Manned Aircraft Research Articles

THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE DOCTRINE OF NAVIGABILITY OF AIRSPACE FOR COMMERCIAL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVs) IN SHIPPING AND DELIVERY

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has had a massive social and economic impact all over the world. The conventional methods of logistics, shipping, and delivery of goods are crucial in the economic chains. The use of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for shipping and delivery has been viewed as an innovative approach and business strategy for the logistics company. Commercial UAVs in shipping and delivery might be a novel and effective delivery technique in logistic services, especially for small parcels, and could be extended to medical supplies. However, due to the rigidity of laws and regulations in providing the right of way and other infrastructures to commercial UAVs, UAVs in shipping and delivery appear to be unwelcome in Malaysia. This article is based on doctrinal research and seeks to analyze the regulatory pattern of the doctrine of navigability of low-altitude airspace for the shipping and delivery of UAVs in Malaysia and other selected countries. Moreover, this article also further highlights the various secondary sources of laws from the various authors to view their standing on the navigability concept of UAVs in shipping and delivery. This article recommends the segregation of the low-altitude navigable airspace for UAVs to resolve the conflict of interest between the proprietor’s airspace and the navigable airspace of manned aircraft and further suggests other infrastructures for the expansion of UAVs in the logistics sector.

Implementation and Real-Time Validation of a European Remain Well Clear Function for Unmanned Vehicles

The full integration of Remotely Piloted unmanned vehicles into civil airspace requires first and foremost the integration of a traffic Detect and Avoid (DAA) system into the vehicle. The DAA system supports remote pilots in performing their task of remaining Well Clear from other aircraft and avoiding collisions. Several studies related to the design of a Remain Well Clear function have been performed that served as input for the development of technical standards applicable to non-European countries. In this paper, a Remain Well Clear implementation is proposed that, using the results of past international projects, fits European airspace needs and specificities and can be acceptable to both remote pilots and air traffic controllers, with only minimal impact on the standard operating procedures used for manned aircraft. The proposed Remain Well Clear software has been successfully validated through real-time simulations with pilots and controllers in the loop considering traffic encounters and mission scenarios typically found in European airspace. The achieved results highlight the appropriate situational awareness provided by the proposed RWC function and its effective support to the remote pilot in making adequate decisions in conflict solving. Real-time simulation tests showed that, in almost all cases, an RWC maneuver is successfully performed, giving the RP sufficient time to assess the conflict, coordinate with the controller, if needed, and execute the maneuver. The fundamental role of the proposed RWC function has been especially evident in uncontrolled airspace classes where the controller does not provide any separation provision. Moreover, its effectiveness has also been tested in encounters with aircraft flying under visual flight rules in controlled airspace, where the controller is not informed or has less information regarding these aircraft. The results from validation tests imply two key potential safety benefits, namely: the mitigation of performing a collision avoidance maneuver and the prevention of potential conflict while not disrupting the traffic flow with possible further consequences of generating other potentially hazardous situations.

RBM-MCDM framework for optimization of maintenance and inspection intervals of small unmanned aircrafts

PurposeUnmanned aircraft applications are quickly expanded in different fields. These systems are complex that include several subsystems with different types of technologies. Maintenance and inspection planning is necessary to obtain optimal performance and effectiveness. The failure rate in these systems is more than commercial and manned aircraft since they are usually cheaper. But maintenance and operation planning are difficult because we deal with a system that has multi-components, multi-failure models, and different dependencies between subsystems without any advanced health monitoring system. In this paper, this matter is considered and a framework to determine optimal maintenance and inspection plan for this type of system is proposed to improve system reliability and availability. The new criteria according to this field are proposed.Design/methodology/approachMaintenance of unmanned systems influences their readiness; also, according to the complexity of the system and different types of components, maintenance programming is a vital requirement. The plan should consider several criteria and disciplines; thus, multicriteria decision approaches may be useful. On another side, the reliability and safety of unmanned aircraft are the most important requirements in the design and operation phases. The authors consider these parameters and develop a framework based on risk-based maintenance to overcome the problems for unmanned systems. This framework consists of two stages: at the first stage, the critical components and failure modes are determined by FMEA, and in the second stage, the priority of maintenance tasks is determined by a fuzzy multicriteria weighted decision system. In this study, fourteen criteria with different levels of importance are developed and proposed to find the best plan for maintenance and inspection intervals. These criteria have been extracted from the literature review, the author's experience, and expert opinions.FindingsA novel framework for risk-based maintenance has been proposed. Risk determination and risk criteria are the most important factors in this framework. Risks are determined by FMEA, and new criteria are proposed that are used for decision-making. These criteria are proposed based on practical experience and experts' opinions for the maintenance process in the aeronautic industry. These are evaluated by industrial cases, and this framework capability has been demonstrated.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed framework and criteria for small unmanned aircraft have been developed based on a practical point of view and expert opinion. Thus for implementation in other aeronautic industries, the framework may need a minor modification.Practical implicationsTwo important subsystems of an unmanned aircraft have been studied, and the capabilities of this method have been presented.Originality/valueThis research is original work to determine a maintenance program for unmanned aircraft that their application has rapidly grown up. Practical and design parameters have been considered in this work.

Using Semicircular Sampling to Increase Sea-Wind Retrieval Altitude with a High-Altitude UAV Scatterometer

Currently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used due to their low cost and flexibility. In particular, they are used in remote sensing as airborne platforms for various instruments. Here, we investigate the capability of a conical scanning radar operated as a scatterometer mounted on a high-altitude UAV to perform sea surface wind retrieval based on an appropriate geophysical model function (GMF). Increasing the maximum altitude of the wind retrieval method’s applicability is an important problem for UAV or manned aircraft scatterometers. For this purpose, we consider the possibility of increasing the method’s maximum altitude by applying a semicircular scheme for azimuth normalized radar cross section (NRCS) sampling instead of a whole 360° circular scheme. We developed wind retrieval algorithms for both semicircular and circular NRCS sampling schemes and evaluated them using Monte Carlo simulations. The simulations showed that the semicircular scheme for azimuth NRCS sampling enables twice the maximum altitude for wind retrieval compared to a 360° circular scheme. At the same time, however, the semicircular scheme requires approximately three times the number of integrated NRCS samples in each azimuth sector to provide equivalent wind retrieval accuracy. Nonetheless, our results confirm that the semicircular azimuth NRCS sampling scheme is well-suited for wind retrieval, and any wind retrieval errors are within the typical range for scatterometer wind recovery. The obtained results can be used for enhancing existing UAV and aircraft radars, and for the development of new remote sensing systems.

Estimating Fractional Vegetation Cover Changes in Desert Regions Using RGB Data

Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is an important indicator of ecosystem changes. Both satellite remote sensing and ground measurements are common methods for estimating FVC. However, desert vegetation grows sparsely and scantly and spreads widely in desert regions, making it challenging to accurately estimate its vegetation cover using satellite data. In this study, we used RGB images from two periods: images from 2006 captured with a small, light manned aircraft with a resolution of 0.1 m and images from 2019 captured with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a resolution of 0.02 m. Three pixel-based machine learning algorithms, namely gradient enhancement decision tree (GBDT), k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and random forest (RF), were used to classify the main vegetation (woody and grass species) and calculate the coverage. An independent data set was used to evaluate the accuracy of the algorithms. Overall accuracies of GBDT, KNN and RF for 2006 image classification were 0.9140, 0.9190 and 0.9478, respectively, with RF achieving the best classification results. Overall accuracies of GBDT, KNN and RF for 2019 images were 0.8466, 0.8627 and 0.8569, respectively, with the KNN algorithm achieving the best results for vegetation cover classification. The vegetation coverage in the study area changed significantly from 2006 to 2019, with an increase in grass coverage from 15.47 ± 1.49% to 27.90 ± 2.79%. The results show that RGB images are suitable for mapping FVC. Determining the best spatial resolution for different vegetation features may make estimation of desert vegetation coverage more accurate. Vegetation cover changes are also important in terms of understanding the evolution of desert ecosystems.

Ecological Collaborative Interface for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Traffic Management and Tower Control

The forecasted increase in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) traffic in lower airspace raises concerns for maintaining the safety and efficiency of flight operations near towered airports. Regulatory bodies envision a collaborative interface between UAV traffic management and air traffic management to allow for coordinated operations of both systems. This study identifies the main challenges that such an environment poses for tower control. To address these challenges, an initial design for a collaborative tower control display is introduced. Remote human-in-the-loop simulations with professional air traffic controllers confirmed the usefulness of several interface elements (in particular, UAV priority and routing indications), as well as the utilization of a grid of geofences to dynamically segregate UAVs from manned aircraft. Surprisingly, the control strategy for geofence activation was similar to that of managing manned aircraft from a tower control perspective. Participants also mentioned that they would like more control over UAV traffic than initially expected. Performance could be improved by increasing predictability of UAV routing, adding conflict detection support as well as providing more authority over individual UAV locomotion supported by a tailored geofence structure. Further work is needed to investigate controller behavior in an environment that also requires control over manned traffic.

Validation of acoustic directivity patterns from static and dynamic flight measurements

Two methods have been proposed to measure the acoustic emissions for small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS): 1) dynamic flight through an outdoor microphone array, and 2) static test cell measurements. Both methods produce source directivity patterns for predicting levels where recordings had been made during dynamic flights. In autonomous flight the engine rotations-per-minute (RPM) are constantly adjusting to maintain the commanded aircraft airspeed and altitude. This violates the assumptions of stationality in acoustic emissions over a single pass that are inherent in the dynamic flight method, which results in greater uncertainty in the predictions of levels on the ground. The static method can capture the acoustic emissions as a function of the engine RPM, which can then be used to more accurately predict the levels on the ground for a single pass given actual engine telemetry data. These results suggest that the prediction of levels on the ground for a future flight will require characterization of the variability of engine RPM with the corresponding acoustic emission patterns. The static method can quickly capture the required data, while the dynamic method may require an increased number of flight passes than are typically required for characterizing a manned aircraft.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK OF COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVs) IN MALAYSIA

The development of agriculture in Malaysia is expanding from conventional methods to the latest technology of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The potential of the operation of UAVs in the agriculture sector in Malaysia has enforced the Civil Aviation Authority Malaysia (CAAM) by the power given in the Civil Aviation Act 1969, to come out with the first directive designed specifically for UAVs in agriculture. It contains the proper guidelines and safety procedures of the said operation. This article is aimed to analyse and examine the legal framework of the Civil Aviation Directive 6011 Part II (CAD 6011 Part (II) – UAS AGR) set by the CAAM in administering the operation of UAV agriculture. As a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Malaysia is obliged to develop its national regulations based on the Chicago convention and the International Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). This article will adopt the doctrinal research by referring to the current directive of CAAM, current laws, and regulations as enforced in Malaysia in administering the extensive operation of UAVs in agriculture. Further, this article is aimed to analyse safety, risk assessment, and liabilities vis-à-vis the UAV agriculture. In brief, the operation of UAVs in agriculture is a part of CAAM’s mission towards the integration of manned and unmanned aircraft into the navigable airspace in line with the mission of ICAO together for the sustainability of the economy and the efficiency of the industry to cope with the development of digital and technology.

Experimental strapdown inertial navigation system for the autonomous guidance system of a short-range uav

The task of experimental verification of the possibility of using a miniature strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) on micromechanical sensors for autonomous guidance of a short-range manned aircraft moving along a programmed hypothetical trajectory is considered.
 A mathematical model of the first approximation of the instrumental errors of the two-coordinate autonomous SINS of the aircraft with a short flight time was obtained. The mathematical model allows both to calculate the values of these errors for specific types of inertial sensors used in SINS (direct analysis problem), and to choose the types of accelerometers and gyroscopes based on ensuring the given accuracy of SINS (inverse synthesis problem). The requirements for permissible errors of accelerometers and gyroscopes of the SINS sensor unit have been determined.
 The design and manufacturing technology of an experimental SINS based on a triaxial micromechanical accelerometer and three uniaxial micromechanical gyroscopes are described.
 The technology of flight tests of the experimental SINS is considered. The test results of the experimental SINS of the aircraft, created in accordance with the requirements specified in the article, confirmed the correctness of the chosen approach to ensuring the accuracy of the SINS for the autonomous inertial guidance system of short-range aircraft.

Hierarchical Four-Dimensional Trajectories Planning Method for Manned and Unmanned Aircraft Integrated Airspace

A waypoint-based trajectory planning framework is proposed. The motivation is to allocate capacity-constrained airspace resources for pretactical safe separation in the manned and unmanned aircraft integrated airspace. First, the spatial-temporal related aircraft with high conflict risks are clustered to reduce the scale of the problem induced by increasing traffic volumes. A two-stage optimization is further implemented. In the first stage, trajectories within each group are sequentially planned in order determined by a priority ranking mechanism, where the relative conflict-critical aircraft takes more deconflicting responsibilities. A distributed decision-making architecture is developed to account for aircraft heterogeneity in the sequential deconflicting process. In the second stage, the high-quality solutions of different groups are coupled together to obtain the overall trajectory distribution under system-wide resource capacity constraints. Empirical studies using operational data in China show that the proposed method reduces 95% of conflicts with low cost and few aircraft disturbance, which demonstrate superiority in deconflicting effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, the distributed decision-making process ensures scalability and flexibility by allowing aircraft to determine the optimal trajectories based on their internal tradeoffs. Several major conclusions and future work are presented based on the current investigation.

Influence of UAS Flight Altitude and Speed on Aboveground Biomass Prediction

The management of low-density savannah and woodland forests for carbon storage presents a mechanism to offset the expense of ecologically informed forest management strategies. However, existing carbon monitoring systems draw on vast amounts of either field observations or aerial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) collections, making them financially prohibitive in low productivity systems where forest management focuses on promoting resilience to disturbance and multiple uses. This study evaluates how UAS altitude and flight speed influence area-based aboveground forest biomass model predictions. The imagery was acquired across a range of UAS altitudes and flight speeds that influence the efficiency of data collection. Data were processed using common structures from motion photogrammetry algorithms and then modeled using Random Forest. These results are compared to LiDAR observations collected from fixed-wing manned aircraft and modeled using the same routine. Results show a strong positive relationship between flight altitude and plot-based aboveground biomass modeling accuracy. UAS predictions increasingly outperformed (2–24% increased variance explained) commercial airborne LiDAR strategies as acquisition altitude increased from 80–120 m. The reduced cost of UAS data collection and processing and improved biomass modeling accuracy over airborne LiDAR approaches could make carbon monitoring viable in low productivity forest systems.

Drone LiDAR Application For 3D City Model

The availability of spatial information in 3D in a city that will apply the smart city concept is minimal or even non-existent. This makes the information conveyed less clear and less accurate. 3D map presentation is an indispensable component in the visualization of smart cities. The acquisition of spatial information in 3D can use several methods, one of which is the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) drone. The Drone LiDAR is one of the new technologies in mapping surveys. Initially, LiDAR technology used a manned aircraft and had very large dimensions. Technological developments have made LiDAR portable using drones. Data acquisition was carried out using a multirotor-type Drone LiDAR from microdrones with a flying height of 60 meters above the ground. An area of ​​6 hectares in the Bulaksumur UGM area is the object of research for the 3D city model building. The objects mapped would range from one-story to five-story buildings. The results of data acquisition in the form of a point cloud are then modeled into a 3D building with the micro station software plugin Terra Solid and Terra Model. Modeling is done using automatic and manual methods. The results obtained are in the form of a 3D city model with a LOD 2 level of detail. The amount of vegetation in the mapped area makes the point cloud detail on the front side of the building less dense. However, the accuracy obtained is quite high, ranging from 0,4 to 5,1 cm, making it suitable for making 3D city models with LOD 2 detailed specifications.

Evaluation of a Multi-Mode-Transceiver for Enhanced UAV Visibility and Connectivity in Mixed ATM/UTM Contexts

Visibility and communication are the essential pillars for safe flight operations in dense airspaces. Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) of the order of up to 25 kg are increasingly being used at airports as a cost-effective alternative for maintenance and calibration work. However, the joint operation of manned and unmanned aircraft in busy airspaces poses a major challenge. Due to the small diameter of such UAVs, the established principle of “see and avoid” is difficult or even impossible to implement, especially during take-off and landing. For this reason, a certified Mode A/C/S transponder supporting ADS-B was extended with an embedded system and a cellular interface to realize a Multi-Mode-Transceiver (MMT). Integrated into a UAV, the MMT can provide aircraft visibility in the context of traditional manned Air Traffic Management (ATM) and future UAS Traffic Management (UTM) at the same time. This multimodal communication approach was investigated in flight test campaigns with two commercially available UAS that were connected to an experimental UTM with a simulated controlled airspace. The results confirm the safety gain of the multimodal cooperative approach. Furthermore, the collaborative interface with ATC enables the digital transmission of transponder codes, entry clearances and emergency procedures without the need for a voice radio communication. However, the parallel operation of both radio technologies in a confined space requires modifications to the transmission power and alignment of the radio antennas to avoid mutual interference. Furthermore, different reference planes of barometric altitude measurement in manned and unmanned aviation pose additional challenges that need to be addressed.

Reuse-Based Agile Development Process for Drone Software Systems

Drones can perform air operations that are hard to be executed using manned aircrafts. The usage of drones in different domains brings significant environmental benefits and economic savings while decreasing risks to human life. Recently, a number of approaches have been introduced to support the development of drone software systems. However, developing customized drone software based on end-user needs is still a time consuming process. Such delay in software production does not match end-users expectations. Therefore, in the COMP4DRONES project (C4D, for short), we propose an agile-development process that is based on reuse to shorten the drone software development. In this process, based on the user requirements, a number of reusable components are selected from a repository that matches the user requirements. These components are then integrated to have a fully functioning drone system. This repository will be filled with reusable components that are being developed during the C4D project (i.e. the key enabling technologies for drones).

Near Midair Collision Analog for Drones Based on Unmitigated Collision Risk

The capability to avoid other air traffic is a fundamental component of the layered conflict management system to ensure safe and efficient operations. The evaluation of systems designed to mitigate the risk of midair collisions of manned aircraft is based on large-scale modeling and simulation efforts and a quantitative volume defined as a near midair collision. Six-degree-of-freedom rigid point mass simulations are routinely employed by standards developing organizations when designing these systems. Because midair collisions are difficult to observe in these simulations and are inherently rare events, basing evaluations on near midair collisions enables a more robust statistical analysis. However, a near midair collision and its underlying assumptions for assessing close encounters with manned aircraft do not adequately consider the different characteristics of smaller drone encounters. The primary contribution of this paper is a quantitative criterion to use when simulating two or more smaller drones in sufficiently close proximity that a midair collision might reasonably occur and without any mitigations to reduce the likelihood of a midair collision. The criteria assume a historically motivated upper bound for the collision likelihood. We also demonstrate that the near midair collision analogs can be used to support modeling and simulation activities.

Remote Sensing, Yield, Physical Characteristics, and Fruit Composition Variability in Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyards

Soil texture, topographical data, fruit zone light measurements, yield components, and fruit composition data were taken from 125 locations in each of four <i>Vitis vinifera</i> L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in the Lodi region of California during the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons. Data were compared against three sources of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with different spatial resolutions: Landsat 8 (LS8_NDVI; 30 m), Sentinel-2 (S2_NDVI; 10 m), and manned aircraft (at high resolution, HR) with the interrow removed (HR_NDVI; 20 cm). The manned aircraft also captured canopy temperature (CT) derived from infrared (thermal) wavelengths (HR_CT; 40 cm) for additional comparisons. HR_NDVI was inversely related to HR_CT, as well as to several chemical components of fruit composition including tannins and anthocyanins. While some constituents of fruit composition such as anthocyanins may be related to NDVI, canopy temperature, and/or indirect measurements collected in the field, results presented here suggest that yield and fruit composition have a strong seasonal response and therefore environmental conditions should be considered if more accurate predictions are desired. Furthermore, freely available public satellite data sources with mixed canopy and interrow pixels, such as Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8, provided similar information related to predicting specific fruit composition parameters compared to higher resolution imagery from contracted manned aircraft, from which the interrow signal was removed. Growers and wineries interested in predicting fruit composition that accounts for spatial variability may be able to conserve resources by using publicly available imagery sources and small numbers of targeted samples to achieve this goal.

Modeling and Experimental Validation of the Atomization Efficiency of a Rotary Atomizer for Aerial Spraying

Rotary atomizers are mainly used in agricultural manned aircrafts. Atomization characteristics at high speeds have been studied, but methods to measure the atomization efficiency have not been elucidated. The atomization efficiency of rotary atomizers under high-speed airflow was investigated using an IEA-I high-speed wind tunnel experimental installation, AU5000 rotary atomizer, and a laser diffraction particle size analyzer. Accordingly, a model equation for atomization efficiency measurements was innovatively obtained. When the flow rate, fan blade angle of the atomizer, and wind speed were used as variables, the experimental results showed that the atomization efficiency mainly depended on the fan blade angle. When the fan blade angle was 35°, the atomization efficiency was optimal, regardless of wind speed. In contrast, when the fan blade angle of the atomizer was 65°, it exhibited the worst atomization efficiency, regardless of the wind speed. The experimental data from this study can provide guidance for aerial application in fixed-wing manned aircraft, such as the flow rate, and operating speed.

Analysis of Canopy Gaps of Coastal Broadleaf Forest Plantations in Northeast Taiwan Using UAV Lidar and the Weibull Distribution

Canopy gaps are pivotal for monitoring forest ecosystem dynamics. Conventional field methods are time-consuming and labor intensive, making them impractical for regional mapping and systematic monitoring. Gaps may be delineated using airborne lidar or aerial photographs acquired from a manned aircraft. However, high cost in data acquisition and low flexibility in flight logistics significantly reduce the accessibility of the approaches. To address these issues, this study utilized miniature light detection and ranging (lidar) onboard an unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAVlidar) to map forest canopy gaps of young and mature broadleaf forest plantations along the coast of northeastern Taiwan. This study also used UAV photographs (UAVphoto) for the same task for comparison purposes. The canopy height models were derived from UAVlidar and UAVphoto with the availability of a digital terrain model from UAVlidar. Canopy gap distributions of the forests were modeled with the power-law zeta and Weibull distributions. The performance of UAVlidar was found to be superior to UAVphoto in delineating the gap distribution through ground observation, mainly due to lidar’s ability to detect small canopy gaps. There were apparent differences of the power-law zeta distributions for the young and mature forest stands with the exponents λ of 1.36 (1.45) and 1.71 (1.61) for UAVlidar and UAVphoto, respectively, suggesting that larger canopy gaps were present within the younger stands. The canopy layer of mature forest stands was homogeneous, and the size distributions of both sensors and methods were insensitive to the spatial extent of the monitored area. Contrarily, the young forests were heterogeneous, but only UAVlidar with the Weibull distribution responded to the change of spatial extent. This study demonstrates that using the Weibull distribution to analyze canopy gap from high-spatial resolution UAVlidar may provide detailed information of regional forest canopy of coastal broadleaf forests.

Path planning in unmanned aerial vehicles: An optimistic overview

SummaryWith the development in the technology, a rapid increase in the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is observed. UAVs are executing tasks that were previously performed by humans or manned aircraft, thus reducing the man workload and saving time. Path planning of UAVs is one of the most researched topics these days. Researchers are investigating more about UAVs and path planning to make it more feasible and economical. The major issue faced while planning a feasible path is to detect and avoid the obstacles encountered during a mission. This paper presents a detailed analysis of path planning in UAVs. Important aspects of path planning, that is, environment, dimensions, obstacles, and type and number of UAVs used in path planning, are also being discussed. Obstacle scenarios which UAV may come across during a mission and constraints which UAV has to follow for successful mission are briefly mentioned. Optimization techniques used to optimize the UAV path are also presented. In addition, future challenges and issues are also discussed.

An Adaptive Sensor Framework for Gyrocopter-Based Optical Remote Sensing: Introduction and Applications

Airborne remote sensing with optical sensor systems is an essential tool for a variety of environmental monitoring applications. Depending on the size of the area to be monitored, either unmanned (UAVs) or manned aircraft are more suitable. For survey areas starting at several square kilometers, piloted aircraft remain the preferred carrier platform. However, a specific class of manned aircraft is often not considered: the gyrocopter-type ultralight aircraft. These aircraft are less expensive to operate than conventional fixed wings. Additionally, they are highly maneuverable, offer a high payload and a long endurance, and thus perfectly fill the niche between UAVs and conventional aircraft. Therefore, the authors have developed a modular and easy-to-use sensor carrier system, the FlugKit, to temporarily convert an AutoGyro MTOsport gyrocopter into a full-fledged aerial remote sensing platform mainly for vegetation monitoring. Accordingly, various suitable optical sensor systems in the visible (VIS), near-infrared (NIR), and longwave infrared (LWIR) were explicitly developed for this carrier system. This report provides a deeper insight into the individual components of this remote sensing solution based on a gyrocopter as well as application scenarios already carried out with the system.