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Sense and Avoid Sensor Selection

Sense and Avoid Sensor Selection We have seen so many unmanned systems and even more sensors packed into them. This seems to be the direction that UAV’s are taking with sensors becoming more precise and detecting more data. Many drones we see today are installing sensors in a 360-degree configuration to provide obstacle avoidance in all directions these sensors allow the aircraft to identify an obstacle and stop the aircraft to keep it from crashing. In certain return home modes, these aircraft can detect the barrier and go around it to continue the mission home. With this avoidance system, it is easier for the operator to collect the data needed from the camera or payload without the need to also look out for obstacles. Many aircraft works with fixed sensors facing different directions to collect various data, whether it be more obstacle avoidance or environmental data. There is one aircraft that has seemed to change this thought process when it comes to small UAS systems with a re...
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Control Station Analysis

Control Station Analysis “DJI GS Pro is an iPad app designed for industrial applications including but not limited to, aerial imaging, architecture, precision agriculture, electrical inspections, search and rescue, safety control, and more” ("DJI GS PRO User Manual," 2018). This software provides easy mission planning using an intelligent user interface and interactive menus. One can create waypoints by tapping on the map or simply uploading a file to the iPad. Another way that the software is useful is that it interacts with many of DJI’s aircraft, controllers and accessories. With this interaction, it is effortless to export data from a memory card straight to a computer for post-processing. The drop-down menus allow the user to choose an aircraft and payload, and if supported the app can determine certain features of the mission such as the area covered, resolution, optimal overlaps, and many other features. The quick menus allow users to choose things such as PhotoMap...
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Unmanned System Data Protocol and Format

Unmanned System Data Protocol and Format There are so many unmanned systems that could be chosen for this assignment. It depends on the strategy of data collection that this project is going for and what aircraft fits within that framework from a cost-benefit perspective. With these things in mind, the unmanned systems that provide the most cost-efficient option for ease of use and the broad range of configuration options are the DJI Matrice 210 RTK. This aircraft has been talked about before and provides a lot of configurations from agricultural geospatial data collection to construction surveying. This aircraft used in conjunction with DJI’s sky port system the ALTUM Sensor by Mica Sense provides a large range of detection including RGB, Radiometric Thermal, and Red-edge. The camera captures all these bands in the same moment making the data easier to use and align for use and post-processing analytics ("ALTUM Data Sheet," (n.d.)). With this capture type, there is no n...
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UAS Sensor Placement

UAS Sensor Placement Sensor placement is crucial for commercial applications considering the data collected. I want to mention a few interesting installations in DJI’s UAS, first being the Matrice 210 which allows a camera to be placed on the top on the drone for bridge inspections or missions where the vehicle needs to fly under the object being inspected. The second is the Mavic 2 Enterprise which has additional payloads such as a visible strobe, loudspeaker, and spotlight. These sensors and payloads are examples of proper sensor placement in addition to the task they perform. The UAS I chose for aerial photography is the Phantom 4 RTK by DJI. This UAV will change the way we do aerial imagery through the means of its super precise GPS and 1in. Sensor camera. The drone operates the same way the other DJI drones with a ground controller and iPad or iPhone. Other ground station tablets can be purchased from DJI as well. The Phantom 4 has about 30 minutes of battery life and can ope...
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Unmanned Systems Maritime Search and Rescue

Unmanned Systems Maritime Search and Rescue This article covers the use of the Bluefin-9 by General Dynamics which is a UUV with many mission capabilities. I chose it because of the ease of use for rapid deployment search and rescue, and also because it provides line replaceable units or LRU’s for quick swapping batteries and data storage systems. The sensors that this machine is loaded with include a Sonardyne Solstice 3000 Multi-aperture sonar, Removable Data Storage Module (RDSM) w/ Camera, Turbidity and Fluorometer Sensor, and Sound Velocity Sensor + Temperature + Pressure ("Bluefin-9 Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV)"). All these sensors and payloads are exteroceptive sensors, and there are a few proprioceptive sensors to mention as well. These include the dashboard which automatically shifts communications to the highest bandwidth channel available providing you with a dynamic gateway to the vehicle, following this is a variety of specialized diagnostic interfaces wh...
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Sensing and Avoiding Space Debris

Sensing and Avoiding Space Debris The conventional approach to avoiding collisions in space centers on estimating where satellites and debris will be relative to each other on subsequent orbits. Technologists are also working on concepts for removing dead satellites and spent rocket stages from orbit. Given the plans private companies have for launching thousands of satellites, these strategies may not suffice. Space expert Dave Finkleman says it's time to consider an alternative approach (Finkleman, 2017). I find this article very fascinating, considering the fantastic amount of satellites that will be launched in the next decade. The premise of this article is to bring to light the growing amount of space debris as well as the amount of satalites inorbit with more planned in the coming years. Should there be more research into this growing field or is there more technology in the works for equipment that can collect or destroy the space debris. This tech will solve one ...
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