, M. A.

2014-08-01

Continuous advances in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and the increased complexity of their applications raise the demand for improved data acquisition systems (DAQ). These improvements may comprise low power consumption, low volume and weight, robustness, modularity and capability to interface with various sensors and peripherals while maintaining the high sampling rates and processing speeds. Such a system has been designed and developed and is currently integrated on the Autonomous Flying Platforms for Atmospheric and Earth Surface Observations (APAESO/NEA-YΠOΔOMH/NEKΠ/0308/09) however, it can be easily adapted to any UAV or any other mobile vehicle. The system consists of a single-board computer with a dual-core processor, rugged surface-mount memory and storage device, analog and digital input-output ports and many other peripherals that enhance its connectivity with various sensors, imagers and on-board devices. The system is powered by a high efficiency power supply board. Additional boards such as frame-grabbers, differential global positioning system (DGPS) satellite receivers, general packet radio service (3G-4G-GPRS) modems for communication redundancy have been interfaced to the core system and are used whenever there is a mission need. The onboard DAQ system can be preprogrammed for automatic data acquisition or it can be remotely operated during the flight from the ground control station (GCS) using a graphical user interface (GUI) which has been developed and will also be presented in this paper. The unique design of the GUI and the DAQ system enables the synchronized acquisition of a variety of scientific and UAV flight data in a single core location. The new DAQ system and the GUI have been successfully utilized in several scientific UAV missions. In conclusion, the novel DAQ system provides the UAV and the remote-sensing community with a new tool capable of reliably acquiring, processing, storing and transmitting data from any sensor integrated on an UAV.

Aerial image measurement technique for automated reticle defect disposition (ARDD) in wafer fabs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zibold, Axel M.; Schmid, Rainer M.; Stegemann, B.; Scheruebl, Thomas; Harnisch, Wolfgang; Kobiyama, Yuji

2004-08-01

The Aerial Image Measurement System (AIMS)* for 193 nm lithography emulation has been brought into operation successfully worldwide. A second generation system comprising 193 nm AIMS capability, mini-environment and SMIF, the AIMS fab 193 plus is currently introduced into the market. By adjustment of numerical aperture (NA), illumination type and partial illumination coherence to match the conditions in 193 nm steppers or scanners, it can emulate the exposure tool for any type of reticles like binary, OPC and PSM down to the 65 nm node. The system allows a rapid prediction of wafer printability of defects or defect repairs, and critical features, like dense patterns or contacts on the masks without the need to perform expensive image qualification consisting of test wafer exposures followed by SEM measurements. Therefore, AIMS is a mask quality verification standard for high-end photo masks and established in mask shops worldwide. The progress on the AIMS technology described in this paper will highlight that besides mask shops there will be a very beneficial use of the AIMS in the wafer fab and we propose an Automated Reticle Defect Disposition (ARDD) process. With smaller nodes, where design rules are 65 nm or less, it is expected that smaller defects on reticles will occur in increasing numbers in the wafer fab. These smaller mask defects will matter more and more and become a serious yield limiting factor. With increasing mask prices and increasing number of defects and severability on reticles it will become cost beneficial to perform defect disposition on the reticles in wafer production. Currently ongoing studies demonstrate AIMS benefits for wafer fab applications. An outlook will be given for extension of 193 nm aerial imaging down to the 45 nm node based on emulation of immersion scanners.

Risk assessment for adult butterflies exposed to the mosquito control pesticide naled

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bargar, Timothy A.

2012-01-01

A prospective risk assessment was conducted for adult butterflies potentially exposed to the mosquito control insecticide naled. Published acute mortality data, exposure data collected during field studies, and morphometric data (total surface area and fresh body weight) for adult butterflies were combined in a probabilistic estimate of the likelihood that adult butterfly exposure to naled following aerial applications would exceed levels associated with acute mortality. Adult butterfly exposure was estimated based on the product of (1) naled residues on samplers and (2) an exposure metric that normalized total surface area for adult butterflies to their fresh weight. The likelihood that the 10th percentile refined effect estimate for adult butterflies exposed to naled would be exceeded following aerial naled applications was 67 to 80%. The greatest risk would be for butterflies in the family Lycaenidae, and the lowest risk would be for those in the family Hesperidae, assuming equivalent sensitivity to naled. A range of potential guideline naled deposition levels is presented that, if not exceeded, would reduce the risk of adult butterfly mortality. The results for this risk assessment were compared with other risk estimates for butterflies, and the implications for adult butterflies in areas targeted by aerial naled applications are discussed.

Citrus Inventory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

Florida's Charlotte County Property Appraiser is using an aerial color infrared mapping system for inventorying citrus trees for valuation purposes. The ACIR system has significantly reduced the time and manpower required for appraisal. Aerial photographs are taken and interpreted by a video system which makes it possible to detect changes from previous years. Potential problems can be identified. KSC's TU Office has awarded a contract to the Citrus Research and Education Center to adapt a prototype system which would automatically count trees and report totals.

Unsupervised building detection from irregularly spaced LiDAR and aerial imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shorter, Nicholas Sven

As more data sources containing 3-D information are becoming available, an increased interest in 3-D imaging has emerged. Among these is the 3-D reconstruction of buildings and other man-made structures. A necessary preprocessing step is the detection and isolation of individual buildings that subsequently can be reconstructed in 3-D using various methodologies. Applications for both building detection and reconstruction have commercial use for urban planning, network planning for mobile communication (cell phone tower placement), spatial analysis of air pollution and noise nuisances, microclimate investigations, geographical information systems, security services and change detection from areas affected by natural disasters. Building detection and reconstruction are also used in the military for automatic target recognition and in entertainment for virtual tourism. Previously proposed building detection and reconstruction algorithms solely utilized aerial imagery. With the advent of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems providing elevation data, current algorithms explore using captured LiDAR data as an additional feasible source of information. Additional sources of information can lead to automating techniques (alleviating their need for manual user intervention) as well as increasing their capabilities and accuracy. Several building detection approaches surveyed in the open literature have fundamental weaknesses that hinder their use; such as requiring multiple data sets from different sensors, mandating certain operations to be carried out manually, and limited functionality to only being able to detect certain types of buildings. In this work, a building detection system is proposed and implemented which strives to overcome the limitations seen in existing techniques. The developed framework is flexible in that it can perform building detection from just LiDAR data (first or last return), or just nadir, color aerial imagery. If data from both LiDAR and aerial imagery are available, then the algorithm will use them both for improved accuracy. Additionally, the proposed approach does not employ severely limiting assumptions thus enabling the end user to apply the approach to a wider variety of different building types. The proposed approach is extensively tested using real data sets and it is also compared with other existing techniques. Experimental results are presented.

Melon yield prediction using small unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Tiebiao; Wang, Zhongdao; Yang, Qi; Chen, YangQuan

2017-05-01

Thanks to the development of camera technologies, small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), it is possible to collect aerial images of field with more flexible visit, higher resolution and much lower cost. Furthermore, the performance of objection detection based on deeply trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) has been improved significantly. In this study, we applied these technologies in the melon production, where high-resolution aerial images were used to count melons in the field and predict the yield. CNN-based object detection framework-Faster R-CNN is applied in the melon classification. Our results showed that sUAS plus CNNs were able to detect melons accurately in the late harvest season.

Using high-resolution digital aerial imagery to map land cover

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dieck, J.J.; Robinson, Larry

2014-01-01

The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) has used aerial photography to map land cover/land use on federally owned and managed lands for over 20 years. Until recently, that process used 23- by 23-centimeter (9- by 9-inch) analog aerial photos to classify vegetation along the Upper Mississippi River System, on National Wildlife Refuges, and in National Parks. With digital aerial cameras becoming more common and offering distinct advantages over analog film, UMESC transitioned to an entirely digital mapping process in 2009. Though not without challenges, this method has proven to be much more accurate and efficient when compared to the analog process.

Characterization of fungal antagonistic bacilli isolated from aerial roots of banyan (Ficus benghalensis) using intact-cell MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (ICMS).

PubMed

Pathak, K V; Keharia, H

2013-05-01

To characterize fungal antagonistic bacilli isolated from aerial roots of banyan tree and identify the metabolites responsible for their antifungal activity. Seven gram positive, endospore-forming, rod-shaped endophytic bacterial strains exhibiting a broad-spectrum antifungal activity were isolated from the surface-sterilized aerial roots of banyan tree. The isolates designated as K1, A2, A4 and A12 were identified as Bacillus subtilis, whereas isolates A11 and A13 were identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens using Biolog Microbial Identification System. The antifungal lipopeptides, surfactins, iturins and fengycins with masses varying in the range from m/z 900 to m/z 1550 could be detected using intact-cell MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (ICMS). On the basis of mass spectral and carbon source utilization profile, all seven endophytes could be distinguished from each other. Furthermore, ICMS analysis revealed higher extent of heterogeneity among iturins and fengycins produced by B. subtilis K1, correlating well with its higher antifungal activity in comparison with other isolates. Seven fungal antagonistic bacilli were isolated from aerial roots of banyan tree, exhibiting broad spectrum of antifungal activity, among which B. subtilis K1 isolate was found to be most potent. The ICMS analysis revealed that all these isolates produced cyclic lipopeptides belonging to surfactin, iturin and fengycin families and exhibited varying degree of heterogeneity. The endophytes are considered as a potential source of novel bioactive metabolites, and this study describes the potent fungal antagonistic bacilli from aerial roots of banyan tree. The isolates described in this study have a prospective application as biocontrol agents. Also ICMS analysis described in this study for characterization of antifungal metabolites produced by banyan endophytic bacilli may be used as a high throughput tool for screening of microbes producing novel cyclic lipopeptides. © 2013 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Application of Human-Autonomy Teaming (HAT) Patterns to Reduce Crew Operations (RCO)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shively, R. Jay; Brandt, Summer L.; Lachter, Joel; Matessa, Mike; Sadler, Garrett; Battiste, Henri

2011-01-01

Unmanned aerial systems, advanced cockpits, and air traffic management are all seeing dramatic increases in automation. However, while automation may take on some tasks previously performed by humans, humans will still be required to remain in the system for the foreseeable future. The collaboration between humans and these increasingly autonomous systems will begin to resemble cooperation between teammates, rather than simple task allocation. It is critical to understand this human-autonomy teaming (HAT) to optimize these systems in the future. One methodology to understand HAT is by identifying recurring patterns of HAT that have similar characteristics and solutions. This paper applies a methodology for identifying HAT patterns to an advanced cockpit project.

Evaluation of the use of live aerial video for traffic management.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-01-01

This report describes the evaluation of an intelligent transportation system (ITS) demonstration project in which live aerial video of traffic conditions was captured by a rotary wing aircraft operated by the Fairfax County (Virginia) Police Departme...

Testing a small UAS for mapping artisanal diamond mining sites in Africa

USGS Publications Warehouse

Malpeli, Katherine C.; Chirico, Peter G.

2015-01-01

Remote sensing technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate. At the forefront of the new technological developments are unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The advent of small, lightweight, low-cost, and user-friendly UAS is greatly expanding the potential applications of remote sensing technology and improving the set of tools available to researchers seeking to map and monitor terrain from above. In this article, we explore the applications of a small UAS for mapping informal diamond mining sites in Africa. We found that this technology provides aerial imagery of unparalleled resolution in a data-sparse, difficult to access, and remote terrain.

Forestry applications project/timber resource. Sam Houston National forest inventory and development of a survey planning model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N.

1976-01-01

The Forestry Applications Project has been directed towards solving the problem of meeting informational needs of the resource managers utilizing remote sensing data sources including satellite data, conventional aerial photography, and direct measurement on the ground in such combinations as needed to best achieve these goals. It is recognized that sampling plays an important role in generating relevant information for managing large geographic populations. The central problem, therefore, is to define the kind and amount of sampling and the place of remote sensing data sources in that sampling system to do the best possible job of meeting the manager's informational needs.

Survey on the novel hybrid aquatic-aerial amphibious aircraft: Aquatic unmanned aerial vehicle (AquaUAV)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Xingbang; Wang, Tianmiao; Liang, Jianhong; Yao, Guocai; Liu, Miao

2015-04-01

The aquatic unmanned aerial vehicle (AquaUAV), a kind of vehicle that can operate both in the air and the water, has been regarded as a new breakthrough to broaden the application scenario of UAV. Wide application prospects in military and civil field are more than bright, therefore many institutions have focused on the development of such a vehicle. However, due to the significant difference of the physical properties between the air and the water, it is rather difficult to design a fully-featured AquaUAV. Until now, majority of partially-featured AquaUAVs have been developed and used to verify the feasibility of an aquatic-aerial vehicle. In the present work, we classify the current partially-featured AquaUAV into three categories from the scope of the whole UAV field, i.e., the seaplane UAV, the submarine-launched UAV, and the submersible UAV. Then the recent advancements and common characteristics of the three kinds of AquaUAVs are reviewed in detail respectively. Then the applications of bionics in the design of AquaUAV, the transition mode between the air and the water, the morphing wing structure for air-water adaptation, and the power source and the propulsion type are summarized and discussed. The tradeoff analyses for different transition methods between the air and the water are presented. Furthermore, it indicates that applying the bionics into the design and development of the AquaUAV will be essential and significant. Finally, the significant technical challenges for the AquaUAV to change from a conception to a practical prototype are indicated.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in pest management: Progress in the development of a UAV-deployed mating disruption system for Wisconsin cranberries

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) represent a powerful new tool for agriculture. Currently, UAVs are used almost exclusively as crop reconnaissance devices (“eyes in the sky”), not as pest control delivery systems. Research in Wisconsin cranberries is taking UAVs in a new direction. The Steffan and Lu...

Adapting astronomical source detection software to help detect animals in thermal images obtained by unmanned aerial systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longmore, S. N.; Collins, R. P.; Pfeifer, S.; Fox, S. E.; Mulero-Pazmany, M.; Bezombes, F.; Goodwind, A.; de Juan Ovelar, M.; Knapen, J. H.; Wich, S. A.

2017-02-01

In this paper we describe an unmanned aerial system equipped with a thermal-infrared camera and software pipeline that we have developed to monitor animal populations for conservation purposes. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach to tackle this problem, we use freely available astronomical source detection software and the associated expertise of astronomers, to efficiently and reliably detect humans and animals in aerial thermal-infrared footage. Combining this astronomical detection software with existing machine learning algorithms into a single, automated, end-to-end pipeline, we test the software using aerial video footage taken in a controlled, field-like environment. We demonstrate that the pipeline works reliably and describe how it can be used to estimate the completeness of different observational datasets to objects of a given type as a function of height, observing conditions etc. - a crucial step in converting video footage to scientifically useful information such as the spatial distribution and density of different animal species. Finally, having demonstrated the potential utility of the system, we describe the steps we are taking to adapt the system for work in the field, in particular systematic monitoring of endangered species at National Parks around the world.

Automatic forest-fire measuring using ground stations and Unmanned Aerial Systems.

PubMed

Martínez-de Dios, José Ramiro; Merino, Luis; Caballero, Fernando; Ollero, Anibal

2011-01-01

This paper presents a novel system for automatic forest-fire measurement using cameras distributed at ground stations and mounted on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). It can obtain geometrical measurements of forest fires in real-time such as the location and shape of the fire front, flame height and rate of spread, among others. Measurement of forest fires is a challenging problem that is affected by numerous potential sources of error. The proposed system addresses them by exploiting the complementarities between infrared and visual cameras located at different ground locations together with others onboard Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). The system applies image processing and geo-location techniques to obtain forest-fire measurements individually from each camera and then integrates the results from all the cameras using statistical data fusion techniques. The proposed system has been extensively tested and validated in close-to-operational conditions in field fire experiments with controlled safety conditions carried out in Portugal and Spain from 2001 to 2006.

Automatic Forest-Fire Measuring Using Ground Stations and Unmanned Aerial Systems

PubMed Central

Martínez-de Dios, José Ramiro; Merino, Luis; Caballero, Fernando; Ollero, Anibal

2011-01-01

This paper presents a novel system for automatic forest-fire measurement using cameras distributed at ground stations and mounted on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). It can obtain geometrical measurements of forest fires in real-time such as the location and shape of the fire front, flame height and rate of spread, among others. Measurement of forest fires is a challenging problem that is affected by numerous potential sources of error. The proposed system addresses them by exploiting the complementarities between infrared and visual cameras located at different ground locations together with others onboard Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). The system applies image processing and geo-location techniques to obtain forest-fire measurements individually from each camera and then integrates the results from all the cameras using statistical data fusion techniques. The proposed system has been extensively tested and validated in close-to-operational conditions in field fire experiments with controlled safety conditions carried out in Portugal and Spain from 2001 to 2006. PMID:22163958

Estimation of canopy attributes in beech forests using true colour digital images from a small fixed-wing UAV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chianucci, Francesco; Disperati, Leonardo; Guzzi, Donatella; Bianchini, Daniele; Nardino, Vanni; Lastri, Cinzia; Rindinella, Andrea; Corona, Piermaria

2016-05-01

Accurate estimates of forest canopy are essential for the characterization of forest ecosystems. Remotely-sensed techniques provide a unique way to obtain estimates over spatially extensive areas, but their application is limited by the spectral and temporal resolution available from these systems, which is often not suited to meet regional or local objectives. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) as remote sensing platforms has recently gained increasing attention, but their applications in forestry are still at an experimental stage. In this study we described a methodology to obtain rapid and reliable estimates of forest canopy from a small UAV equipped with a commercial RGB camera. The red, green and blue digital numbers were converted to the green leaf algorithm (GLA) and to the CIE L*a*b* colour space to obtain estimates of canopy cover, foliage clumping and leaf area index (L) from aerial images. Canopy attributes were compared with in situ estimates obtained from two digital canopy photographic techniques (cover and fisheye photography). The method was tested in beech forests. UAV images accurately quantified canopy cover even in very dense stand conditions, despite a tendency to not detecting small within-crown gaps in aerial images, leading to a measurement of a quantity much closer to crown cover estimated from in situ cover photography. Estimates of L from UAV images significantly agreed with that obtained from fisheye images, but the accuracy of UAV estimates is influenced by the appropriate assumption of leaf angle distribution. We concluded that true colour UAV images can be effectively used to obtain rapid, cheap and meaningful estimates of forest canopy attributes at medium-large scales. UAV can combine the advantage of high resolution imagery with quick turnaround series, being therefore suitable for routine forest stand monitoring and real-time applications.

Acquisition of Cooperative Small Unmanned Aerial Systems for Advancing Man Machine Interface Research

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-24

global sensor field of views (FOVs), mimicking biological systems such as an insect fly eye , but allowing multiple aperture configurations. Due to...synthetic, global sensor field of views (FOVs), mimicking biological systems such as an insect fly eye , but allowing multiple aperture configurations. Due to...such as an insect fly eye , but allowing multiple aperture configurations. Due to the desired nature of distributed networked aerial vehicles (for the

Effects of Fenvalerate and Azinphosmethyl on Scale Insects and Their Natural Enemies in Loblolly Pine Seed Orchards

Treesearch

Stephen R. Clarke; Gary L. DeBarr; C. Wayne Berlsford

1990-01-01

Ground applications of azinphosmethyl caused significant mortality of the scale insects Tourneyella pini (King), Pseudophilippia quaintancii Cockerell, and Oracella acuta (Lobdell), whereas aerial applications did not. Fenvalerate applications generally did not cause significant mortality, and alternating...

Electromagnetic deformable mirror for space applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuiper, S.; Doelman, N.; Overtoom, T.; Nieuwkoop, E.; Russchenberg, T.; van Riel, M.; Wildschut, J.; Baeten, M.; Spruit, H.; Brinkers, S.; Human, J.

2017-09-01

To increase the collecting power and to improve the angular imaging resolution, space telescopes are evolving towards larger primary mirrors. The aerial density of the telescope mirrors needs to be kept low, however, to be compatible with the launch requirements. A light-weight (primary) mirror will introduce additional optical aberrations to the system. These may be caused by for instance manufacturing errors, gravity release and thermo-elastic effects. Active Optics (AO) is a key candidate technology to correct for the resultant wave front aberrations [1].

Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colomina, I.; Molina, P.

2014-06-01

We discuss the evolution and state-of-the-art of the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in the field of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PaRS). UAS, Remotely-Piloted Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or simply, drones are a hot topic comprising a diverse array of aspects including technology, privacy rights, safety and regulations, and even war and peace. Modern photogrammetry and remote sensing identified the potential of UAS-sourced imagery more than thirty years ago. In the last five years, these two sister disciplines have developed technology and methods that challenge the current aeronautical regulatory framework and their own traditional acquisition and processing methods. Navety and ingenuity have combined off-the-shelf, low-cost equipment with sophisticated computer vision, robotics and geomatic engineering. The results are cm-level resolution and accuracy products that can be generated even with cameras costing a few-hundred euros. In this review article, following a brief historic background and regulatory status analysis, we review the recent unmanned aircraft, sensing, navigation, orientation and general data processing developments for UAS photogrammetry and remote sensing with emphasis on the nano-micro-mini UAS segment.

Automated Aerial Refueling Hitches a Ride on AFF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansen, Jennifer L.; Murray, James E.; Bever, Glenn; Campos, Norma V.; Schkolnik, Gerard

2007-01-01

The recent introduction of uninhabited aerial vehicles [UAVs (basically, remotely piloted or autonomous aircraft)] has spawned new developments in autonomous operation and posed new challenges. Automated aerial refueling (AAR) is a capability that will enable UAVs to travel greater distances and loiter longer over targets. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the Naval Air Force Pacific Fleet, and the Air Force Research Laboratory, rapidly conceived and accomplished an AAR flight research project focused on collecting a unique, high-quality database on the dynamics of the hose and drogue of an aerial refueling system. This flight-derived database would be used to validate mathematical models of the dynamics in support of design and analysis of AAR systems for future UAVs. The project involved the use of two Dryden F/A-18 airplanes and an S-3 hose-drogue refueling store on loan from the Navy. In this year-long project, which was started on October 1, 2002, 583 research maneuvers were completed during 23 flights.

Region Three Aerial Measurement System Flight Planning Tool - 12006

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Messick, Chuck; Pham, Minh; Smith, Ron

The Region 3 Aerial Measurement System Flight Planning Tool is used by the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA), United States Department of Energy, Radiological Assistance Program, Region 3, to respond to emergency radiological situations. The tool automates the flight planning package process while decreasing Aerial Measuring System response times and decreases the potential for human error. Deployment of the Region Three Aerial Measurement System Flight Planning Tool has resulted in an immediate improvement to the flight planning process in that time required for mission planning has been reduced from 1.5 hours to 15 minutes. Anecdotally, the RAP team reports thatmore » the rate of usable data acquired during surveys has improved from 40-60 percent to over 90 percent since they began using the tool. Though the primary product of the flight planning tool is a pdf format document for use by the aircraft flight crew, the RAP team has begun carrying their laptop computer on the aircraft during missions. By connecting a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to the laptop and using ESRI ArcMap's GPS tool bar to overlay the aircraft position directly on the flight plan in real time, the RAP team can evaluate and correct the aircraft position as the mission is executed. (authors)« less

Control of a Quadcopter Aerial Robot Using Optic Flow Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hurd, Michael Brandon

This thesis focuses on the motion control of a custom-built quadcopter aerial robot using optic flow sensing. Optic flow sensing is a vision-based approach that can provide a robot the ability to fly in global positioning system (GPS) denied environments, such as indoor environments. In this work, optic flow sensors are used to stabilize the motion of quadcopter robot, where an optic flow algorithm is applied to provide odometry measurements to the quadcopter's central processing unit to monitor the flight heading. The optic-flow sensor and algorithm are capable of gathering and processing the images at 250 frames/sec, and the sensor package weighs 2.5 g and has a footprint of 6 cm2 in area. The odometry value from the optic flow sensor is then used a feedback information in a simple proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller on the quadcopter. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of using optic flow for controlling the motion of the quadcopter aerial robot. The technique presented herein can be applied to different types of aerial robotic systems or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as unmanned ground vehicles (UGV).

Sediment Sampling in Estuarine Mudflats with an Aerial-Ground Robotic Team

PubMed Central

Deusdado, Pedro; Guedes, Magno; Silva, André; Marques, Francisco; Pinto, Eduardo; Rodrigues, Paulo; Lourenço, André; Mendonça, Ricardo; Santana, Pedro; Corisco, José; Almeida, Susana Marta; Portugal, Luís; Caldeira, Raquel; Barata, José; Flores, Luis

2016-01-01

This paper presents a robotic team suited for bottom sediment sampling and retrieval in mudflats, targeting environmental monitoring tasks. The robotic team encompasses a four-wheel-steering ground vehicle, equipped with a drilling tool designed to be able to retain wet soil, and a multi-rotor aerial vehicle for dynamic aerial imagery acquisition. On-demand aerial imagery, properly fused on an aerial mosaic, is used by remote human operators for specifying the robotic mission and supervising its execution. This is crucial for the success of an environmental monitoring study, as often it depends on human expertise to ensure the statistical significance and accuracy of the sampling procedures. Although the literature is rich on environmental monitoring sampling procedures, in mudflats, there is a gap as regards including robotic elements. This paper closes this gap by also proposing a preliminary experimental protocol tailored to exploit the capabilities offered by the robotic system. Field trials in the south bank of the river Tagus’ estuary show the ability of the robotic system to successfully extract and transport bottom sediment samples for offline analysis. The results also show the efficiency of the extraction and the benefits when compared to (conventional) human-based sampling. PMID:27618060

Improving Measurement of Forest Structural Parameters by Co-Registering of High Resolution Aerial Imagery and Low Density LiDAR Data

PubMed Central

Huang, Huabing; Gong, Peng; Cheng, Xiao; Clinton, Nick; Li, Zengyuan

2009-01-01

Forest structural parameters, such as tree height and crown width, are indispensable for evaluating forest biomass or forest volume. LiDAR is a revolutionary technology for measurement of forest structural parameters, however, the accuracy of crown width extraction is not satisfactory when using a low density LiDAR, especially in high canopy cover forest. We used high resolution aerial imagery with a low density LiDAR system to overcome this shortcoming. A morphological filtering was used to generate a DEM (Digital Elevation Model) and a CHM (Canopy Height Model) from LiDAR data. The LiDAR camera image is matched to the aerial image with an automated keypoints search algorithm. As a result, a high registration accuracy of 0.5 pixels was obtained. A local maximum filter, watershed segmentation, and object-oriented image segmentation are used to obtain tree height and crown width. Results indicate that the camera data collected by the integrated LiDAR system plays an important role in registration with aerial imagery. The synthesis with aerial imagery increases the accuracy of forest structural parameter extraction when compared to only using the low density LiDAR data. PMID:22573971

Generating land cover boundaries from remotely sensed data using object-based image analysis: overview and epidemiological application.

PubMed

Maxwell, Susan K

2010-12-01

Satellite imagery and aerial photography represent a vast resource to significantly enhance environmental mapping and modeling applications for use in understanding spatio-temporal relationships between environment and health. Deriving boundaries of land cover objects, such as trees, buildings, and crop fields, from image data has traditionally been performed manually using a very time consuming process of hand digitizing. Boundary detection algorithms are increasingly being applied using object-based image analysis (OBIA) technology to automate the process. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview and demonstrate the application of OBIA for delineating land cover features at multiple scales using a high resolution aerial photograph (1 m) and a medium resolution Landsat image (30 m) time series in the context of a pesticide spray drift exposure application. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Codacs™ Direct Acoustic Cochlear Implant Actuator: Exploring Alternative Stimulation Sites and Their Stimulation Efficiency

PubMed Central

Grossöhmichen, Martin; Salcher, Rolf; Kreipe, Hans-Heinrich; Lenarz, Thomas; Maier, Hannes

2015-01-01

This work assesses the efficiency of the Codacs system actuator (Cochlear Ltd., Sydney Australia) in different inner ear stimulation modalities. Originally the actuator was intended for direct perilymph stimulation after stapedotomy using a piston prosthesis. A possible alternative application is the stimulation of middle ear structures or the round window (RW). Here the perilymph stimulation with a K-piston through a stapes footplate (SFP) fenestration (N = 10) as well as stimulation of the stapes head (SH) with a Bell prosthesis (N = 9), SFP stimulation with an Omega/Aerial prosthesis (N = 8) and reverse RW stimulation (N = 10) were performed in cadaveric human temporal bones (TBs). Codacs actuator output is expressed as equivalent sound pressure level (eq. SPL) using RW and SFP displacement responses, measured by Laser Doppler velocimetry as reference. The axial actuator coupling force in stimulation of stapes and RW was adjusted to ~ 5 mN. The Bell prosthesis and Omega/Aerial prosthesis stimulation generated similar mean eq. SPLs (Bell: 127.5–141.8 eq. dB SPL; Omega/Aerial: 123.6–143.9 eq. dB SPL), being significantly more efficient than K-piston perilymph stimulation (108.6–131.6 eq. dB SPL) and RW stimulation (108.3–128.2 eq. dB SPL). Our results demonstrate that SH, SFP and RW are adequate alternative stimulation sites for the Codacs actuator using coupling prostheses and an axial coupling force of ~ 5 mN. Based on the eq. SPLs, all investigated methods were adequate for in vivo hearing aid applications, provided that experimental conditions including constant coupling force will be implemented. PMID:25785860

A Dynamic Navigation Model for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and an Application to Autonomous Front-On Environmental Sensing and Photography Using Low-Cost Sensor Systems.

PubMed

Cooper, Andrew James; Redman, Chelsea Anne; Stoneham, David Mark; Gonzalez, Luis Felipe; Etse, Victor Kwesi

2015-08-28

This paper presents an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that uses a probabilistic model for autonomous front-on environmental sensing or photography of a target. The system is based on low-cost and readily-available sensor systems in dynamic environments and with the general intent of improving the capabilities of dynamic waypoint-based navigation systems for a low-cost UAS. The behavioural dynamics of target movement for the design of a Kalman filter and Markov model-based prediction algorithm are included. Geometrical concepts and the Haversine formula are applied to the maximum likelihood case in order to make a prediction regarding a future state of a target, thus delivering a new waypoint for autonomous navigation. The results of the application to aerial filming with low-cost UAS are presented, achieving the desired goal of maintained front-on perspective without significant constraint to the route or pace of target movement.

A Dynamic Navigation Model for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and an Application to Autonomous Front-On Environmental Sensing and Photography Using Low-Cost Sensor Systems

PubMed Central

Cooper, Andrew James; Redman, Chelsea Anne; Stoneham, David Mark; Gonzalez, Luis Felipe; Etse, Victor Kwesi

2015-01-01

This paper presents an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that uses a probabilistic model for autonomous front-on environmental sensing or photography of a target. The system is based on low-cost and readily-available sensor systems in dynamic environments and with the general intent of improving the capabilities of dynamic waypoint-based navigation systems for a low-cost UAS. The behavioural dynamics of target movement for the design of a Kalman filter and Markov model-based prediction algorithm are included. Geometrical concepts and the Haversine formula are applied to the maximum likelihood case in order to make a prediction regarding a future state of a target, thus delivering a new waypoint for autonomous navigation. The results of the application to aerial filming with low-cost UAS are presented, achieving the desired goal of maintained front-on perspective without significant constraint to the route or pace of target movement. PMID:26343680

Atmospheric stability determination at different time intervals for determination of aerial application timing

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Determination of atmospheric conditions for proper timing of spray application is important to prevent off-target movement of crop protection materials. Susceptible crops can be injured downwind if proper application procedure is not followed. In our previous study, hourly data indicated unfavorable...

Iowa Commercial Pesticide Applicator Manual, Category 11: Aerial Applicators. CS-26.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeWitt, Jerald R., Ed.

This manual provides information needed to meet specific standards for certification as a pesticide applicator. The text is concerned with the calibration and application of pesticides/herbicides by aircraft. Special attention is given to the field flight patterns and safety precautions which must be considered for the pilot, ground crews and the…

Counter unmanned aerial system testing and evaluation methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kouhestani, C.; Woo, B.; Birch, G.

2017-05-01

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are increasing in flight times, ease of use, and payload sizes. Detection, classification, tracking, and neutralization of UAS is a necessary capability for infrastructure and facility protection. We discuss test and evaluation methodology developed at Sandia National Laboratories to establish a consistent, defendable, and unbiased means for evaluating counter unmanned aerial system (CUAS) technologies. The test approach described identifies test strategies, performance metrics, UAS types tested, key variables, and the necessary data analysis to accurately quantify the capabilities of CUAS technologies. The tests conducted, as defined by this approach, will allow for the determination of quantifiable limitations, strengths, and weaknesses in terms of detection, tracking, classification, and neutralization. Communicating the results of this testing in such a manner informs decisions by government sponsors and stakeholders that can be used to guide future investments and inform procurement, deployment, and advancement of such systems into their specific venues.

Feasibility study to determine the economic and operational benefits of utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-04-01

This project explored the feasibility of using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) in Georgia : Department of Transportation (GDOT) operations. The research team conducted 24 interviews with : personnel in four GDOT divisions. Interviews focused on (1) th...

DETAIL TOP VIEW OF AERIAL TRAMWAY DRIVE MECHANISM, LOOKING NORTHEAST. ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

DETAIL TOP VIEW OF AERIAL TRAMWAY DRIVE MECHANISM, LOOKING NORTHEAST. THE FRICTION BRAKING SYSTEM CAN BE SEEN IN SHADOW ABOVE THE LARGE CABLE WHEEL BELOW. - Keane Wonder Mine, Park Route 4 (Daylight Pass Cutoff), Death Valley Junction, Inyo County, CA

The Limited Duty/Chief Warrant Officer Professional Guidebook

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-01-01

subsurface imaging . They plan and manage the operation of imaging commands and activities, combat camera groups and aerial reconnaissance imaging...picture and video systems used in aerial, surface and subsurface imaging . They supervise the operation of imaging commands and activities, combat camera

Using a Functional Architecture to Identify Human-Automation Trust Needs and Design Requirements

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE TO IDENTIFY HUMAN-AUTOMATION TRUST NEEDS AND DESIGN REQUIREMENTS by Bradley A. Johnson December 2016 Thesis Advisor...maximum 200 words) This thesis develops and analyzes the functional architecture for an “autonomous” unmanned aerial system performing an...INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK v ABSTRACT This thesis develops and analyzes the functional architecture for an “autonomous” unmanned aerial system

Integrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into Surveillance Systems in Complex Maritime Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Surveillance System and 31 provides the U.S. Navy with demonstration capability primarily for doctrine , concept of...measures against information leakage Implement corresponding doctrines 1.4 Set up communication with other partners Set up communication with...Command and control for joint maritime operations. Joint publication 3-32, change 1. Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/ doctrine /new_pubs

A case study of comparing radiometrically calibrated reflectance of an image mosaic from unmanned aerial system with that of a single image from manned aircraft over a same area

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Although conventional high-altitude airborne remote sensing and low-altitude unmanned aerial system (UAS) based remote sensing share many commonalities, one of the major differences between the two remote sensing platforms is that the latter has much smaller image footprint. To cover the same area o...

Synthesis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote control augmentation system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tomczyk, Andrzej, E-mail: A.Tomczyk@prz.edu.pl

Medium size Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usually flies as an autonomous aircraft including automatic take-off and landing phases. However in the case of the on-board control system failure, the remote steering is using as an emergency procedure. In this reason, remote manual control of unmanned aerial vehicle is used more often during take-of and landing phases. Depends on UAV take-off mass and speed (total energy) the potential crash can be very danger for airplane and environment. So, handling qualities of UAV is important from pilot-operator point of view. In many cases the dynamic properties of remote controlling UAV are notmore » suitable for obtaining the desired properties of the handling qualities. In this case the control augmentation system (CAS) should be applied. Because the potential failure of the on-board control system, the better solution is that the CAS algorithms are placed on the ground station computers. The method of UAV handling qualities shaping in the case of basic control system failure is presented in this paper. The main idea of this method is that UAV reaction on the operator steering signals should be similar - almost the same - as reaction of the 'ideal' remote control aircraft. The model following method was used for controller parameters calculations. The numerical example concerns the medium size MP-02A UAV applied as an aerial observer system.« less

Application of Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide Photovoltaic Cells to Extend the Endurance and Capabilities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

Group V element to make them n or p material. Another common group of semiconductors are called III–V compounds , such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), or...these compounds used for photovoltaics are Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), and Copper Indium Gallium DiSelenide, commonly referred to as CIGS [49]. Figure...INDIUM GALLIUM DISELENIDE PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS TO EXTEND THE ENDURANCE AND CAPABILITIES OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES by William R. Hurd

Assessing the phytoavailability of arsenic and phosphorus to corn plant after the addition of an acrylic copolymer to polluted soils.

PubMed

Mansouri, Tahereh; Golchin, Ahmad; Kouhestani, Hossein

2017-08-13

Soil pollution by arsenic increases the potential risk of arsenic entrance into the food chain. The usefulness of maleic anhydride- styrene- acrylic acid copolymer on the mobility and phytoavailability of arsenic was evaluated. Treatments were the concentrations of acrylic copolymer (0, 0.05, 0.10, and 0.20% w/w) and the concentrations of soil total arsenic (0, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 96 mg kg -1 ). Sodium arsenate was added in appropriate amounts to subsamples of an uncontaminated soil to give contaminated soils with different levels of arsenic. The contaminated soils were subjected to a greenhouse experiment using corn as the test crop. The results showed that contamination of soil by arsenic increased the concentrations of soil available arsenic, root and aerial parts arsenic. By the use of acrylic copolymer, the concentration of available arsenic in the soil and the accumulation of arsenic in the root and aerial parts of the corn plant decreased but the dry weights of the root and aerial parts increased significantly. When the concentration of soil total arsenic was 96 mg kg -1 , the application of copolymer at the concentration of 0.20% w/w reduced the concentrations of arsenic in soil, root, and aerial parts by 62.53, 43.65, and 37.00% respectively, indicating that application of acrylic copolymer immobilized arsenic in soils.

Aerial surveillance vehicles augment security at shipping ports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huck, Robert C.; Al Akkoumi, Muhammad K.; Cheng, Samuel; Sluss, James J., Jr.; Landers, Thomas L.

2008-10-01

With the ever present threat to commerce, both politically and economically, technological innovations provide a means to secure the transportation infrastructure that will allow efficient and uninterrupted freight-flow operations for trade. Currently, freight coming into United States ports is "spot checked" upon arrival and stored in a container yard while awaiting the next mode of transportation. For the most part, only fences and security patrols protect these container storage yards. To augment these measures, the authors propose the use of aerial surveillance vehicles equipped with video cameras and wireless video downlinks to provide a birds-eye view of port facilities to security control centers and security patrols on the ground. The initial investigation described in this paper demonstrates the use of unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles as a viable method for providing video surveillance of container storage yards. This research provides the foundation for a follow-on project to use autonomous aerial surveillance vehicles coordinated with autonomous ground surveillance vehicles for enhanced port security applications.

Geotechnical applications of remote sensing and remote data transmission; Proceedings of the Symposium, Cocoa Beach, FL, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 1986

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, A.I.; Pettersson, C.B.

1988-01-01

Papers and discussions concerning the geotechnical applications of remote sensing and remote data transmission, sources of remotely sensed data, and glossaries of remote sensing and remote data transmission terms, acronyms, and abbreviations are presented. Aspects of remote sensing use covered include the significance of lineaments and their effects on ground-water systems, waste-site use and geotechnical characterization, the estimation of reservoir submerging losses using CIR aerial photographs, and satellite-based investigation of the significance of surficial deposits for surface mining operations. Other topics presented include the location of potential ground subsidence and collapse features in soluble carbonate rock, optical Fourier analysis ofmore » surface features of interest in geotechnical engineering, geotechnical applications of U.S. Government remote sensing programs, updating the data base for a Geographic Information System, the joint NASA/Geosat Test Case Project, the selection of remote data telemetry methods for geotechnical applications, the standardization of remote sensing data collection and transmission, and a comparison of airborne Goodyear electronic mapping system/SAR with satelliteborne Seasat/SAR radar imagery.« less

Application of ground penetrating radar for identification of washover deposits and other stratigraphic features: Assateague Island, MD

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zaremba, Nicholas; Smith, Christopher G.; Bernier, Julie C.; Forde, Arnell S.

2016-01-01

A combination of ground penetrating radar (GPR) data, core data, and aerial photographs were analyzed to better understand the evolution of two portions of Assateague Island, Maryland. The focus of the study was to investigate the applicability of using GPR data to image washover deposits in the stratigraphic record. High amplitude reflections observed in two shore-perpendicular GPR profiles were correlated to shallow (<1 m) lithologic contacts observed in sediment cores. At these contacts, deposits consisting primarily of quartz sand overlie sediments with organic matter that include degraded plant root or stem material. The underlying organic matter likely represents the vegetated portion of the barrier island that was buried by washover fans deposited during hurricanes Irene (2011) and Sandy (2012), as indicated in high-resolution aerial photographs. The GPR data were able to delineate the washover deposits from the underlying stratigraphic unit; however, the radar data did not resolve finer structures necessary to definitively differentiate washover facies from other sand-rich deposits (e.g., flood-tide deltas and dunes). Other GPR profiles contain reflections that likely correlate to geomorphic features like tidal channels and vegetated zones observed in historical aerial imagery. Burial of these features by overwash fluxes were observed in the aerial imagery and thus the resulting radar sequence is largely interpreted as washover deposits. Deeper, channel-like features that have been infilled were also observed in shore-parallel profiles and these features coincide with scour channels observed in the 1966 aerial photography. Additional sedimentological data are required to determine what role overwash played in the in-filling of these features.

Design and testing of shape memory alloy actuation mechanism for flapping wing micro unmanned aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamaruzaman, N. F.; Abdullah, E. J.

2017-12-01

Shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator offers great solution for aerospace applications with low weight being its most attractive feature. A SMA actuation mechanism for the flapping micro unmanned aerial vehicle (MAV) is proposed in this study, where SMA material is the primary system that provides the flapping motion to the wings. Based on several established design criteria, a design prototype has been fabricated to validate the design. As a proof of concept, an experiment is performed using an electrical circuit to power the SMA actuator to evaluate the flapping angle. During testing, several problems have been observed and their solutions for future development are proposed. Based on the experiment, the average recorded flapping wing angle is 14.33° for upward deflection and 12.12° for downward deflection. This meets the required design criteria and objective set forth for this design. The results prove the feasibility of employing SMA actuators in flapping wing MAV.

Computer 3D site model generation based on aerial images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheltov, Sergey Y.; Blokhinov, Yuri B.; Stepanov, Alexander A.; Skryabin, Sergei V.; Sibiriakov, Alexandre V.

1997-07-01

The technology for 3D model design of real world scenes and its photorealistic rendering are current topics of investigation. Development of such technology is very attractive to implement in vast varieties of applications: military mission planning, crew training, civil engineering, architecture, virtual reality entertainments--just a few were mentioned. 3D photorealistic models of urban areas are often discussed now as upgrade from existing 2D geographic information systems. Possibility of site model generation with small details depends on two main factors: available source dataset and computer power resources. In this paper PC based technology is presented, so the scenes of middle resolution (scale of 1:1000) be constructed. Types of datasets are the gray level aerial stereo pairs of photographs (scale of 1:14000) and true color on ground photographs of buildings (scale ca.1:1000). True color terrestrial photographs are also necessary for photorealistic rendering, that in high extent improves human perception of the scene.

A methodology using GIS, aerial photos and remote sensing for loss estimation and flood vulnerability analysis in the Supersano-Ruffano-Nociglia Graben, southern Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forte, F.; Strobl, R. O.; Pennetta, L.

2006-07-01

The impact of calamitous meteoric events and their interaction with the geological and geomorphological environment represent a current problem of the Supersano-Ruffano-Nociglia Graben in southern Italy. Indeed, severe floods take place on a frequent basis not only in autumn and winter, but in summer also. These calamities are not only triggered by exceptional events, but are also amplified by peculiar geological and morpho-structural characteristics of the Graben. Flooding often affects vast agricultural areas and consequently, water-scooping machines cannot remove the rainwater. These events cause warnings and emergency states, involving people as well as socio economic goods. This study represents an application of a vanguard technique for loss estimation and flood vulnerability analysis, integrating a geographic information system (GIS) with aerial photos and remote sensing methods. The analysis results clearly show that the Graben area is potentially at greatest flood vulnerability, while along the Horsts the flood vulnerability is lower.

Archaeological remote sensing application pre-post war situation of Babylon archaeological site—Iraq

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jahjah, Munzer; Ulivieri, Carlo; Invernizzi, Antonio; Parapetti, Roberto

2007-06-01

The first basic step in obtaining a correct geographical knowledge and initiative for archaeological cartography analysis is an adequately geo-localized representation of natural and semi-natural resources and human activities, present and past. In this context, the correct and contextual evaluation of the resources through the use of integrated techniques of aerial photos, remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) supply the synoptic instrument to the real knowledge of the land geography and for the operational management of any research and project. We will describe, at a synthetic level, the maturity of the land systematic study of Babylon archaeological site using different change detection analysis. Topographic maps of 1920 and 1980 were used, 18 aerial photos (1986) were mosaicked and georeferenced, vector information was digitized and inserted in a GIS system, DTM was build. Object oriented image analysis activity is being carried on and initial results are available through a WebGIS. The use of remote sensing (Quickbird and Ikonos) data allows us to capture the integral mutations due to human interventions. Earth observation data and GIS system were an optimal starting point for generating and updating the cartography. This results will be indispensable for the Iraqi authority and scientific community who care about the future of the territory.

Intergraph video and images exploitation capabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colla, Simone; Manesis, Charalampos

2013-08-01

The current paper focuses on the capture, fusion and process of aerial imagery in order to leverage full motion video, giving analysts the ability to collect, analyze, and maximize the value of video assets. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have provided critical real-time surveillance and operational support to military organizations, and are a key source of intelligence, particularly when integrated with other geospatial data. In the current workflow, at first, the UAV operators plan the flight by using a flight planning software. During the flight the UAV send a live video stream directly on the field to be processed by Intergraph software, to generate and disseminate georeferenced images trough a service oriented architecture based on ERDAS Apollo suite. The raw video-based data sources provide the most recent view of a situation and can augment other forms of geospatial intelligence - such as satellite imagery and aerial photos - to provide a richer, more detailed view of the area of interest. To effectively use video as a source of intelligence, however, the analyst needs to seamlessly fuse the video with these other types of intelligence, such as map features and annotations. Intergraph has developed an application that automatically generates mosaicked georeferenced image, tags along the video route which can then be seamlessly integrated with other forms of static data, such as aerial photos, satellite imagery, or geospatial layers and features. Consumers will finally have the ability to use a single, streamlined system to complete the entire geospatial information lifecycle: capturing geospatial data using sensor technology; processing vector, raster, terrain data into actionable information; managing, fusing, and sharing geospatial data and video toghether; and finally, rapidly and securely delivering integrated information products, ensuring individuals can make timely decisions.

A Multi-Robot Sense-Act Approach to Lead to a Proper Acting in Environmental Incidents

PubMed Central

Conesa-Muñoz, Jesús; Valente, João; del Cerro, Jaime; Barrientos, Antonio; Ribeiro, Angela

2016-01-01

Many environmental incidents affect large areas, often in rough terrain constrained by natural obstacles, which makes intervention difficult. New technologies, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, may help address this issue due to their suitability to reach and easily cover large areas. Thus, unmanned aerial vehicles may be used to inspect the terrain and make a first assessment of the affected areas; however, nowadays they do not have the capability to act. On the other hand, ground vehicles rely on enough power to perform the intervention but exhibit more mobility constraints. This paper proposes a multi-robot sense-act system, composed of aerial and ground vehicles. This combination allows performing autonomous tasks in large outdoor areas by integrating both types of platforms in a fully automated manner. Aerial units are used to easily obtain relevant data from the environment and ground units use this information to carry out interventions more efficiently. This paper describes the platforms and sensors required by this multi-robot sense-act system as well as proposes a software system to automatically handle the workflow for any generic environmental task. The proposed system has proved to be suitable to reduce the amount of herbicide applied in agricultural treatments. Although herbicides are very polluting, they are massively deployed on complete agricultural fields to remove weeds. Nevertheless, the amount of herbicide required for treatment is radically reduced when it is accurately applied on patches by the proposed multi-robot system. Thus, the aerial units were employed to scout the crop and build an accurate weed distribution map which was subsequently used to plan the task of the ground units. The whole workflow was executed in a fully autonomous way, without human intervention except when required by Spanish law due to safety reasons. PMID:27517934

Evaluation of remote sensing aerial systems in existing transportation practices, phase II.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-06-01

A low-cost aerial platform represents a flexible tool for acquiring high-resolution images for ground areas of interest. The geo-referencing of objects within these images could benefit civil engineers in a variety of research areas including, but no...

Aerial Images from AN Uav System: 3d Modeling and Tree Species Classification in a Park Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gini, R.; Passoni, D.; Pinto, L.; Sona, G.

2012-07-01

The use of aerial imagery acquired by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is scheduled within the FoGLIE project (Fruition of Goods Landscape in Interactive Environment): it starts from the need to enhance the natural, artistic and cultural heritage, to produce a better usability of it by employing audiovisual movable systems of 3D reconstruction and to improve monitoring procedures, by using new media for integrating the fruition phase with the preservation ones. The pilot project focus on a test area, Parco Adda Nord, which encloses various goods' types (small buildings, agricultural fields and different tree species and bushes). Multispectral high resolution images were taken by two digital compact cameras: a Pentax Optio A40 for RGB photos and a Sigma DP1 modified to acquire the NIR band. Then, some tests were performed in order to analyze the UAV images' quality with both photogrammetric and photo-interpretation purposes, to validate the vector-sensor system, the image block geometry and to study the feasibility of tree species classification. Many pre-signalized Control Points were surveyed through GPS to allow accuracy analysis. Aerial Triangulations (ATs) were carried out with photogrammetric commercial software, Leica Photogrammetry Suite (LPS) and PhotoModeler, with manual or automatic selection of Tie Points, to pick out pros and cons of each package in managing non conventional aerial imagery as well as the differences in the modeling approach. Further analysis were done on the differences between the EO parameters and the corresponding data coming from the on board UAV navigation system.

The influence of the in situ camera calibration for direct georeferencing of aerial imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitishita, E.; Barrios, R.; Centeno, J.

2014-11-01

The direct determination of exterior orientation parameters (EOPs) of aerial images via GNSS/INS technologies is an essential prerequisite in photogrammetric mapping nowadays. Although direct sensor orientation technologies provide a high degree of automation in the process due to the GNSS/INS technologies, the accuracies of the obtained results depend on the quality of a group of parameters that models accurately the conditions of the system at the moment the job is performed. One sub-group of parameters (lever arm offsets and boresight misalignments) models the position and orientation of the sensors with respect to the IMU body frame due to the impossibility of having all sensors on the same position and orientation in the airborne platform. Another sub-group of parameters models the internal characteristics of the sensor (IOP). A system calibration procedure has been recommended by worldwide studies to obtain accurate parameters (mounting and sensor characteristics) for applications of the direct sensor orientation. Commonly, mounting and sensor characteristics are not stable; they can vary in different flight conditions. The system calibration requires a geometric arrangement of the flight and/or control points to decouple correlated parameters, which are not available in the conventional photogrammetric flight. Considering this difficulty, this study investigates the feasibility of the in situ camera calibration to improve the accuracy of the direct georeferencing of aerial images. The camera calibration uses a minimum image block, extracted from the conventional photogrammetric flight, and control point arrangement. A digital Vexcel UltraCam XP camera connected to POS AV TM system was used to get two photogrammetric image blocks. The blocks have different flight directions and opposite flight line. In situ calibration procedures to compute different sets of IOPs are performed and their results are analyzed and used in photogrammetric experiments. The IOPs from the in situ camera calibration improve significantly the accuracies of the direct georeferencing. The obtained results from the experiments are shown and discussed.

Neural adaptive observer-based sensor and actuator fault detection in nonlinear systems: Application in UAV.

PubMed

Abbaspour, Alireza; Aboutalebi, Payam; Yen, Kang K; Sargolzaei, Arman

2017-03-01

A new online detection strategy is developed to detect faults in sensors and actuators of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems. In this design, the weighting parameters of the Neural Network (NN) are updated by using the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Online adaptation of these weighting parameters helps to detect abrupt, intermittent, and incipient faults accurately. We apply the proposed fault detection system to a nonlinear dynamic model of the WVU YF-22 unmanned aircraft for its evaluation. The simulation results show that the new method has better performance in comparison with conventional recurrent neural network-based fault detection strategies. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fate and transport of agriculturally applied fungicidal compounds, azoxystrobin and propiconazole.

PubMed

Edwards, Paul G; Murphy, Tracye M; Lydy, Michael J

2016-03-01

Fungicidal active ingredients azoxystrobin and propiconazole, individually and in combination, have been marketed worldwide in a range of fungicide treatment products for preventative and curative purposes, respectively. Their presence in streams located throughout the midwestern and southeastern United States warrant the need for research into the potential routes of transport of these fungicides in an agricultural field setting. Potential canopy penetration and drift effects of these fungicides during aerial and ground applications were studied in the current project. Canopy penetration was observed for both application types, however drift was associated only with the aerial application of these fungicides. Azoxystrobin and propiconazole persisted in the soil up to 301 d, with peak concentrations occurring approximately 30 d after application. The predominant mode of transport for these compounds was agricultural runoff water, with the majority of the fungicidal active ingredients leaving the target area during the first rain event following application. The timing of application in relation to the first rain event significantly affected the amount of loss that occurred, implying application practices should follow manufacturer recommended guidelines. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prototype Lithium-Ion Battery Developed for Mars 2001 Lander

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manzo, Michelle A.

2000-01-01

In fiscal year 1997, NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the U.S. Air Force established a joint program to competitively develop high-power, rechargeable lithium-ion battery technology for aerospace applications. The goal was to address Department of Defense and NASA requirements not met by commercial battery developments. Under this program, contracts have been awarded to Yardney Technical Products, Eagle- Picher Technologies, LLC, BlueStar Advanced Technology Corporation, and SAFT America, Inc., to develop cylindrical and prismatic cell and battery systems for a variety of NASA and U.S. Air Force applications. The battery systems being developed range from low-capacity (7 to 20 A-hr) and low-voltage (14 to 28 V) systems for planetary landers and rovers to systems for aircraft that require up to 270 V and for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that require capacities up to 200 A-hr. Low-Earth-orbit and geosynchronousorbit spacecraft pose additional challenges to system operation with long cycle life (>30,000 cycles) and long calendar life (>10 years), respectively.

Risk assessment for adult butterflies exposed to the mosquito control pesticide naled.

PubMed

Bargar, Timothy A

2012-04-01

A prospective risk assessment was conducted for adult butterflies potentially exposed to the mosquito control insecticide naled. Published acute mortality data, exposure data collected during field studies, and morphometric data (total surface area and fresh body weight) for adult butterflies were combined in a probabilistic estimate of the likelihood that adult butterfly exposure to naled following aerial applications would exceed levels associated with acute mortality. Adult butterfly exposure was estimated based on the product of (1) naled residues on samplers and (2) an exposure metric that normalized total surface area for adult butterflies to their fresh weight. The likelihood that the 10th percentile refined effect estimate for adult butterflies exposed to naled would be exceeded following aerial naled applications was 67 to 80%. The greatest risk would be for butterflies in the family Lycaenidae, and the lowest risk would be for those in the family Hesperidae, assuming equivalent sensitivity to naled. A range of potential guideline naled deposition levels is presented that, if not exceeded, would reduce the risk of adult butterfly mortality. The results for this risk assessment were compared with other risk estimates for butterflies, and the implications for adult butterflies in areas targeted by aerial naled applications are discussed. Copyright © 2012 SETAC.

Effect of GF-120 (Spinosad) Aerial Sprays on Colonies of the Stingless Bee Scaptotrigona mexicana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and the Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae).

PubMed

Gómez-Escobar, Enoc; Liedo, Pablo; Montoya, Pablo; Méndez-Villarreal, Agustín; Guzmán, Miguel; Vandame, Rémy; Sánchez, Daniel

2018-06-02

Despite their relevant contribution to the conservation of tropical ecosystems and crop productivity through pollination, the stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) can be considered a group of neglected species in the assessment of pesticides upon nontarget organisms. In this article, we evaluated the effect of aerial sprays of the spinosad-based fruit fly toxic bait GF-120 upon colonies of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana Guérin (Hymenoptera: Apidae), an economically important and abundant species in some landscapes of Mexico, located in mango orchards. Colonies of the honey bee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) were used for comparison. Eight colonies (four of A. mellifera and four of S. mexicana) were moved into each of two mango orchards, one was used as a control, with no insecticide application, and other received five weekly aerial sprays of GF-120. Foraging activity and strength of colonies of both species were measured nine times over the fruiting season, previous, during and after insecticide application. We did not find a significant difference in foraging activity and strength between exposed and control colonies of A. mellifera during the observation period. However, colonies of S. mexicana seemed to be affected by the exposure, as revealed by a reduction in colony strength. However, 1 yr later, with no insecticide applications, the colonies of both species were evaluated and found to be in good conditions. Our results showed that weekly aerial sprays of GF-120 are unlikely to generate acute poisoning in both species, even if in acute toxicity tests this product has been found to be highly active.

Vision-Aided Autonomous Landing and Ingress of Micro Aerial Vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brockers, Roland; Ma, Jeremy C.; Matthies, Larry H.; Bouffard, Patrick

2012-01-01

Micro aerial vehicles have limited sensor suites and computational power. For reconnaissance tasks and to conserve energy, these systems need the ability to autonomously land at vantage points or enter buildings (ingress). But for autonomous navigation, information is needed to identify and guide the vehicle to the target. Vision algorithms can provide egomotion estimation and target detection using input from cameras that are easy to include in miniature systems.

Calibration and Extension of a Discrete Event Operations Simulation Modeling Multiple Un-Manned Aerial Vehicles Controlled by a Single Operator

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

within systems of UAVs and between UAVs and the operators that use them. The next step for small UAVs in this direction is for one operator to be able...Team’s testing efforts, both in the planning and execution stages. The flight tests would never have taken place without the tremendous assistance...1 1.2 Unmanned Aerial Systems

Mapping of Rill Erosion of Arable Soils Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kashtanov, A. N.; Vernyuk, Yu. I.; Savin, I. Yu.; Shchepot'ev, V. V.; Dokukin, P. A.; Sharychev, D. V.; Li, K. A.

2018-04-01

Possibilities of using data obtained from unmanned aerial vehicles for detection and mapping of rill erosion on arable lands are analyzed. Identification and mapping of rill erosion was performed on a key plot with a predominance of arable gray forest soils (Greyzemic Phaeozems) under winter wheat in Tula oblast. This plot was surveyed from different heights and in different periods to determine the reliability of identification of rill erosion on the basis of automated procedures in a GIS. It was found that, despite changes in the pattern of rills during the warm season, only one survey during this season is sufficient for adequate assessment of the area of eroded soils. According to our data, the most reliable identification of rill erosion is based on the aerial survey from the height of 50 m above the soil surface. When the height of the flight is more than 200 m, erosional rills virtually escape identification. The efficiency of identification depends on the type of crops, their status, and time of the survey. The surveys of bare soil surface in periods with maximum possible interval from the previous rain or snowmelt season are most efficient. The results of our study can be used in the systems of remote sensing monitoring of erosional processes on arable fields. Application of multiand hyperspectral cameras can improve the efficiency of monitoring.

Efficient Forest Fire Detection Index for Application in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs)

PubMed Central

Cruz, Henry; Eckert, Martina; Meneses, Juan; Martínez, José-Fernán

2016-01-01

This article proposes a novel method for detecting forest fires, through the use of a new color index, called the Forest Fire Detection Index (FFDI), developed by the authors. The index is based on methods for vegetation classification and has been adapted to detect the tonalities of flames and smoke; the latter could be included adaptively into the Regions of Interest (RoIs) with the help of a variable factor. Multiple tests have been performed upon database imagery and present promising results: a detection precision of 96.82% has been achieved for image sizes of 960 × 540 pixels at a processing time of 0.0447 seconds. This achievement would lead to a performance of 22 f/s, for smaller images, while up to 54 f/s could be reached by maintaining a similar detection precision. Additional tests have been performed on fires in their early stages, achieving a precision rate of p = 96.62%. The method could be used in real-time in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), with the aim of monitoring a wider area than through fixed surveillance systems. Thus, it would result in more cost-effective outcomes than conventional systems implemented in helicopters or satellites. UASs could also reach inaccessible locations without jeopardizing people’s safety. On-going work includes implementation into a commercially available drone. PMID:27322264

The Development of an Open Hardware and Software System Onboard Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Monitor Concentrated Solar Power Plants

PubMed Central

Mesas-Carrascosa, Francisco Javier; Verdú Santano, Daniel; Pérez Porras, Fernando; Meroño-Larriva, José Emilio; García-Ferrer, Alfonso

2017-01-01

Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants are increasingly gaining interest as a source of renewable energy. These plants face several technical problems and the inspection of components such as absorber tubes in parabolic trough concentrators (PTC), which are widely deployed, is necessary to guarantee plant efficiency. This article presents a system for real-time industrial inspection of CSP plants using low-cost, open-source components in conjunction with a thermographic sensor and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system, available in open-source hardware and software, is designed to be employed independently of the type of device used for inspection (laptop, smartphone, tablet or smartglasses) and its operating system. Several UAV flight missions were programmed as follows: flight altitudes at 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 m above ground level; and three cruising speeds: 5, 7 and 10 m/s. These settings were chosen and analyzed in order to optimize inspection time. The results indicate that it is possible to perform inspections by an UAV in real time at CSP plants as a means of detecting anomalous absorber tubes and improving the effectiveness of methodologies currently being utilized. Moreover, aside from thermographic sensors, this contribution can be applied to other sensors and can be used in a broad range of applications where real-time georeferenced data visualization is necessary. PMID:28594353

The Development of an Open Hardware and Software System Onboard Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Monitor Concentrated Solar Power Plants.

PubMed

Mesas-Carrascosa, Francisco Javier; Verdú Santano, Daniel; Pérez Porras, Fernando; Meroño-Larriva, José Emilio; García-Ferrer, Alfonso

2017-06-08

Concentrated solar power (CSP) plants are increasingly gaining interest as a source of renewable energy. These plants face several technical problems and the inspection of components such as absorber tubes in parabolic trough concentrators (PTC), which are widely deployed, is necessary to guarantee plant efficiency. This article presents a system for real-time industrial inspection of CSP plants using low-cost, open-source components in conjunction with a thermographic sensor and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system, available in open-source hardware and software, is designed to be employed independently of the type of device used for inspection (laptop, smartphone, tablet or smartglasses) and its operating system. Several UAV flight missions were programmed as follows: flight altitudes at 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 m above ground level; and three cruising speeds: 5, 7 and 10 m/s. These settings were chosen and analyzed in order to optimize inspection time. The results indicate that it is possible to perform inspections by an UAV in real time at CSP plants as a means of detecting anomalous absorber tubes and improving the effectiveness of methodologies currently being utilized. Moreover, aside from thermographic sensors, this contribution can be applied to other sensors and can be used in a broad range of applications where real-time georeferenced data visualization is necessary.

77 FR 69823 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-21

... application equipment manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, pesticide registrants, university researchers... Production 111 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, Life 541710 Sciences Colleges... drift reducing adjuvant chemicals used for aerial or groundboom applications to row and field crops...