Whitley, Thomas G. (2015) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Documenting and Interpreting Historic Archaeological Sites: Part II – Return of the Drones. (original) (raw)
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Eyes in the Sky: Unmanned Aerial Systems and their Application in Archaeology
The term “drone” has received a great deal of attention lately as governments, companies, universities, and even private individuals are starting to use these aerial vehicles for a variety of applications. Archaeological endeavors are also slowly beginning to apply unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in different ways. In this paper I share the results from a project where the Brigham Young University archaeology program used a survey-grade UAS to document the Ad-Deir Plateau at the World Heritage site of Petra. Finally, I conclude by discussing how these systems will significantly improve documenting archaeological sites in Utah once the FAA gives permission for small UAS flights in the United States.
A Study of the possible uses of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Archaeology
This report investigates recent advances in aerial image capture, recording, analysis and use in field archaeological studies. Aerial imagery and remote sensing has long been used in field archaeology. Recent technological advances, especially using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (U.A.Vs), have provided opportunities to greatly expand its deployment and utility. Images can now be captured in very high resolution, quickly and efficiently and at a tiny fraction of former costs. This offers new possibilities that could be very beneficial in field archaeology. This report considers the technical and legal requirements that define the capability of U.A.V. equipment and operators to conduct field studies. It discusses, with real examples, new potential offered by this methodology, its present limitations and suggests some future research to further enhance this potential. The results achieved by the author have been varied throughout the research phase and need further refinement. However the results have been of sufficient quality to prove the technologies and the potential applications to archaeology
Drones in Archaeology. State-of-the-art and Future Perspectives
Archaeological Prospection, 2017
In addition to traditional platforms for low-level remote sensing (balloons, kites, etc.) new and more complex automated systems [unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones] have become available in the last decade. The success and market expansion of these platforms has been a driving force in the development of active and passive sensors specifically designed for UAVs. In the last few years archaeologists have started testing both platforms and sensors, particularly for the following applications: three-dimensional (3D) documentation of archaeological excavations; 3D survey of monuments and historic buildings; survey of archaeological sites and landscapes; exploratory aerial survey; and the archaeological survey of woodland areas. The scale of these applications has ranged from site-based to landscapes-based (approximately up to about 10 km 2 in extent). The role of such platforms in the archaeological survey of excavations and landscapes, and in diagnostics more generally, is of great interest and is inexorably growing.
Uas for Archaeology – New Perspectives on Aerial Documentation
The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2013
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.
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2020
The ease of piloting drones, the increasingly high performance of sensors, range of action and autonomy of the platform in flight, combined with an apparent simplicity of realization of 3D models through modern photogrammetry (based on algorithms of Structure from Motion and techniques of Computer Vision), have created a real boom for use in archeology. The trust placed in these new technologies has not always allowed a careful analysis of the limits of these tools and methodologies. In fact, these technologies are often used badly or not to their full potential, probably due to the absence of a general manual and because they are technologies in constant development. The aim of this paper is the discuss of potentials and limits of the use of drones in the documentation of archaeological sites, which are high dependent by the territorial archaeological context and several variables that will be argued.
The words "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle" are probably more likely to evoke scenes of combat in hostile foreign terrain than of archaeologists in northern New Mexico. But UAVs, more popularly known as drones, are not used exclusively for military incursions in the mountains of Afghanistan and deserts in Iraq. In recent years, drones have been widely used in civilian contexts across the globe in the aid of wildlife conservation efforts, Environmental Sciences, forest fire detection, Search and Rescue operations, Meteorology, construction, and Geology. Archaeology is one of the more recent disciplines to join that list, with drone technology serving as a rapid and comparatively inexpensive technique for the large-scale mapping and spatial analysis of archaeological sites. In June 2012, we used a drone to map Ancestral Pueblo archaeological sites in and around the Jemez Valley in the Santa Fe National Forest. The drone is mounted with a standard, off-the-shelf digital camera that captures low-level aerial images of the landscape. These two-dimensional images are then processed to produce three-dimensional textured digital elevation models (DEMs), taking advantage of recent advances in photogrammetric software technology. The final result is a series of remarkably precise and accurate topographic maps, produced in a fraction of the time it typically takes to capture these data using traditional survey methods.
UAVs in Context: Archaeological Airborne Recording in a National Body of Survey and Record
Drones, 2018
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is the lead public body which investigates, promotes and cares for the historic environment in Scotland. It undertakes a range of archaeological airborne work from detailed documentation of individual sites to extensive national programmes of prospection. In undertaking this work HES draws on a variety of aerial platforms to collect imagery, including light aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV—used throughout this paper as an umbrella term). In all cases, the archaeological questions at hand are the key driver for choice of methodology and platforms, recognising that different types of survey and documentation demand different responses. Differing strands of aerial work will be briefly described, followed by short case studies that illustrate the range of our activities, concluding with thoughts on the context of UAV work for archaeological applications.
Eight papers addressing applications of Drones in all the fields of archaeology: History of Drones, Topography, Photogrammetry, LIDAR, Legal Concerns.
BUDGET UAV SYSTEMS FOR THE PROSPECTION OF SMALL-AND MEDIUM- SCALE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
One of the popular uses of UAVs in photogrammetry is providing an archaeological documentation. A wide offer of low-cost (consumer) grade UAVs, as well as the popularity of user-friendly photogrammetric software allowing obtaining satisfying results, contribute to facilitating the process of preparing documentation for small archaeological sites. However, using solutions of this kind is much more problematic for larger areas. The limited possibilities of autonomous flight makes it significantly harder to obtain data for areas too large to be covered during a single mission. Moreover, sometimes the platforms used are not equipped with telemetry systems, which makes navigating and guaranteeing a similar quality of data during separate flights difficult. The simplest solution is using a better UAV, however the cost of devices of such type often exceeds the financial capabilities of archaeological expeditions. The aim of this article is to present methodology allowing obtaining data for medium scale areas using only a basic UAV. The proposed methodology assumes using a simple multirotor, not equipped with any flight planning system or telemetry. Navigating of the platform is based solely on live-view images sent from the camera attached to the UAV. The presented survey was carried out using a simple GoPro camera which, from the perspective of photogrammetric use, was not the optimal configuration due to the fish eye geometry of the camera. Another limitation is the actual operational range of UAVs which in the case of cheaper systems, rarely exceeds 1 kilometre and is in fact often much smaller. Therefore the surveyed area must be divided into sub-blocks which correspond to the range of the drone. It is inconvenient since the blocks must overlap, so that they will later be merged during their processing. This increases the length of required flights as well as the computing power necessary to process a greater number of images. These issues make prospection highly inconvenient, but not impossible. Our paper presents our experiences through two case studies: surveys conducted in Nepal under the aegis of UNESCO, and works carried out as a part of a Polish archaeological expedition in Cyprus, which both prove that the proposed methodology allows obtaining satisfying results. The article is an important voice in the ongoing debate between commercial and academic archaeologists who discuss the balance between the required standards of conducting archaeological works and economic capabilities of archaeological missions.