NT SPATIAL - 2015

Presented by Alan Fetherstonhaugh

Resume for a

Surveying UAS

What we do

Sending a boy to do a man’s job –

SUV in the Sand

• Same photogrammetry principles that have been used for the last 80 years – tried and tested

The Good News about working with a

Surveying UAS

• Same Aerodynamic characteristics for planes and UAV’s – tried and tested

• You only need help on which bits are important and which is marketing hype

What is a UAS? and what does it do?

UAS = UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM

FIXED WING

Corridor Mapping

Terrain Modelling

Erosion Monitoring

Reconciliation

Progress Reporting

ROTARY

Industrial Inspection

Inaccessible areas

Site Monitoring

Aerial video

Thermography

Post Disaster

work

Real Estate

Typical Workflow of a UAS?

• Flight Planning

• GSD, AOI, Wind Direction, terrain

underlay

• On-board Autopilot to Fly the mission

• Data Verification in the field - Photo

Matching, Coverage Check

• Photogrammetry to produce - Point

Cloud, Orthophoto, Aerial images

• Filter noise – Trees, cars, trucks, people

• Export required file format

• DEM, DSM, DTM, DXF, XYZ

The MAVinci Workflow

Comparison with other techniques

UAV vs. surveying team with GPS (or Total station)

Much faster

Capture all, select later:

dense point clouds (Photogrammetry)

Total station: Very high accuracy but very few points

Also capturing image reference

UAV: high accuracy concerning area or volume

measurement (≤1%)

UAV vs. manned airplane

Lower investment

Flying below clouds

Slower flying speed allowing for higher resolution

images = More accurate!

No need to coordinate and wait for a manned flight

Launch and landing on the site (Safety

Comparison with other techniques

• Stability of the Aircraft in a range of weather conditions

The 6 most important elements of a UAS

• Stability of the Aircraft in a range of weather conditions

• Stability of the Aircraft in a range of weather conditions

• Flight Planning Software

• Cost of ownership

• Post Processing Software

Delta Wing vs Fixed Wing

• Delta Wings look hi-tech

• Delta Wings store easier

• Delta Wings used by many RC enthusiasts

• Delta Wings setup time is 2 minutes faster

Do any of these features make it a good Surveying Drone ???

Fixed Wing

• Fixed Wing UAV’s are more stable because they have traditional flaps and Horizontal and Vertical Stabilisers

• Total system in the Silver case weighs approx. 19kg – so it is easily carried on commercial aircraft

• The stability gained from using a fixed wing allows it to WORK in higher wind speeds

– MAVinci offers a 45kmh WORKING wind speed

Controlling Surfaces

• The camera platform needs to be stable to eliminate some of the

error budget for Photogrammetric processing (Bundle Adjustment).

Pitch and roll required to

compensate

Only yaw required due to vertical

stabiliser

Rudder essential for

flying stability

This wing stops flying

due to zero lift

Just to prove how hard your task is

• Wingtip device was explained as the solution to yaw issues in a delta wing by the manufacturers agent

• The Wingtip has NO influence on the ability of the aircraft to deal with yaw issues

At a recent AIMS

Conference in Emerald

Response from the

Aviation Industry

Summary – to become a fixed wing

Surveying UAS

Criteria

• Fit for Purpose

• Portable

• Easy setup

• Stable in Flight

• Advanced flight planning

• Streamlined workflow from

field to finish

• Accurate results

Outputs

Orthophoto 3D PDF

Point Cloud DEM

UAV Data in Civilcad

Not necessary to use high end software

Virtual Surveyor

• Replace topo shots with Mouse

Clicks!

• Fast visualisation

• Drawing breaklines and reference

points in a 3D environment

• Perform volume analysis

• Realtime calculation of elevation

contour lines, slopes and slope

directions

• Direct export to CAD

Data Captured with Rotary PosiDrone

(Falcon 8)

Virtual Surveyor

• MAVinci Sirius Pro Update – RTK Base Station Options

Game Changers in the UAV Industry

• AscTec Falcon 8 - Multi Rotor – Introduction of the Trinity Upgrade plus new sensors

• Intel becomes a small shareholder in AscTec

• AscTec release Real Sense – collision avoidance algorithms on an Intel chip

• Ntrip

MAVinci Pro - RTK Base Station Options

• Use the site Base Station corrections via UHF / VHF

• Use your own Base Station

• MAVinci Completely integrated RTK System

• MAVinci Desktop records a Rinex file to enable post processing of random setups

• Trinity allows the Multi Rotor to now operate more like a fixed wing UAV - video

AscTec Falcon 8 Multi Rotor - Upgrades

• Sony Alpha 7R Digital Camera – sample pictures

• TZ61 – Thermal Payload – FLIR and Panasonic Lumix - sample

• Intel RealSense – Collision Avoidance - video

• Lots of industry talk about removing licence requirements or lessening the level of licencing but……….

Why bother with CASA and RPAS

• What if something goes wrong

• You will need Insurance Cover to work on a site

• To get Insurance you will need an RPAS Licence

• As Professionals - The answer is that it will help protect you

• Marketing from UAV Companies vs traditional Survey

Difficulties

• Flying Speed vs Working Speed

• Processing Speed