We all know that when natural disasters occur, it has a devastating impact on the communities that it affects. One of the major natural disasters that I will like to discuss about is wild fire and we know we could reduce the damage it causes if we can put it out on time, the only problem is locating when and where it starts from and that is why the fire departments now make use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) to monitor places that are prone to wild fire.
In other to improve the fire department ability to monitor the wild fire, improvement to some elements of the UAS is required. Some of these elements are the command and control, the payload and the Data link and improvements will be discussed below.
First and foremost the command and control should be capable of manual and autonomous operation. It should also be able to communicate with various ground and air support in the area. The most important one is the command and control should be able to provide processed data that are needed in a timely manner (Howard, 2013)
Secondly, the payload shall have a daylight digital camera that is capable of color daytime video from up to 500 feet above ground level. The payload shall also have infrared thermal image camera capable of infrared video.
Finally, the Data link should have sufficient amount of spectrum in the L-Band to support video application as well as been able to cover a long range (Jain & Templin, n.d).
References:
Jain R& Templin (n.d). Wireless Datalink for Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Requirements, Challenges and Design Ideas
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.232.9261
Howard, C (2013, July 11) UAV Command, Control & Communication
http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/print/volume-24/issue-7/special-report/uav-command-control-communications.html
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Sunday, February 21, 2016
UAS Crop Monitoring Mission
The use of drone for crop surveillance can drastically increase crop yields while minimizing the cost of walking the fields or airplane flying over filming and burning considerable amount of fuel (Precision Drones, n.d). It also helps to inspect the farm for insects and pests that might cause damage to the crops.
Even though some farmers have started using UAS for precision Agriculture today, there are still some concerns associated with the use of a UAS for this mission. Some of these issues will be discussed below:
First and foremost, there is lack of well trained UAS operator to fly this system. We might say why do we need a well trained operator for the mission but without a trained operator, important information that would be needed might be missed when the UAS is operated by an untrained operator. There is also the possibility that the UAS could crash which could lead to thousands of dollars repairing or even replacing it.
Secondly, there is the issue of lack of qualified technician who could work on the UAS when it has a problem. Most farmers might decide to send the UAS back to the manufacturer for repair and could take a long time before they could get it back, which during this period, there will be no way of monitoring the growth of the crops.
Finally, there is the legal issue where UAS users are restricted from flying over someone else property because most individuals might think the UAS user is interfering in their private lives, this might not be the case but if a property owner has a problem with a UAS hovering over his or her yard, there is really nothing the UAS owner can do other than to find another flight path and this might affect the productivity of the UAS (Wilde Beuger Solmecke, 2014).
References:
Even though some farmers have started using UAS for precision Agriculture today, there are still some concerns associated with the use of a UAS for this mission. Some of these issues will be discussed below:
First and foremost, there is lack of well trained UAS operator to fly this system. We might say why do we need a well trained operator for the mission but without a trained operator, important information that would be needed might be missed when the UAS is operated by an untrained operator. There is also the possibility that the UAS could crash which could lead to thousands of dollars repairing or even replacing it.
Secondly, there is the issue of lack of qualified technician who could work on the UAS when it has a problem. Most farmers might decide to send the UAS back to the manufacturer for repair and could take a long time before they could get it back, which during this period, there will be no way of monitoring the growth of the crops.
Finally, there is the legal issue where UAS users are restricted from flying over someone else property because most individuals might think the UAS user is interfering in their private lives, this might not be the case but if a property owner has a problem with a UAS hovering over his or her yard, there is really nothing the UAS owner can do other than to find another flight path and this might affect the productivity of the UAS (Wilde Beuger Solmecke, 2014).
References:
Precision Drone(n.d). Drones For Agricultural Crop Surveillance. Retrieved February 21,
2016 from http://www.precisiondrone.com/drones-for-agriculture.html
Wilde Beuger Solmecke (2014, February 18). Civilian drones and the legal issues
surrounding their use. Retrieved February 21, 2016 from https://www.wbs-law.de/internetrecht/civilian-drones-legal-issues-surrounding-use-50459/
Sunday, February 7, 2016
UAS in the NAS
Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) has come a long way from when it was first developed in the early 1900. Early UAS received little attention from the Federal Aviation Administration due to their numbers and also their infrequency of operation, but recently numbers of UAS in our National Airspace System have increased dramatically with their uses also increased from when it was used strictly for war and surveillance to now where it is used for fire fighting, crop monitoring,ground mapping to name a few, highlighting the need for a structured approach for safe and efficient integration (Federal Aviation Administration, 2013).
In order to create a safe NAS for all types of aircraft, the FAA has created some rules before a UAS could be operated, some of the rules are all UAS should be able to comply with Air Traffic Control (ATC) instructions, clearances and receiving air traffic services. Also all UAS must file and fly an IFR flight (Federal Aviation Administration, 2013).
With all this safety issue been addressed by the FAA, it has actually made the NAS safer for the manned aircraft that have crews and passengers on board. There is still a lot to be done to improve the operation of a UAS in the NAS, one of the improvement is the incorporation of the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) into the UAS (Wilson, 2007). This is presently in work and should be installed in most UAS in the nearest future.
Reference:
Federal Aviation Administration. (2013, November 7). Integration of Civil Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) Roadmap http://www.faa.gov/uas/media/uas_roadmap_2013.pdf
Wilson, J.R. (2007, January 1). Manned and unmanned aircraft to share controlled and commercialairspace http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/print/volume-18/issue-1/features/manned-and-unmanned-aircraft-to-share-controlled-and-commercial-airspace.html
In order to create a safe NAS for all types of aircraft, the FAA has created some rules before a UAS could be operated, some of the rules are all UAS should be able to comply with Air Traffic Control (ATC) instructions, clearances and receiving air traffic services. Also all UAS must file and fly an IFR flight (Federal Aviation Administration, 2013).
With all this safety issue been addressed by the FAA, it has actually made the NAS safer for the manned aircraft that have crews and passengers on board. There is still a lot to be done to improve the operation of a UAS in the NAS, one of the improvement is the incorporation of the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) into the UAS (Wilson, 2007). This is presently in work and should be installed in most UAS in the nearest future.
Reference:
Federal Aviation Administration. (2013, November 7). Integration of Civil Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) Roadmap http://www.faa.gov/uas/media/uas_roadmap_2013.pdf
Wilson, J.R. (2007, January 1). Manned and unmanned aircraft to share controlled and commercialairspace http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/print/volume-18/issue-1/features/manned-and-unmanned-aircraft-to-share-controlled-and-commercial-airspace.html
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