Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Remote Sensing and Scientific Research: Classification and Considerations of Use

Remote Sensing - Tập 4 Số 6 - Trang 1671-1692
Adam C. Watts, Vincent G. Ambrosia, Everett Hinkley

Tóm tắt

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have evolved rapidly over the past decade driven primarily by military uses, and have begun finding application among civilian users for earth sensing reconnaissance and scientific data collection purposes. Among UAS, promising characteristics are long flight duration, improved mission safety, flight repeatability due to improving autopilots, and reduced operational costs when compared to manned aircraft. The potential advantages of an unmanned platform, however, depend on many factors, such as aircraft, sensor types, mission objectives, and the current UAS regulatory requirements for operations of the particular platform. The regulations concerning UAS operation are still in the early development stages and currently present significant barriers to entry for scientific users. In this article we describe a variety of platforms, as well as sensor capabilities, and identify advantages of each as relevant to the demands of users in the scientific research sector. We also briefly discuss the current state of regulations affecting UAS operations, with the purpose of informing the scientific community about this developing technology whose potential for revolutionizing natural science observations is similar to those transformations that GIS and GPS brought to the community two decades ago.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Watts, A.C., Kobziar, L.N., and Percival, H.F. (2009, January 11–15). Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Wildland Fire Monitoring and Research. Tallahassee, FL, USA.

Haydon, F.S. (2000). Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War, Johns Hopkins University Press.

Bowen, D (1977). Encyclopedia of War Machines: An Historical Survey of the World’s Great Weapons, Peerage Books.

Hannavy, J. (2007). Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, Taylor & Francis Group.

Nyquist, 1997, Unmanned aerial vehicles that even geoscience departments can afford, Geotimes, 42, 20

Quilter, 2001, A proposed method for determining shrub utilization using LA/LS imagery, J. Range Manage, 54, 378, 10.2307/4003106

Polski, P. (2004, January 20–23). DHS View of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Needs. Chical, IL, USA.

Cooke, P.I., and Sukkarieh, S. (2006). Field and Service Robotics: Results of the 5th International Conference STAR 25, Springer-Verlaag.

Watts, 2010, Small unmanned aircraft systems for low-altitude aerial surveys, J. Wildl. Manage, 7, 1614

Merlin, P (2009). NASA Monographs in Aerospace History #44 SP-2009-4544, NASA.

Ambrosia, 2011, The Ikhana UAS western states fire imaging missions: From concept to reality (2006–2010), Geocarto Int, 26, 85, 10.1080/10106049.2010.539302

Ambrosia, 2003, Demonstrating UAV-acquired real-time thermal data over fires, Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sensing, 69, 391, 10.14358/PERS.69.4.391

Blakeslee, R.J., Croskey, C.L., Desch, M.D., Farrell, W.M., Goldberg, R.A., Houser, J.G., Kim, H.S., Mach, D.M., Mitchell, J.D., and Stoneburner, J.C. (2003, January 9–13). The Altus Cumulus Electrification Study (ACES): A UAV-Based Science Demonstration. Versailles, France.

Perry, J.H., Mohamed, A., El-Rahman, A.H., Bowman, W.S., Kaddoura, Y.O., and Watts, A.C. (2008, January 28–30). Precision Directly Georeferenced Unmanned Aerial Remote Sensing System: Performance Evaluation. San Diego, CA, USA.

Wilkinson, 2009, A new approach for passpoint generation from aerial video imagery, Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sensing, 75, 1415, 10.14358/PERS.75.12.1415

(2007). Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the National Airspace System, Federal Register.

Available online: http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/ (accessed on 15 February 2012).

(2011). Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the National Airspace System (NAS), US Dept. of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Organization Policy Notice N JO 7210.766.

Carey, B Small UAS rule will begin phased entry of unmanned aircraft. Available online: http://www.ainonline.com/?q=aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2011-10-04/small-uas-rule-will-begin-phased-entry-unmanned-aircraft (accessed on 23 October 2011).

Grady, M Coming soon: Era of UAS?. Available online: http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/ComingSoonEraOfUAS_206186-1.html (accessed on 15 February 2012).

Available online: http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/regulations_laws/itar.html (accessed on 15 February 2012).

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Remote Sensing

Tập 4 Số 6

1671-1692

Thông tin tác giả