Unm anned Aerial System s: A Look Into UAS at ODOT Tim Burkholder, - - PDF document

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Ohio Department of Transportation

John R. Kasich, Governor Jerry Wray, Director

Unm anned Aerial System s: A Look Into UAS at ODOT

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Tim Burkholder, PS Mapping Manager Division of Engineering Office of CADD and Mapping Services Kyle Ince, EI Transportation Engineer Division of Engineering Office of CADD and Mapping Services 2

ODOT’s Current Position

A Look Into UAS at ODOT

Flight Operation Testing

Accuracy Assessment ODOT Business Policy Processing Workflow

Deliverables Several active COAs

LAW-52 and Deer Creek State Park

Section 333 Exemption Flying under Part 107

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ODOT’s Current Platform : SenseFly eBee RTK

A Look Into UAS at ODOT

Weight = 1.61 lb including camera Wingspan = 38 in. Material = EPP foam, carbon structure & composite parts Propulsion = Electric pusher propeller, 160 W brushless DC motor Battery = 11.1 V, 2150 mAh

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SenseFly eBee RTK

Hardware

Connects directly into the CORS RTK network for survey grade accuracy and real time corrections. (L1/ L2, GPS and GLONASS)

3 cm horizontal and 5 cm vertical accuracy without ground control pts.*

Canon WX (18.2 MP) auto-triggering camera 40 min. max flight time

During the duration of this presentation the eBee RTK can map a 4.5 square mile area (lowest resolution at the highest altitude)

More typical flight 50 acres (2.5 cm per pixel) in less than 10 minutes* *Perpendicular flight lines

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SenseFly eBee RTK

Software

eMotion

Flight Planning and Control Software

Postflight Terra 3D  Pix4D

Professional Photogrammetry Software

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Planning

Allows user to use 3D mission planning to plan the perfect flight.

Simulation

Puts the perfect flight plan to the test in 3D with the UAS safely on the ground.

Monitoring and Control

Using the same interface the operator can control and monitor the UAS in flight

eMotion

Flight Pla nning a nd Control Softw a re

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Postflight Terra 3D

Check in the Field

Provides a quick quality report in the field to insure proper coverage and accuracy

Generate Orthos, 3D m odels & Point Clouds

Creates deliverables directly into the remote sensing workflow. (.las and georeferenced tiff images)

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Rem ote Sensing Deliverables

A Look Into UAS at ODOT

Orthomosiac Raster 3D Point Cloud in .las format DSM in a geoTIFF 3D Textured Mesh Contours Imagery in .tif format

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ODOT Best Practices and Workflow

Planning Simulation Site Preparation Flight Operations Processing and Deliverables A Look Into UAS at ODOT 10

Planning

Site Reconnaissance

Obstacles

Trees Utilities Airports

Safe Zones Primary and Alternate Landing Sites Access Control

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Sim ulation

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Site Preparation

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Ground Truth Day of Flight Conditions

Obstacles Weather Site Access

Internet Connection Line of Sight

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Flight Operations

Pre-flight checks

Airframe Condition

Wings, Propeller, Pitot Tube, Ground Proximity Sensor, Batteries, Camera, etc.

Crew Briefing on Operations Flight Plan Upload

Check parameters, set landing point, etc.

Document Operations and variables

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Flight

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Post Flight

PAPERWORK!!!!!

Flight, Resolution Altitude, Battery Voltage Flight Time, Wind

Data check

Overlap Sidelap Photo Quality

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Data Downloading and Processing

Downloading

Flight Data Logs

Command module (computer) UAS on-board log

Images

Meta Data Infusing

Geo-tagging Images Writing header information

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Structure from Motion

Structure from Motion is a photogram m etric technique used to estim ate 3D structures with 2D photos.

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Structure from Motion

Sim ilar to how stereo vision works

3D LiDAR and Imagery

A Look Into UAS at ODOT Camera Captures Overlapping Images while in Motion Software Identifies and Matches Thousands of Keypoints Photogrammetry Extracts Geometry to Calculate Pixel Positioning

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Final Processing

Software Packages

PostFlight Terra 3D, Pix4D, Agisoft, and Context Capture

Inputs

Control (Ground Truth) Geotagged Images

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Ground Control

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Deliverable Creation

Point cloud

Exported in multiple formats

Example .las

Orthophoto

Exported in google tiles and geotiff

Textured Mesh

Meshed surface with the orthophoto referenced

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Deliverable Creation Continued

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Orthophoto

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Deer Creek Test

Outlined area was tested against our m anned aircraft & topographic surveying using a total station.

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Deer Creek Test

Flight @ 353.5 AGL 60 % Lateral & 75% Longitudinal Overlap

A Look Into UAS at ODOT

Flight @ 235.4 AGL 60 % Lateral & 75% Longitudinal Overlap

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Deer Creek Test

A Look Into UAS at ODOT

Flight @ 353.5 AGL 60 % Lateral & 75% Longitudinal Overlap Com bined Flights @ 353.5 and 235.4

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Pros vs. Cons

Pros

Affordability

Compared to conventional data collection

Accessibility (except over live traffic) Safety

Removes human interaction from dangerous situations

Field to finish capabilities

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Pros vs. Cons

Cons

Accuracy

Determining viability

Inability to traverse live traffic Specialized training Liability Issues Black-Box type Software Enormous amounts of data

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Lim itations with Photography

Inability to triangulate key points across water

Photogrammetric problem

Structure from Motion without the m otion

Objects can’t move within photos

Example vegetation

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Cam era Variables

When choosing a cam era:

Megapixels are not the most important part Fixed Focal Length*** Stable photography

Fast exposure times with less image blur Metric lens

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Platform s

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Sensors

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eBee Plus

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ODOT Moving Forward

Reviewing FAA guidelines to evaluate ODOT safety and policy needs that will need to be required above FAA regulations (i.e. may require additional observers, liability insurance, develop additional privacy policies, public notifications, etc.) Once all specifications and policies are in place, will develop prequalification process for contractors and consultants Will evaluate program expansion to DOT District Survey Offices

As well as expansion to other business areas within ODOT

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Hurdles with the Start of a UAS Program

Waviers and Regulations Rogue Operators

Over 583 UAS sightings reported by pilots in the last 6 months

Latest Report by the FAA Aug-2015  Jan-2016

Halted firefighting operations in California wildfires

Preparing the Proper Workflow and Safety Plan Deciding and Evaluating a Platform

Sensors and Airframe

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Ohio Contacts/ Inform ation for UAS

Indiana/ Ohio UAS Center and Test Com plex:

http:/ / www.dot.state.oh.us/ Divisions/ uas/ Pages/ default.aspx

Ohio Departm ent of Transportation:

http:/ / www.dot.state.oh.us/ Divisions/ Engineering/ CaddMapping/ Survey/ Page s/ UnmannedAerialVehicles.aspx

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Questions?

Tim Burkholder, P.S.

Mapping Manager Tim othy.Burkholder@dot.ohio.gov

Kyle Ince, EI

Transportation Engineer Kyle.Ince@dot.ohio.gov

A Look Into UAS at ODOT