Small UAS Visibility Enhancement
(Room Innovation Hub-- Booth 2727)
04 May 16
10:00 AM
-
5:30 PM
Tracks:
Agriculture, Air, Commercial, Research and Development
This session’s objectives are multifaceted, with a focus on the capabilities of small UAS (multi-rotors) in remote sensing/precision agriculture applications, as well as safety considerations for the more widespread operation of UAS in the (especially rural) national airspace system. The incorporation of UAS into the agricultural sector’s “toolbox” will lead to a heightened situational awareness of the crops and surrounding environment. UAS present a compelling case for their use through their greater flexibility, lower purchasing costs, increasing availability of specialized sensors (such as infrared, multi-spectral, and hyper-spectral cameras) and reduced operating costs in comparison to manned aircraft. Precision agriculture basically comes down to applying the right prescription/input (water, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, etc.), in the right location, at the right time. The birds-eye view and multispectral/visible spectrum data that UAS and their accompanying sensor systems provide can ultimately (with continued research) scan crops and soil for health problems, identify growth rates and plumage levels, determine hydration levels, identify diseases/pests, select the proper time for harvest, and a vast number of other uses. After conducting agriculture-focused research flight operations, the advantages and disadvantages (related to the aircraft and sensor data collected) of flying a small unmanned aircraft system for precision agriculture flights will be discussed. Also, the imagery output and method of interpretation and photogrammetric study will be examined in the presentation. Ground-truthing UAS imagery is a critical step in the analysis of crop information, and the corroboration between that collected from a UAS-mounted sensor and obtained from ground measurements will be presented and discussed. Information from flying over various types of crops and the returns they provide will be reviewed, as well. UAS-sourced data, imagery, and the like enable producers to make more informed decisions, check the effects of those decisions, adjust their actions mid-season, and ultimately increase the field’s yield. The information must be useable (compatible with other “smart” equipment on the farm, such as variable rate spreaders) and cost-effective. A sustainable production system, with increasing yields per acre, is necessary to maximize food availability and combat the pending food shortages expected over the next 25 years. These points, and others, are addressed by operating a UAS and having access to the benefits of aviation at a fraction of the cost and complication of launching manned aircraft. Beyond the data collection and analysis from agricultural flight operations, the safety and integration aspects of UAS operating over rural/non-congested areas will be reviewed. Equivalent levels of safety must be achieved (compared to manned aviation) to operate UAS more freely in the low altitudes of the national airspace system. Recommendations will be proposed and current methods reviewed to add another dimension of safety to the already safety-conscious rural countryside flight areas. Precision agriculture, thereby, is an ideal application for expanded UAS flights due to the low air traffic, low population operating environment and reduced hazards associated with UAS testing and continued unmanned system development. Each asset, manned and unmanned, has inherent value to add across the aviation industry, and continued assessment to ultimately integrate UAS into the airspace structure will benefit from additional safety measures through Next Generation (such as ADS-B) initiatives and commonplace safety practices alike (such as aircraft lighting, radio communications, etc.). Non-congested areas are the natural ranges to begin safe and expanded UAS operations, while ensuring each sector of aviation, manned and unmanned, provide their inherent values to protect and maximize the efficiency of our nation’s growing land.