Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) for environmental remote sensing: challenges and opportunities revisited (original) (raw)
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Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems, 2014
Small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) are often suited to applications where the cost, resolution, and (or) operational inflexibility of conventional remote sensing platforms is limiting. Remote sensing with small UASs is still relatively new, and there is limited understanding of how the data are acquired and used for scientific purposes and decision making. This paper provides practical guidance about the opportunities and limitations of small UAS-based remote sensing by highlighting a small sample of scientific and commercial case studies. Case studies span four themes: (i) mapping, which includes case studies to measure aggregate stockpile volumes and map river habitat; (ii) feature detection, which includes case studies on grassland image classification and detection of agricultural crop infection; (iii) wildlife and animal enumeration, with case studies describing the detection of fish concentrations during a major salmon spawning event, and cattle enumeration at a concentrated animal feeding operation; (iv) landscape dynamics with a case study of arctic glacier change. Collectively, these case studies only represent a fraction of possible remote sensing applications using small UASs, but they provide insight into potential challenges and outcomes, and help clarify the opportunities and limitations that UAS technology offers for remote sensing of the environment.
Small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) are often suited to applications where the cost, resolution, and (or) operational inflexibility of conventional remote sensing platforms is limiting. Remote sensing with small UASs is still relatively new, and there is limited understanding of how the data are acquired and used for scientific purposes and decision making. This paper provides practical guidance about the opportunities and limitations of small UAS-based remote sensing by highlighting a small sample of scientific and commercial case studies. Case studies span four themes: (i) mapping, which includes case studies to measure aggregate stockpile volumes and map river habitat; (ii) feature detection, which includes case studies on grassland image classification and detection of agricultural crop infection; (iii) wildlife and animal enumeration, with case studies describing the detection of fish concentrations during a major salmon spawning event, and cattle enumeration at a concentrat...
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Low-Altitude Aerial Surveys
Journal of Wildlife Management, 2010
Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) are proposed as a useful alternative to manned aircraft for some aerial wildlife surveys. We described the components and current capabilities of a small UAS developed specifically for wildlife and ecological surveys that is currently in field use for a variety of applications. We also reviewed government regulations currently affecting the use of UASs in civilian airspace. Information on capabilities and regulations will be valuable for agencies and individuals interested in the potential UASs offer for monitoring wildlife populations and their habitat. Descriptions of current uses and recommendations for future employment will be helpful in implementing this technology efficiently for aerial surveys as the civilian sector begins to adopt UASs for peacetime missions.
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.
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for environmental applications special issue preface
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2018
This special issue on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for Environmental Applications makes three important contributions: (1) It marks the launch of a new section in the International Journal of Remote Sensing (IJRS), which we have called Drones. (2) It captures key contributions from the 5 th Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) for Environmental Research (UAS4Enviro2017) conference, which was held at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal, from 28 to 30 of June 2017. (3) It collects a wide range of papers on UAS, in addition to those presented at the conference. Drones are indeed a key new technology for remote sensing, and one that has grown rapidly in recent years. According to the database, Web of Science (published by Clarivate Analytics), the first significant use in IJRS of any of the terms UAS, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drones, for example, in the title, abstract, or keyword of an article, was in 2009, in a paper by Dunford et al. (2009). It was not until 2012 that another paper used one of those terms. After that, the numbers increased very quickly, and by 2017, IJRS published 68 papers that referenced these terms. Most notably, 2017 also saw the first IJRS special issue on UAS, titled 'Unmanned aerial vehicles for environmental applications' (The Editors 2017). This current special issue is a direct follow-on from that major collection of papers, and the fact that we are able to have two major special issues on this topic in the space of just over one year, is further evidence of its importance. By placing UAS papers in the new Drones section of IJRS, we aim to foster dialogue amongst the UAS community, and highlight the rapid advances made in this field. However, the need for a separate section for drone-related work may not seem CONTACT Anita Simic Milas
On the Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Environmental Monitoring
Environmental monitoring plays a central role in diagnosing climate and management impacts on natural and agricultural systems; enhancing the understanding of hydrological processes; optimizing the allocation and distribution of water resources; and assessing, forecasting, and even preventing natural disasters. Nowadays, most monitoring and data collection systems are based upon a combination of ground-based measurements, manned airborne sensors, and satellite observations. These data are utilized in describing both small-and large-scale processes, but have spatiotemporal constraints inherent to each respective collection system. Bridging the unique spatial and temporal divides that limit current monitoring platforms is key to improving our understanding of environmental systems. In this context, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have considerable potential to radically improve environmental monitoring. UAS-mounted sensors offer an extraordinary opportunity to bridge the existing gap between field observations and traditional air-and space-borne remote sensing, by providing high spatial detail over relatively large areas in a cost-effective way and an entirely new capacity for enhanced temporal retrieval. As well as showcasing recent advances in the field, there is also a need to identify and understand the potential limitations of UAS technology. For these platforms to reach their monitoring potential, a wide spectrum of unresolved issues and application-specific challenges require focused community attention. Indeed, to leverage the full potential of UAS-based approaches, sensing technologies, measurement protocols, postprocessing techniques, retrieval algorithms, and evaluation techniques need to be harmonized. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the existing research and applications of UAS in natural and agricultural ecosystem monitoring in order to identify future directions, applications, developments, and challenges.
The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Remote Sensing Systems
Sensors, 2020
This paper describes the possibility of using a small autonomous helicopter to perform tasks using a remote sensing system. This article further shows the most effective way to properly set up autopilot and to process its validation during flight tests. The most important components of the remote sensing system are described and the possibilities of using this system to monitor gas transmission and distribution networks are presented.