Exercise 13 - UAS Flights

Introduction

For our last exercise of the semester we went through the pre-flight, safety procedures and mission planning of flying and using a UAS quadcopter. We used an Iris and a Matrix model of quadcopters. It was a 52 degree (F) day with complete cloud cover and 6 mph winds. We fly the quadcopters in a field at The Priory location from the navigation exercise throughout the semester.

Methods

The first part of flying is the checklist which we went through for the quadcopter (fig. 1):

Electrical connection
Motor connection
Frame connection
Props secure
Battery secure
Antenna secure
Sensor connected
Power up

Pre-flight checklist of the Iris quadcopter. (fig. 1)

We then had a problem with the battery when powering up. The battery began to smoke and it ruined the battery case so we needed to stop and get new batteries. Once we had got the new batteries we were able to continue.

Next came the Mission Planning which we were able to do using MissionPlanner on a laptop. It was a program that used imagery as a basemap and allowed us to plan out our flight plan. We could add waypoints and the program would create a path from point to point. There is a loiter function that can be used when you want the camera to stand in one spot and maintain altitude. We could create polygons and the program could create a back and forth pattern to map out that entire area based on the field of view of the camera (fig. 2).

Example of the back and forth pattern used by the MissionPlanner program to map out a given polygon. (fig. 2)

For mapping using UAS, you want to have a narrow field of view because this gives you more accuracy by cutting down on distortion. The distortion is caused by the increased angle of the camera when you have a wide field of view.

Professor Hypy explaining the MissionPlanner program functions. (fig. 3)

We also used a program on a tablet called DroidPlanner which was similar to the laptop program and you could even draw out a flight path with your finger.

We also needed to collect groundpoints in order for the UAS to have an accurate GPS location when flying point to point. These groundpoints needed to be very accurate so we used the dual-frequency method from exercise 9 (fig.4). We collected the GPS locations of objects that could be found easily on a satellite image and didn't move such as a parking lot line and trees nearby (fig. 5).

Ground control point at the end of a parking lot line. (fig. 4)

Group collecting ground control points of nearby trees. (fig. 5)

We were then ready for the flight. There was still a equipment check prior to the flight that was performed in order to make sure nothing was wrong with the quadcopter or the computer controlling the flightpath (fig. 6). Once had finished that we had lift off (fig. 7).

Pre-flight check prior to the flight on quadcopter and laptop. (fig. 6)

The Iris quadcopter in the air during flight. (fig. 7)

Once the quadcopter was in the air it followed the path that was set on the MissionPlanner program and you could even see it on the laptop going from point to point. Once it had finished its mission it returned to the start point and landed.

We then went through the process again for the bigger quadcopter, Matrix. 

Discussion

We then were to process the imagery on the laptop (fig. 8). You used to have to process the imagery back at the university but now you are able to process it right in the field. The program was able to put together all of the imagery the UAS collected and output a image of the area that we mapped out (fig. 9).

The image while it being processed in the field. (fig. 8)

The processed image from the UAS mission. (fig. 9)

Besides the battery problem in the beginning the pre-flight and flight went off without any major problems. We were able to collect good imagery and learned a lot about how to use UAS correctly.

Conclusion

It is important to make sure when using these technologies that you are always double checking the proper checklists and always thinking about safety. UAS can be misused and can cause harm to people when not properly used and maintained.

UAS is one of the biggest industries coming out of geography today and learning how to use these technologies correctly is vital in being a well-rounded geographer. There is a lot of preplanning and checking that goes on beforehand when flying UAS and now that we have had a course in the use of UAS we can begin to use it to improve our geographic research projects