Volumetric measurement of river bank erosion from sequential historical aerial photography

Science.gov (United States)

Spiekermann, Raphael; Betts, Harley; Dymond, John; Basher, Les

2017-11-01

Understanding of the relative contribution of bank erosion to sediment budgets in New Zealand is limited. Few measurements of bank erosion rates exist, and this is a major limitation to the development of a locally calibrated model of bank erosion. The New Zealand sediment budget model, SedNetNZ, predicts bank erosion based on preliminary data, and this study aims to underpin the development of an improved model for bank erosion. Photogrammetric techniques and LiDAR were used to collect data on bank erosion rates for five different river reaches, ranging from 3 to 14 km in length, in the Kaipara Catchment, Northland, New Zealand. Changing river channel planform between the 1950s and 2015 was assessed using four to five well-spaced dates of historical aerial photographs. Changes in planform were combined with bank height, to calculate erosion and accretion volumes which were compared with SedNetNZ modelled estimates. Erosion and accretion is relatively evenly balanced in the study sites. The largest difference in terms of relative proportions of erosion and accretion are found along the Tangowahine River (13.4 km reach length), where 492,000 m3 of sediment eroded between 1956 and 2015 compared to 364,000 m3 of accretion. Lateral migration rates (erosion) for the five river reaches range between 0.14 m yr- 1 and 0.21 m yr- 1 and are comparable with those measured by previous assessments in New Zealand. The migration rates in channel widths per year for the three larger rivers (stream order 5-6) range between 0.4% and 0.8% of channel width per year. In contrast, the smaller streams (stream order 3-4) are retreating more rapidly, with width-averaged rates of 1.7% and 3.0%. Current SedNetNZ modelling tends to underestimate the bank height and greatly overestimates the migration rate.

Aerial radiological surveys of Steed Pond, Savannah River Site: Dates of surveys, 1984--1989

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fritzsche, A.E.; Jobst, J.E.

1993-09-01

From June 1984 to August 1985, three aerial radiological surveys were conducted over Steed Pond at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. In addition, Steed Pond was included in larger-area surveys of the Savannah River Site in subsequent years. The surveys were conducted by the Remote Sensing Laboratory of EG ampersand G Energy Measurements, Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada, for the US Department of Energy. Airborne measurements were obtained for both natural and man-made gamma radiation over Steed Pond and surrounding areas. The first survey was conducted when the pond was filled to normal capacity for the time of the year. On September 1, 1984, the Steed Pond dam spillway failed causing the pond to drain. The four subsequent surveys were conducted with the pond drained. The second survey and the third were conducted to study silt deposits exposed by the drop in water level after the spillway's opening. Steed Pond data from the February 1987 and April 1989 Savannah River Site surveys have been included to bring this study up to date

An aerial radiological survey of the Savannah River Site TNX facility and surrounding area, Aiken, South Carolina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-06-01

An aerial radiological survey was conducted over a 3.8-square-kilometer (1.5-square-mile) area, centered on the Savannah River Site (SRS) TNX facility. The survey was flown on July 25, 1986, prior to the Steel Creek Corridor survey. Radiological measurements were used to determine the extent of man-made radionuclides in the TNX area. This survey area had been covered during previous site surveys of the Savannah River Floodplain. Higher than typical levels of thorium-232 daughters were detected in the survey area just west of the TNX facility. The natural terrestrial radiation levels were consistent with those measured during prior surveys of this and other SRS areas. 5 refs., 12 figs., 2 tabs

Remote Sensing of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in a Shallow Non-Turbid River Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyle F. Flynn

2014-12-01

Full Text Available A passive method for remote sensing of the nuisance green algae Cladophora glomerata in rivers is presented using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. Included are methods for UAV operation, lens distortion correction, image georeferencing, and spectral analysis to support algal cover mapping. Eighteen aerial photography missions were conducted over the summer of 2013 using an off-the-shelf UAV and three-band, wide-angle, red, green, and blue (RGB digital camera sensor. Images were post-processed, mosaicked, and georeferenced so automated classification and mapping could be completed. An adaptive cosine estimator (ACE and spectral angle mapper (SAM algorithm were used to complete the algal identification. Digital analysis of optical imagery correctly identified filamentous algae and background coverage 90% and 92% of the time, and tau coefficients were 0.82 and 0.84 for ACE and SAM, respectively. Thereafter, algal cover was characterized for a one-kilometer channel segment during each of the 18 UAV flights. Percent cover ranged from <5% to >50%, and increased immediately after vernal freshet, peaked in midsummer, and declined in the fall. Results indicate that optical remote sensing with UAV holds promise for completing spatially precise, and multi-temporal measurements of algae or submerged aquatic vegetation in shallow rivers with low turbidity and good optical transmission.

Aerial radiological survey of the area surrounding the UNC Recovery Systems Facility, Wood River Junction, Rhode Island. Date of survey: August 1979

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-12-01

An aerial radiological survey to measure terrestrial gamma radiation was carried out over the UNC Recovery Systems facility located near Wood River Junction, Rhode Island. At the time of the survey (August 1979) materials were being processed at the facility. Gamma ray data were collected over a 3.63 km 2 area centered on the facility by flying north-south lines spaced 60 m apart. Processed data indicated that detected radioisotopes and their associated gamma ray exposure rates were consistent with those expected from normal background emitters, except at certain locations described in this report. Average exposure rates 1 m above the ground, as calculated from the aerial data, are presented in the form of an isopleth map. No ground sample data were taken at the time of the aerial survey

Measuring water level in rivers and lakes from lightweight Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bandini, Filippo; Jakobsen, Jakob; Olesen, Daniel Haugård

2017-01-01

The assessment of hydrologic dynamics in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands requires measurements of water level, its temporal and spatial derivatives, and the extent and dynamics of open water surfaces. Motivated by the declining number of ground-based measurement stations, research efforts...... complex water dynamics. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can fill the gap between spaceborne and ground-based observations, and provide high spatial resolution and dense temporal coverage data, in quick turn-around time, using flexible payload design. This study focused on categorizing and testing sensors......, which comply with the weight constraint of small UAVs (around 1.5 kg), capable of measuring the range to water surface. Subtracting the measured range from the vertical position retrieved by the onboard Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, we can determine the water level (orthometric...

Application and utility of a low-cost unmanned aerial system to manage and conserve aquatic resources in four Texas rivers

Science.gov (United States)

Birdsong, Timothy W.; Bean, Megan; Grabowski, Timothy B.; Hardy, Thomas B.; Heard, Thomas; Holdstock, Derrick; Kollaus, Kristy; Magnelia, Stephan J.; Tolman, Kristina

2015-01-01

Low-cost unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have recently gained increasing attention in natural resources management due to their versatility and demonstrated utility in collection of high-resolution, temporally-specific geospatial data. This study applied low-cost UAS to support the geospatial data needs of aquatic resources management projects in four Texas rivers. Specifically, a UAS was used to (1) map invasive salt cedar (multiple species in the genus Tamarix) that have degraded instream habitat conditions in the Pease River, (2) map instream meso-habitats and structural habitat features (e.g., boulders, woody debris) in the South Llano River as a baseline prior to watershed-scale habitat improvements, (3) map enduring pools in the Blanco River during drought conditions to guide smallmouth bass removal efforts, and (4) quantify river use by anglers in the Guadalupe River. These four case studies represent an initial step toward assessing the full range of UAS applications in aquatic resources management, including their ability to offer potential cost savings, time efficiencies, and higher quality data over traditional survey methods.

An aerial radiological survey of the Savannah River Site and surrounding area, Aiken, South Carolina, October--November 1991

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vojtech, R.J.

1993-12-01

An aerial radiological survey was conducted during the period of October 14 to November 23, 1991, over an area surrounding the United States Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS). The area is situated 15 kilometers south of Aiken, South Carolina. The purpose of the survey was to measure and document the gamma ray environment of the SRS and surrounding areas. Contour maps showing gamma radiation exposure rates at 1 meter above ground level were constructed from the aerial data and overlaid on a United States Geological Survey map of the area. The exposure rates measured within the survey region are generally uniform and typical of natural background. The reported exposure rate values include an estimated cosmic ray contribution. Enhanced exposure rates not attributable to natural background were measured over several areas within the survey region. The manmade radionuclides detected in these areas, cesium-137, cobalt-60, and protactinium-234m, were produced by the reactor operations and material processing conducted at the SRS. The radiation levels produced by these nuclides are consistent with those levels measured during previous SRS aerial surveys. Radionuclide assays of soil samples and pressurized ion chamber measurements were obtained at four locations within the survey boundaries

An aerial radiological survey of the Central Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feimster, E.L.

1991-09-01

An aerial radiological survey was conducted over a 194-square- kilometer (75-square-mile) area encompassing the central portion of the Savannah River Site (SRS). The survey was flown during February 10--27, 1987. These radiological measurements were used as baseline data for the central area and for determining the extent of man-made radionuclide distribution. Previous SRS surveys included small portions of the area; the 1987 survey was covered during the site- wide survey conducted in 1979. Man-made radionuclides (including cobalt-60, cesium-137, protactinium-234m, and elevated levels of uranium-238 progeny) that were detected during the survey were typical of those produced by the reactor operations and material processing activities being conducted in the area. The natural terrestrial radiation levels were consistent with those measured during prior surveys of other SRS areas. 1 refs., 4 figs

Extrapolating the Trends of Test Drop Data with Opening Shock Factor Calculations: the Case of the Orion Main and Drogue Parachutes Inflating to 1st Reefed Stage

Science.gov (United States)

Potvin, Jean; Ray, Eric

2017-01-01

We describe a new calculation of the opening shock factor C (sub k) characterizing the inflation performance of NASA's Orion spacecraft main and drogue parachutes opening under a reefing constraint (1st stage reefing), as currently tested in the Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) program. This calculation is based on an application of the Momentum-Impulse Theorem at low mass ratio (R (sub m) is less than 10 (sup -1)) and on an earlier analysis of the opening performance of drogues decelerating point masses and inflating along horizontal trajectories. Herein we extend the reach of the Theorem to include the effects of payload drag and gravitational impulse during near-vertical motion - both important pre-requisites for CPAS parachute analysis. The result is a family of C (sub k) versus R (sub m) curves which can be used for extrapolating beyond the drop-tested envelope. The paper proves this claim in the case of the CPAS Mains and Drogues opening while trailing either a Parachute Compartment Drop Test Vehicle or a Parachute Test Vehicle (an Orion capsule boiler plate). It is seen that in all cases the values of the opening shock factor can be extrapolated over a range in mass ratio that is at least twice that of the test drop data.

An aerial radiological survey of L Lake and Steel Creek, Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feimster, E.L.

1992-11-01

An aerial radiological survey was conducted over a portion of the Savannah River Site along the Steel Creek Corridor during the period of July 16--31, 1986. Similar surveys of this area were performed in 1974, 1979, 1982, 1983, and 1985. This survey was flown with the same survey parameters and coverage as the 1985 survey to obtain measurements of both natural and man-made gamma radiation. These radiological measurements were used to determine if there had been any changes in concentration, spatial distribution, or estimated equivalent annual dose (mrem/yr) of the natural terrestrial background or man-made contaminants detected during the 1985 survey and earlier. The 1986 data are presented as isodose rate contour maps with overlays of corresponding 1985 survey data

An aerial radiological survey of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant and surrounding area, Forked River, New Jersey. Date of survey: September 18--25, 1992

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hopkins, H.A.; McCall, K.A.

1994-05-01

An aerial radiological survey was conducted over the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant in Forked River, New Jersey, during the period September 18 through September 24, 1992. The survey was conducted at an altitude of 150 feet (46 meters) over a 26-square-mile (67-square-kilometer) area centered on the power station. The purpose of the survey was to document the terrestrial gamma radiation environment of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power plant and surrounding area. The results of the aerial survey are reported as inferred gamma radiation exposure rates at 1 meter above ground level in the form of a contour map. Outside the plant boundary, exposure rates were found to vary between 4 and 10 microroentgens per hour and were attributed to naturally-occurring uranium, thorium, and radioactive potassium gamma emitters. The aerial data were compared to ground-based benchmark exposure rate measurements and radionuclide assays of soil samples obtained within the survey boundary. The ground-based measurements were found to be in good agreement with those inferred from the aerial measuring system. A previous survey of the power plant was conducted in August 1969 during its initial startup phase. Exposure rates and radioactive isotopes revealed in both surveys were consistent and within normal terrestrial background levels

Quantifying the morphodynamics of river restoration schemes using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Richard; Byrne, Patrick; Gilles, Eric; Hart, John; Hoey, Trevor; Maniatis, George; Moir, Hamish; Reid, Helen; Ves, Nikolas

2017-04-01

River restoration schemes are particularly sensitive to morphological adjustment during the first set of high-flow events that they are subjected to. Quantifying elevation change associated with morphological adjustment can contribute to improved adaptive decision making to ensure river restoration scheme objectives are achieved. To date the relatively high cost, technical demands and challenging logistics associated with acquiring repeat, high-resolution topographic surveys has resulted in a significant barrier to monitoring the three-dimensional morphodynamics of river restoration schemes. The availability of low-cost, consumer grade Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that are capable of acquiring imagery for processing using Structure-from-Motion Multi-View Stereo (SfM MVS) photogrammetry has the potential to transform the survey the morphodynamics of river restoration schemes. Application guidance does, however, need to be developed to fully exploit the advances of UAV technology and SfM MVS processing techniques. In particular, there is a need to quantify the effect of the number and spatial distribution of ground targets on vertical error. This is particularly significant because vertical errors propagate when mapping morphological change, and thus determine the evidence that is available for decision making. This presentation presents results from a study that investigated how the number and spatial distribution of targets influenced vertical error, and then used the findings to determine survey protocols for a monitoring campaign that has quantified morphological change across a number of restoration schemes. At the Swindale river restoration scheme, Cumbria, England, 31 targets were distributed across a 700 m long reach and the centre of each target was surveyed using RTK-GPS. Using the targets as General Control Points (GCPs) or checkpoints, they were divided into three different spatial patterns (centre, edge and random) and used for processing images acquired

Aerial Refueling Clearance Process Guide

Science.gov (United States)

2014-08-21

using multinational/bi-lateral agreements such as the ATARES Agreement, cross servicing agreements, replacement in kind agreements, Foreign Military...Lighting 8.7.8 External Paint Scheme 8.8 External Weapons/Drop Tanks 9.0 Physical /Aerodynamic Influences 9.1 Boom Clear Path To Receptacle dhkARSAG DOC...Cold Nose Sw. 8.5 External Fuel Tanks 9.0 Physical /Aerodynamic Influence R. 9.1 Probe Clear Path ie: Obstructions, Instruments etc. 9.2 Drogue Hookup

Morphological change on the River Towy, Wales assessed using aerial photogrammetry

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Joshua; Hodge, Michael

2017-04-01

The dynamic nature of meandering channels has fascinated geomorphologists for decades; with the onset of remote sensing, and technological advances in field equipment, scientists are able to capture high-resolution data from the Earth's surface using cost-effective techniques that require minimal manual labour. Here we present a morphological assessment of three meander bends on the River Towy, Wales, using aerial photography captured by the Welsh Assembly Government and supplemented by data captured by a UAV. Migration rates and changes in channel length were measured between 1969 and 2016 and compared to a coupled discharge record to quantify the effects of discharge variability on the morphological evolution of the channel. A short-term (seasonal) assessment of channel change was conducted by comparing sub-metre resolution 3D point cloud and digital elevation models, generated using a UAV and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry. Our results suggest that discharge variability plays a crucial role in controlling the evolution of meandering planforms and can be an effective means of excavating floodplain material over relatively short timescales, although erosion rates can be suppressed by bankline roughness, which effectively disrupts outwardly directed flow momentum. These findings have implications for land managers and those modelling the effects of climate change on hydrological regimes which are ultimately used to forecast channel planform changes. Additionally, our results demonstrate the potential of low-cost field surveying techniques in producing high resolution models of landscape change.

Aerial radiological survey of the Savannah River Plant and surrounding area, Aiken, South Carolina. Date of survey: June 1979

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyns, P.K.; Smith, D.B.

1982-07-01

An aerial radiological survey of the Savannah River Plant (SRP) was conducted during June 1979 by EG and G Energy Measurements Group for the United States Department of Energy (DOE). The survey consisted of an airborne measurement of both natural and man-made gamma radiation from the terrain surface in and around the plant site. These measurements allowed a determination of the surface terrestrial spatial distribution of isotopic concentrations and equivalent gamma ray exposure rates from 60 Co and 137 Cs contaminants. The results are reported as exposure rate isopleths for the two isotopes and are superimposed on 1:48,000 scale maps of the area. Gamma ray energy spectra are also presented for the net man-made radioelements. This was the second survey of the entire Savannah River Plant site. The first survey was conducted in June 1974. A comparison of the surveys indicates a decrease in the exposure rates due to man-made isotopes. All areas of man-made activity were in the same location as indicated by the results of the first survey. It appears that no detectable new man-made activity has been released in the survey area since the 1974 survey

Measuring the Erosion of River Channel Widths Impacted by Watershed Urbanization Using Historic Aerial Photographs and Modern Surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Galster, J. C.; Pazzaglia, F. J.; Germanoski, D.

2007-12-01

Land use in a watershed exerts a strong influence on trunk channel form and process. Land use changes act over human time scales which is short enough to measure their effects directly using historic aerial photographs. We show that high-resolution topographic surveys comparing channel form for paired watersheds in the Lehigh Valley, PA are indistinguishable, but have channel widths that have changed dramatically in the past five decades. The two watersheds, Little Lehigh Creek and Sacony Creek, are similar in all respects except they have different amount of urban land use. Aerial photographs of the urbanized Little Lehigh Creek show that a majority of the measured widths (67 of 85) were statistically wider in 1999 than in 1947. In contrast, the measured widths from the agricultural Sacony Creek are more evenly distributed among those that widened (18), narrowed (28), and those that were statistically unchanged (6) from 1946 to 1999. From 1946 to 1999 the only section of Sacony creek that widened was that reach downstream of the only sizable urban area in the watershed. The current land use in Sacony Creek watershed resembles that of 1946, while the Little Lehigh Creek watershed has more than tripled its urban area. These data suggest that the increase in urban areas that subsequently increases peak discharges is the mechanism behind the widening that occurred in the Little Lehigh Creek. These wider channels can affect water quality, aquatic habitat, suspended sediment loads, and river aesthetics.

Application of UAV-SfM photogrammetry and aerial LiDAR to a disastrous flood: multitemporal topographic measurement of a newly formed crevasse splay of the Kinu River, central Japan

OpenAIRE

Izumida, Atsuto; Uchiyama, Shoichiro; Sugai, Toshihiko

2017-01-01

Geomorphic impacts of a disastrous crevasse splay that formed in September 2015 and its post-formation modifications were quantitatively documented by using multitemporal, high-definition digital surface models (DSMs) of an inhabited and cultivated floodplain of the Kinu River, central Japan. The DSMs used were based on pre-flood (resolution, 2 m) and post-flood (resolution, 1 m) aerial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data from January 2007 and September 2015, respectively, ...

Estimating Discharge in Low-Order Rivers With High-Resolution Aerial Imagery

OpenAIRE

King, Tyler V.; Neilson, Bethany T.; Rasmussen, Mitchell T.

2018-01-01

Remote sensing of river discharge promises to augment in situ gauging stations, but the majority of research in this field focuses on large rivers (>50 m wide). We present a method for estimating volumetric river discharge in low-order (wide) rivers from remotely sensed data by coupling high-resolution imagery with one-dimensional hydraulic modeling at so-called virtual gauging stations. These locations were identified as locations where the river contracted under low flows, exposing a substa...

Remote sensing of wetlands at the Savannah River Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christensen, E.J.; Jensen, J.R.; Sharitz, R.R.

1985-01-01

The Savannah River Plant (SRP) occupies about 300 sq mi along a 10-mile stretch of the Savannah River. Large areas of wetlands cover the site, especially along tributary stream floodplains and the Savannah River. Some of these areas have been altered by cooling water discharges from nuclear production reactors onsite. To assess the effects of current and future plant operations on SRP and regional wetlands, an accurate quantitative survey was needed. Several studies were initiated to provide wetland acreage and distribution information: regional wetland inventories were provided from an analysis of LANDSAT multispectral scanner (MSS) satellite data. Wetlands were mapped throughout the entire Savannah River watershed and in the Savannah River floodplain. SRP wetlands were identified using a combination of LANDSAT MSS and Thematic Mapper satellite data and aerial photography. Wetlands in the SRP Savannah River swamp and thermally affected areas were mapped using high resolution MSS data collected from a low-flying aircraft. Vegetation communities in areas receiving cooling water discharges were then compared to surface temperatures measured from the airborne scanner at the same time to evaluate plant temperature tolerance. Historic changes to SRP wetlands from cooling water discharges were tabulated using aerial photography

Application of UAV-SfM photogrammetry and aerial lidar to a disastrous flood: repeated topographic measurement of a newly formed crevasse splay of the Kinu River, central Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Izumida, Atsuto; Uchiyama, Shoichiro; Sugai, Toshihiko

2017-09-01

Geomorphic impacts of a disastrous crevasse splay that formed in September 2015 and its post-formation modifications were quantitatively documented by using repeated, high-definition digital surface models (DSMs) of an inhabited and cultivated floodplain of the Kinu River, central Japan. The DSMs were based on pre-flood (resolution: 2 m) and post-flood (resolution: 1 m) aerial light detection and ranging (lidar) data from January 2007 and September 2015, respectively, and on structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry data (resolution: 3.84 cm) derived from aerial photos taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in December 2015. After elimination of systematic errors among the DSMs and down-sampling of the SfM-derived DSM, elevation changes on the order of 10-1 m - including not only topography but also growth of vegetation, vanishing of flood waters, and restoration and repair works - were detected. Comparison of the DSMs showed that the volume eroded by the flood was more than twice the deposited volume in the area within 300-500 m of the breached artificial levee, where the topography was significantly affected. The results suggest that DSMs based on a combination of UAV-SfM and lidar data can be used to quantify, rapidly and in rich detail, topographic changes on floodplains caused by floods.

Sediment Sampling in Estuarine Mudflats with an Aerial-Ground Robotic Team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Deusdado

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a robotic team suited for bottom sediment sampling and retrieval in mudflats, targeting environmental monitoring tasks. The robotic team encompasses a four-wheel-steering ground vehicle, equipped with a drilling tool designed to be able to retain wet soil, and a multi-rotor aerial vehicle for dynamic aerial imagery acquisition. On-demand aerial imagery, properly fused on an aerial mosaic, is used by remote human operators for specifying the robotic mission and supervising its execution. This is crucial for the success of an environmental monitoring study, as often it depends on human expertise to ensure the statistical significance and accuracy of the sampling procedures. Although the literature is rich on environmental monitoring sampling procedures, in mudflats, there is a gap as regards including robotic elements. This paper closes this gap by also proposing a preliminary experimental protocol tailored to exploit the capabilities offered by the robotic system. Field trials in the south bank of the river Tagus’ estuary show the ability of the robotic system to successfully extract and transport bottom sediment samples for offline analysis. The results also show the efficiency of the extraction and the benefits when compared to (conventional human-based sampling.

Sediment Sampling in Estuarine Mudflats with an Aerial-Ground Robotic Team

Science.gov (United States)

Deusdado, Pedro; Guedes, Magno; Silva, André; Marques, Francisco; Pinto, Eduardo; Rodrigues, Paulo; Lourenço, André; Mendonça, Ricardo; Santana, Pedro; Corisco, José; Almeida, Susana Marta; Portugal, Luís; Caldeira, Raquel; Barata, José; Flores, Luis

2016-01-01

This paper presents a robotic team suited for bottom sediment sampling and retrieval in mudflats, targeting environmental monitoring tasks. The robotic team encompasses a four-wheel-steering ground vehicle, equipped with a drilling tool designed to be able to retain wet soil, and a multi-rotor aerial vehicle for dynamic aerial imagery acquisition. On-demand aerial imagery, properly fused on an aerial mosaic, is used by remote human operators for specifying the robotic mission and supervising its execution. This is crucial for the success of an environmental monitoring study, as often it depends on human expertise to ensure the statistical significance and accuracy of the sampling procedures. Although the literature is rich on environmental monitoring sampling procedures, in mudflats, there is a gap as regards including robotic elements. This paper closes this gap by also proposing a preliminary experimental protocol tailored to exploit the capabilities offered by the robotic system. Field trials in the south bank of the river Tagus’ estuary show the ability of the robotic system to successfully extract and transport bottom sediment samples for offline analysis. The results also show the efficiency of the extraction and the benefits when compared to (conventional) human-based sampling. PMID:27618060

Aerial radiation surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jobst, J.

1980-01-01

A recent aerial radiation survey of the surroundings of the Vitro mill in Salt Lake City shows that uranium mill tailings have been removed to many locations outside their original boundary. To date, 52 remote sites have been discovered within a 100 square kilometer aerial survey perimeter surrounding the mill; 9 of these were discovered with the recent aerial survey map. Five additional sites, also discovered by aerial survey, contained uranium ore, milling equipment, or radioactive slag. Because of the success of this survey, plans are being made to extend the aerial survey program to other parts of the Salt Lake valley where diversions of Vitro tailings are also known to exist

An aerial radiological survey of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and surrounding area, Paducah, Kentucky

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-11-01

An aerial radiological survey of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) and surrounding area in Paducah, Kentucky, was conducted during May 15--25, 1990. The purpose of the survey was to measure and document the terrestrial radiological environment at the PGDP and surrounding area for use in effective environmental management and emergency response planning. The aerial survey was flown at an altitude of 61 meters (200 feet) along a series of parallel lines 107 meters (350 feet) apart. The survey encompassed an area of 62 square kilometers (24 square miles), bordered on the north by the Ohio River. The results of the aerial survey are reported as inferred exposure rates at 1 meter above ground level in the form of a gamma radiation contour map. Typical background exposure rates were found to vary from 5 to 12 microroentgens per hour (μR/h). Protactinium-234m, a radioisotope indicative of uranium-238, was detected at several facilities at the PGDR. In support of the aerial survey, ground-based exposure rate and soil sample measurements were obtained at several sites within the survey perimeter. The results of the aerial and ground-based measurements were found to agree within ±15%

An aerial radiological survey of the Oak Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maurer, R.J.

1993-04-01

An aerial radiological survey of the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) and surrounding area in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was conducted during the period March 30 to April 14,1992. The purpose of the survey was to measure and document the terrestrial radiological environment of the Oak Ridge Reservation for use in environmental management programs and emergency response planning. The aerial survey was flown at an altitude of 150 feet (46 meters) along a series of parallel lines 250 feet (76 meters) apart and included X-10 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), K-25 (former Gaseous Diffusion Plant), Y-12 (Weapons Production Plant), the Freels Bend Area and Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, the East Fork Poplar Creek (100-year floodplain extending from K-25 to Y-12), Elza Gate (former uranium ore storage site located in the city of Oak Ridge), Parcel A, the Clinch River (river banks extending from Melton Hill Dam to the city of Kingston), and the CSX Railroad Tracks (extending from Y-12 to the city of Oak Ridge). The survey encompassed approximately 55 square miles (1 41 square kilometers) of the Oak Ridge Reservation and surrounding area

Aerial photographic water color variations from pollution in the James River

Science.gov (United States)

Bressette, W. E.

1978-01-01

A photographic flight was made over the James River on May 17, 1977. The data show that, in general, James River water has very high sunlight reflectance. In the Bailey Bay area this reflectance is drastically reduced. Also shown is a technique for normalizing off-axis variations in radiance film exposure from camera falloff and uneven sunlight conditions to the nadir value. After data normalization, a spectral analysis is performed that identifies Bailey Creek water in James River water. The spectral results when compared with laboratory spectrometer data indicate that reflectance from James River water is dominated by suspended matter, while the substance most likely responsible for reduced reflectance in Bailey Creek water is dissolved organic carbon.

Aerial mapping of radioactive contamination in the vicinity of water streams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dedacek, K.

1993-01-01

The results of aerial measurement of the natural radioactivity of K, U, and Th and the radioactivity of 137 Cs in some rivers are reported. A 256-channel gamma spectrometer equipped with an NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal 33.6 litres in volume was used. The apparatus has been installed in an AN-2 airplane. The measurement is accomplished at 80 m heights and airplane velocities of 120 to 140 km/h. (Z.S.)

Use of Aerial high resolution visible imagery to produce large river bathymetry: a multi temporal and spatial study over the by-passed Upper Rhine

Science.gov (United States)

Béal, D.; Piégay, H.; Arnaud, F.; Rollet, A.; Schmitt, L.

2011-12-01

Aerial high resolution visible imagery allows producing large river bathymetry assuming that water depth is related to water colour (Beer-Bouguer-Lambert law). In this paper we aim at monitoring Rhine River geometry changes for a diachronic study as well as sediment transport after an artificial injection (25.000 m3 restoration operation). For that a consequent data base of ground measurements of river depth is used, built on 3 different sources: (i) differential GPS acquisitions, (ii) sounder data and (iii) lateral profiles realized by experts. Water depth is estimated using a multi linear regression over neo channels built on a principal component analysis over red, green and blue bands and previously cited depth data. The study site is a 12 km long reach of the by-passed section of the Rhine River that draws French and German border. This section has been heavily impacted by engineering works during the last two centuries: channelization since 1842 for navigation purposes and the construction of a 45 km long lateral canal and 4 consecutive hydroelectric power plants of since 1932. Several bathymetric models are produced based on 3 different spatial resolutions (6, 13 and 20 cm) and 5 acquisitions (January, March, April, August and October) since 2008. Objectives are to find the optimal spatial resolution and to characterize seasonal effects. Best performances according to the 13 cm resolution show a 18 cm accuracy when suspended matters impacted less water transparency. Discussions are oriented to the monitoring of the artificial reload after 2 flood events during winter 2010-2011. Bathymetric models produced are also useful to build 2D hydraulic model's mesh.

Seasonal precipitation patterns along pathways of South American low-level jets and aerial rivers

Science.gov (United States)

Poveda, Germán.; Jaramillo, Liliana; Vallejo, Luisa F.

2014-01-01

We study the seasonal dynamics of the eastern Pacific (CHOCO) and Caribbean low-level jets (LLJ), and aerial rivers (AR) acting on tropical and subtropical South America. Using the ERA-Interim reanalysis (1979-2012), we show that the convergence of both LLJs over the eastern Pacific-western Colombia contributes to the explanation of the region's world-record rainfall. Diverse variables involved in the transport and storage of moisture permit the identification of an AR over northern South America involving a midtropospheric easterly jet that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Andes, with stronger activity in April to August. Other major seasonal AR pathways constitute part of a large gyre originating over the tropical North Atlantic, veering to the southeast over the eastern Andes and reaching regions of northern Argentina and southeastern Brazil. We illustrate the distribution of average seasonal precipitation along the LLJs and AR pathways with data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (1998-2011), combined with considerations of CAPE, topography, and land cover. In addition, the theory of the biotic pump of atmospheric moisture (BiPAM) is tested at seasonal time scales, and found to hold in 8 out of 12 ARs, and 22 out of 32 forest-covered tracks (64% in distance) along the ARs. Deviations from BiPAM's predictions of rainfall distribution are explained by the effects of topography, orography, and land cover types different from forests. Our results lend a strong observational support to the BiPAM theory at seasonal time scales over South American forested flat lands.

Estimating Discharge in Low-Order Rivers With High-Resolution Aerial Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

King, Tyler V.; Neilson, Bethany T.; Rasmussen, Mitchell T.

2018-02-01

Remote sensing of river discharge promises to augment in situ gauging stations, but the majority of research in this field focuses on large rivers (>50 m wide). We present a method for estimating volumetric river discharge in low-order (standard deviation of 6%). Sensitivity analyses were conducted to determine the influence of inundated channel bathymetry and roughness parameters on estimated discharge. Comparison of synthetic rating curves produced through sensitivity analyses show that reasonable ranges of parameter values result in mean percent errors in predicted discharges of 12%-27%.

Aerial radiological survey of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station and surrounding area, Middletown, Pennsylvania

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Colton, D.P.

1983-08-01

An aerial radiological survey was performed over the area surrounding the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station during October 26 to 30, 1982. The survey covered an 82-square-kilometer area centered on the nuclear plant and encompassed the communities of Middletown, York Haven, Goldsboro and Royalton, Pennsylvania. The highest radiation exposure rates, up to a maximum of 200 microroentgens per hour (μR/h), were inferred from data measured directly over the TMI facilities. This detected radiation was due to the presence of cobalt-58, cobalt-60 and cesium-137, which was consistent with normal plant operations. Similar activity is routinely observed in aerial surveys over nuclear power plants which have been or are presently in an operational mode. For the remainder of the survey area, the inferred radiation exposure rates varied from 6 to 14 μR/h. The reported exposure rate values include an estimated cosmic ray contribution of 3.7 μR/h. Ground-based measurements, conducted during the time of the aerial survey, were compared to the aerial results. Pressurized ionization chamber readings and a group of soil samples were acquired at several locations within the survey area, along the river banks upstream and downstream of the survey area, and at the ground-based locations used for a previous aerial survey which was conducted in 1976. The exposure rate values obtained from these measurements were in agreement with the corresponding aerial data. With the exception of the activity observed within the TMI facilities, no evidence of any contamination which might have occurred as a result of past reactor operations or the 1979 TMI Unit 2 accident was detected from the aerial survey data. This was further supported by the results of the soil sample analyses and the comparison with the 1976 aerial survey data. 7 references, 12 figures, 4 tables

Accuracy assessment of vegetation community maps generated by aerial photography interpretation: perspective from the tropical savanna, Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Donna L.; Phinn, Stuart

2011-01-01

Aerial photography interpretation is the most common mapping technique in the world. However, unlike an algorithm-based classification of satellite imagery, accuracy of aerial photography interpretation generated maps is rarely assessed. Vegetation communities covering an area of 530 km2 on Bullo River Station, Northern Territory, Australia, were mapped using an interpretation of 1:50,000 color aerial photography. Manual stereoscopic line-work was delineated at 1:10,000 and thematic maps generated at 1:25,000 and 1:100,000. Multivariate and intuitive analysis techniques were employed to identify 22 vegetation communities within the study area. The accuracy assessment was based on 50% of a field dataset collected over a 4 year period (2006 to 2009) and the remaining 50% of sites were used for map attribution. The overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient for both thematic maps was 66.67% and 0.63, respectively, calculated from standard error matrices. Our findings highlight the need for appropriate scales of mapping and accuracy assessment of aerial photography interpretation generated vegetation community maps.

Using aerial photography for mapping giant reed infestations along the Texas-Mexico portion of the Rio Grande.

Science.gov (United States)

Giant reed (Arundo donax L.) is an invasive weed throughout the southern half of the United States with the densest stands growing along the coastal rivers of southern California and the Rio Grande in Texas. The objective of this study was to use aerial photography to map giant reed infestations and...

Use of aerial videography to evaluate the effects of Flaming Gorge Dam operations on natural resources of the Green River

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snider, M.A.; Hayse, J.W.; Hlohowskyj, I.; LaGory, K.E.; Greaney, M.M.; Kuiper, J.A.; Van Lonkhuyzen, R.A.

1993-01-01

Peaking hydropower operations can profoundly alter natural stream flow and thereby affect the natural resources dependent on these flows. In this paper, we describe how aerial videography was used to collect environmental data and evaluate impacts of hydropower operations at Flaming Gorge Dam on natural resources of the Green River. An airborne multispectral video/radiometer remote sensing system was used to collect resource data under four different flow conditions from seven sites (each about one mile in length) located downstream from the dam. Releases from Flaming Gorge Dam during data collection ranged from approximately 800 to 4,000 cubic feet/sec (cfs), spanning most of the normal operating range for this facility. For each site a series of contiguous, non-overlapping images was prepared from the videotapes and used to quantify surface water area, backwater habitats, and areas of riparian vegetation under varying flow conditions. From this information, relationships between flow and habitat parameters were developed and used in conjunction with hydrologic modeling and ecological information to evaluate impacts of various modes of operation

2012 Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) Lidar: Bradford (FL)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — USGS - Suwannee River Water Management District Contract No.G10PC00093, Task Order No.G12PD00242 Prime Contractor: Digital Aerial Solutions (DAS) Sub-Contractor:...

2008 Florida Division of Emergency Management Lidar: Middle Suwannee River

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — LiDAR Survey for the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), Florida. The LiDAR aerial acquisition was conducted in January of 2008, and the breaklines and...

Probable movement and mixing of contaminants in tidal estuaries - A field study in Kundalika Estuary, west coast of India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

DineshKumar, P.K.; Sarma, R.V.; Zingde, M.D.

The probable movement and mixing of contaminants within and through the Kundalika river estuary along the west coast of India are studied Neutrally buoyant biplane drogues, floats and dye were tracked at different stages of the tide to assess...

A study of the probable movement and mixing of contaminants in a tidal estuary

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

DineshKumar, P.K.; Sarma, R.V.

The probable movement and mixing of contaminants within and through the Amba river estuary, a tidal estuary along the westcoast of India are studied Neutrally buoyant bipelane drogues, floats and dye were tracked at different stages of the tide...

Persistent Aerial Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-01-01

persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc

Mapping giant reed (Arundo donax) infestations along the Texas-Mexico portion of the Rio Grande using aerial photography

Science.gov (United States)

Giant reed is an invasive weed throughout the southern half of the United States with the densest stands growing along the coastal rivers of southern California and the Rio Grande in Texas. The objective of this study was to use aerial photography to map giant reed infestations and estimate infested...

Channel dynamics and geomorphic resilience in an ephemeral Mediterranean river affected by gravel mining

Science.gov (United States)

Calle, Mikel; Alho, Petteri; Benito, Gerardo

2017-05-01

Gravel mining has been a widespread activity in ephemeral rivers worldwide whose long-lasting hydrogeomorphological impacts preclude effective implementation of water and environmental policies. This paper presents a GIS-based method for temporal assessment of morphosedimentary changes in relation to in-channel gravel mining in a typical ephemeral Mediterranean stream, namely the Rambla de la Viuda (eastern Spain). The aims of this work were to identify morphosedimentary changes and responses to human activities and floods, quantify river degradations and analyze factors favoring fluvial recovery for further applications in other rivers. Aerial photographs and LiDAR topography data were studied to analyze geomorphic evolution over the past 70 years along a 7.5-km reach of an ephemeral gravel stream that has been mined intensively since the 1970s. To evaluate changes in the riverbed, we mapped comparable units applying morphological, hydraulic, and stability (based on vegetation density and elevation) criteria to 13 sets of aerial photographs taken from 1946 to 2012. A detailed spatiotemporal analysis of comparable units revealed a 50% reduction in the active section and a 20% increase in stable areas, compared to the conditions observed prior to gravel mining. Instream mining was first observed in 1976 aerial photograph covering already up to 50% of the 1956 riverbed area. River degradation since then was quantified by means of a LiDAR DTM and RTK-GPS measurements, which revealed a 3.5-m incision that had started simultaneously with gravel mining. Climate and land use changes were present but the effects were completely masked by changes produced by instream gravel mining. Therefore, river incision/degradation was triggered by scarcity of sediment and lack of longitudinal sedimentary connection, creating an unbalanced river system that is still adjusting to the present hydrosedimentary conditions.

Aerial radiological survey of the Waterford Generating Station and surrounding area, Taft, Louisiana. Date of survey: March-April 1982

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jaffe, R.J.; Feimster, E.L.

1984-02-01

An aerial survey of the Waterford Generating Station near Taft, Louisiana was conducted during the period March 24 through April 7, 1982. The area encompassed a 256-square-kilometer (100-square-mile) area centered on the reactor facilities. Inferred exposure rates were due primarily to naturally occurring gamma-emitting radionuclides and cosmic ray activity (estimated at 3.7 μR/h). The exposure rates varied from 7 to 60 μR/h. Throughout most of the residential/industrial areas, the inferred exposure rate range was 7 to 12 μR/h. Marsh and water-covered areas were less than 7 μR/h. Two areas were encountered which had activity elevated above the typical background: (1) an industrial waste pond located 2 kilometers southeast of the site, and (2) a small area located 5 kilometers southeast of the site on the south bank of the Mississippi River. (A river barge was docked at this location during the survey.) Maximum inferred exposure rates over these areas were 60 and 16 μR/h, respectively. Spectral analysis revealed gamma-emitting radionuclides of the uranium decay chain as the primary contributors to this elevated activity. Ground-based measurements made in several areas were consistent with the aerial data. This was the first aerial radiological survey conducted over this area. 3 references, 9 figures, 3 tables

AMRMS Aerial survey database

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — An aerial monitoring program was conducted during the period 1962 - 2003 in cooperation with aerial spotters working for the commercial purse seine fleet. Flights...

1988 Mosaic of Aerial Photography of the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aerial photographs taken by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey during 1988 were mosaicked and orthorectified by the Biogeography Branch. The resulting image was used to...

1992 Mosaic of Aerial Photography of the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aerial photographs taken by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey during 1992 were mosaicked and orthorectified by the Biogeography Branch. The resulting image was used to...

2000 Mosaic of Aerial Photography of the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aerial photographs taken by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey during 2000 were mosaicked and orthorectified by the Biogeography Branch. The resulting image was used to...

Persistent Aerial Tracking

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-04-13

In this thesis, we propose a new aerial video dataset and benchmark for low altitude UAV target tracking, as well as, a photo-realistic UAV simulator that can be coupled with tracking methods. Our benchmark provides the rst evaluation of many state of-the-art and popular trackers on 123 new and fully annotated HD video sequences captured from a low-altitude aerial perspective. Among the compared trackers, we determine which ones are the most suitable for UAV tracking both in terms of tracking accuracy and run-time. We also present a simulator that can be used to evaluate tracking algorithms in real-time scenarios before they are deployed on a UAV "in the field", as well as, generate synthetic but photo-realistic tracking datasets with free ground truth annotations to easily extend existing real-world datasets. Both the benchmark and simulator will be made publicly available to the vision community to further research in the area of object tracking from UAVs. Additionally, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by \\'handing over the camera\\' from one UAV to another. We integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Aerial release of Rhinoncomimus latipes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) to control Persicaria perfoliata (Polygonaceae) using an unmanned aerial system.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Yong-Lak; Gururajan, Srikanth; Thistle, Harold; Chandran, Rakesh; Reardon, Richard

2018-01-01

Rhinoncomimus latipes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a major biological control agent against the invasive plant Persicaria perfoliata. Release of R. latipes is challenging with the current visit-and-hand release approach because P. perfoliata shows a high degree of patchiness in the landscape, possesses recurved barbs on its stems, and often spreads into hard-to-access areas. This 3-year study developed and evaluated unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for precise aerial release of R. latipes to control P. perfoliata. We have developed two UAS (i.e. quad-rotor and tri-rotor) and an aerial release system to disseminate R. latipes. These include pods containing R. latipes and a dispenser to accommodate eight pods. Results of field tests to evaluate the systems showed no significant (P > 0.05) effects on survivorship and feeding ability of R. latipes after aerial release. Our study demonstrates the potential of UAS for precision aerial release of biological control agents to control invasive plants. The aerial deployment systems we have developed, including both pods and a dispenser, are low cost, logistically practical, and effective with no negative effects on aerially released R. latipes. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Using UAS optical imagery and SfM photogrammetry to characterize the surface grain size of gravel bars in a braided river (Vénéon River, French Alps)

Science.gov (United States)

Vázquez-Tarrío, Daniel; Borgniet, Laurent; Liébault, Frédéric; Recking, Alain

2017-05-01

This paper explores the potential of unmanned aerial system (UAS) optical aerial imagery to characterize grain roughness and size distribution in a braided, gravel-bed river (Vénéon River, French Alps). With this aim in view, a Wolman field campaign (19 samples) and five UAS surveys were conducted over the Vénéon braided channel during summer 2015. The UAS consisted of a small quadcopter carrying a GoPro camera. Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry was used to extract dense and accurate three-dimensional point clouds. Roughness descriptors (roughness heights, standard deviation of elevation) were computed from the SfM point clouds and were correlated with the median grain size of the Wolman samples. A strong relationship was found between UAS-SfM-derived grain roughness and Wolman grain size. The procedure employed has potential for the rapid and continuous characterization of grain size distribution in exposed bars of gravel-bed rivers. The workflow described in this paper has been successfully used to produce spatially continuous grain size information on exposed gravel bars and to explore textural changes following flow events.

Identification of the Spawning, Rearing, and Migratory Requirements of Fall Chinook Salmon in the Columbia River Basin, Annual Report 1994.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rondorf, Dennis W.; Tiffan, Kenneth F.

1996-08-01

Spawning ground surveys were conducted in 1994 as part of a five year study of Snake River chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawyacha begun in 1991. Observations of fall chinook salmon spawning in the Snake River were limited to infrequent aerial red counts in the years prior to 1987. From 1987-1990, red counts were made on a limited basis by an interagency team and reported by the Washington Department of Fisheries. Starting in 1991, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and other cooperating agencies and organizations, expanded the scope of spawning ground surveys to include: (1) additional aerial surveys to improve red counts and provide data on the timing of spawning; (2) the validation (ground truthing) of red counts from aerial surveys to improve count accuracy; (3) underwater searches to locate reds in water too deep to allow detection from the air; and (4) bathymetric mapping of spawning sites for characterizing spawning habitat. This document is the 1994 annual progress report for selected studies of fall chinook salmon. The studies were undertaken because of the growing concern about the declining salmon population in the Snake River basin.

External costs of sand mining in rivers: evidence from South Africa.

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

De Lange, Willem J

2009-05-01

Full Text Available river sand load content and excluding the impacts of dams and sand mining). Accounting for the impacts of dams on sediment yield decreased the estimate by at least 33 percent (Theron et al., 2008). An aerial survey identified thirty-one active sand... mining operations, extracting approximately 400 000 cubic meters of sand per year (a conservative estimate) in the eThekwini area (Theron et al., 2008). The estimated remaining sediment yield from rivers after accounting for the impacts of dams...

Fast Aerial Video Stitching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Li

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The highly efficient and robust stitching of aerial video captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs is a challenging problem in the field of robot vision. Existing commercial image stitching systems have seen success with offline stitching tasks, but they cannot guarantee high-speed performance when dealing with online aerial video sequences. In this paper, we present a novel system which has an unique ability to stitch high-frame rate aerial video at a speed of 150 frames per second (FPS. In addition, rather than using a high-speed vision platform such as FPGA or CUDA, our system is running on a normal personal computer. To achieve this, after the careful comparison of the existing invariant features, we choose the FAST corner and binary descriptor for efficient feature extraction and representation, and present a spatial and temporal coherent filter to fuse the UAV motion information into the feature matching. The proposed filter can remove the majority of feature correspondence outliers and significantly increase the speed of robust feature matching by up to 20 times. To achieve a balance between robustness and efficiency, a dynamic key frame-based stitching framework is used to reduce the accumulation errors. Extensive experiments on challenging UAV datasets demonstrate that our approach can break through the speed limitation and generate an accurate stitching image for aerial video stitching tasks.

Use of landscape-level river signatures in conservation planning: a South African case study

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Roux, D

2002-12-01

Full Text Available ecosystems of this area, a desktop approach, supplemented by aerial and land surveys, was used to devise a new river classification typology. This typology incorporated landscape attributes as surrogates for biodiversity patterns, resulting in defined...

Integration of aerial imaging and variable-rate technology for site-specific aerial herbicide application

Science.gov (United States)

As remote sensing and variable rate technology are becoming more available for aerial applicators, practical methodologies on effective integration of these technologies are needed for site-specific aerial applications of crop production and protection materials. The objectives of this study were to...

The effect of the increase in the agriculture frontier on the Meta river and this adjacent land between January 1939 and April 1997. 1 - Deforestation and the configuration of the river

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Owen, Eric J; Svenson, G

2000-01-01

The effects of deforestation of the banks of the Meta River was studied on a length of 25.7 km. between Puerto Lopez and the island of San Isidro using aerial photographs of the years 1939, 1950, 1974/1989 and 1997. The deforestation from 17.06% to 82.35% caused a reduction in length of 2.25 km. an increase in width (206%), area of the river (189%) and affected 482 hec. of the land adjacent to the river that is equivalent of 10.483.500 tons of soil for a mean of 3458.6 t/km/year. Regression equations were calculated using percent bank deforested vs. width, area of the river and area affected by the river. The correlation coefficients higher than 0.9720

Radiotelemetry to estimate stream life of adult chum salmon in the McNeil River, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Peirce, Joshua M.; Otis, Edward O.; Wipfli, Mark S.; Follmann, Erich H.

2011-01-01

Estimating salmon escapement is one of the fundamental steps in managing salmon populations. The area-under-the-curve (AUC) method is commonly used to convert periodic aerial survey counts into annual salmon escapement indices. The AUC requires obtaining accurate estimates of stream life (SL) for target species. Traditional methods for estimating SL (e.g., mark–recapture) are not feasible for many populations. Our objective in this study was to determine the average SL of chum salmon Oncorhynchus keta in the McNeil River, Alaska, through radiotelemetry. During the 2005 and 2006 runs, 155 chum salmon were fitted with mortality-indicating radio tags as they entered the McNeil River and tracked until they died. A combination of remote data loggers, aerial surveys, and foot surveys were used to determine the location of fish and provide an estimate of time of death. Higher predation resulted in tagged fish below McNeil Falls having a significantly shorter SL (12.6 d) than those above (21.9 d). The streamwide average SL (13.8 d) for chum salmon at the McNeil River was lower than the regionwide value (17.5 d) previously used to generate AUC indices of chum salmon escapement for the McNeil River. We conclude that radiotelemetry is an effective tool for estimating SL in rivers not well suited to other methods.

Planning and decision making for aerial robots

CERN Document Server

Bestaoui Sebbane, Yasmina

2014-01-01

This book provides an introduction to the emerging field of planning and decision making for aerial robots. An aerial robot is the ultimate form of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, an aircraft endowed with built-in intelligence, requiring no direct human control and able to perform a specific task. It must be able to fly within a partially structured environment, to react and adapt to changing environmental conditions and to accommodate for the uncertainty that exists in the physical world. An aerial robot can be termed as a physical agent that exists and flies in the real 3D world, can sense its environment and act on it to achieve specific goals. So throughout this book, an aerial robot will also be termed as an agent.   Fundamental problems in aerial robotics include the tasks of spatial motion, spatial sensing and spatial reasoning. Reasoning in complex environments represents a difficult problem. The issues specific to spatial reasoning are planning and decision making. Planning deals with the trajectory algori...

RiverFlow2D numerical simulation of flood mitigation solutions in the Ebro River

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Echeverribar

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A study of measures oriented to flood mitigation in the mid reach of the Ebro river is presented: elimination of vegetation in the riverbed, use of controlled flooding areas and construction or re-adaptation of levees. The software used is RiverFlow2D which solves the conservative free-surface flow equations with a finite volume method running on GPU. The results are compared with measurements at gauge stations and aerial views. The most effective measure has turned out to be the elimination of vegetation in the riverbed. It is demonstrated that not only the maximum flooded area is narrower but also it reduces the water depth up to 1 m. The other measures have local consequences when the peak discharge is relatively high although they could be useful in case the discharge is lower.

An aerial radiological survey of the Trojan Nuclear Plant and surrounding area, Prescott, Oregon: Date of survey: July--August 1986

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlstrom, T.S.

1988-02-01

An aerial radiological survey was conducted during the period 24 July through 2 August 1986 over a 124-square-kilometer (48-square-mile) area surrounding the Trojan Nuclear Plant located on the Columbia River at Prescott, Oregon. The survey was conducted at a nominal altitude of 46 meters (150 feet) with line spacings of 76 meters (250 feet). Count rates were converted to exposure rates at 1 meter above the ground. A contour map of the terrestrial gamma exposure rate was prepared and overlaid on a USGS topographic map of the area. The exposure rates varied from 8 to 10 microroentgens per hour (μRh) in the southern and northernmost regions of the survey area with somewhat lesser rates of 6.5 to 8.0 μRh in the immediate vicinity of LongviewKelso, Washington. The highest area of increased activity was directly attributed to the main units of the plant and indicated the presence of 60 Co and 58 Co. Soil samples and ion chamber measurements were obtained at four locations to support the aerial data. An additional 11 soil samples were collected along the shoreline of the Columbia River. 6 refs., 11 figs., 4 tabs

Global Analysis of River Planform Change using the Google Earth Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Bryk, A.; Dietrich, W. E.; Gorelick, N.; Sargent, R.; Braudrick, C. A.

2014-12-01

Geomorphologists have historically tracked river dynamics using a combination of maps, aerial photographs, and the stratigraphic record. Although stratigraphic records can extend into deep time, maps and aerial photographs often confine our record of change to sparse measurements over the last ~80 years and in some cases much less time. For the first time Google's Earth Engine (GEE) cloud based platform allows researchers the means to analyze quantitatively the pattern and pace of river channel change over the last 30 years with high temporal resolution across the entire planet. The GEE provides an application programing interface (API) that enables quantitative analysis of various data sets including the entire Landsat L1T archive. This allows change detection for channels wider than about 150 m over 30 years of successive, georeferenced imagery. Qualitatively, it becomes immediately evident that the pace of channel morphodynamics for similar planforms varies by orders of magnitude across the planet and downstream along individual rivers. To quantify these rates of change and to explore their controls we have developed methods for differentiating channels from floodplain along large alluvial rivers. We introduce a new metric of morphodynamics: the ratio of eroded area to channel area per unit time, referred to as "M". We also keep track of depositional areas resulting from channel shifting. To date our quantitative analysis has focused on rivers in the Andean foreland. Our analysis shows channel bank erosion rates, M, varies by orders of magnitude for these rivers, from 0 to ~0.25 yr-1, yet these rivers have essentially identical curvature and sinuosity and are visually indistinguishable. By tracking both bank paths in time, we find that, for some meandering rivers, a significant fraction of new floodplain is produced through outer-bank accretion rather than point bar deposition. This process is perhaps more important in generating floodplain stratigraphy than

Plan form changes of Gumara River channel over 50 years (Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia)

Science.gov (United States)

Abate, Mengiste; Nyssen, Jan; Mehari, Michael

2014-05-01

Channel plan form changes were investigated along the 65 km long Gumara River in Lake Tana basin (Ethiopia) by overlaying information from aerial photographs and SPOT imagery. Two sets of aerial photographs (1957 and 1980) were scanned, and then orthorectified in ENVI 4.2 environment. Recent channel plan form information was extracted from SPOT images of 2006. ERDAS 2010 and ArcGIS 10.1 tools were used for the data preparation and analysis. The information on river plan form changes spans from 1957 to 2006 (49 years), during which time the Gumara catchment has been subjected to changes in land use/cover and increasing water abstraction, which may have affected its hydrogeomorphology. The results indicated that the lower reach of Gumara at its mouth has undergone major plan form changes. A delta of 1.12 km² was created between 1957 and 1980 and additional 1.00 km² land has been created between 1980 and 2006. The sinuosity of the plan form changed only slightly through the study period: 1.78 in 1957, 1.76 in 1980, and 1.81 in 2006. Comparison of cross sections at the hydrological gauging station showed that the river bed aggraded in the order of 1.5 m to 2.5 m for the period 1963-2009. The trend analysis of stream flow of Gumara River versus rainfall in the catchment also indicated that the bed level of the Gumara river at its gauging station has risen. From field observations, the impact of direct human interventions was identified. The building of artificial levees along the river banks has contributed to huge deposition in the river bed. At locations where intensive irrigation takes place in the floodplain, seepage water through the banks created river bank failure and modifications in plan form. The unstable segments of the river reach were identified and will be further analysed.

Aerial 3D display by use of a 3D-shaped screen with aerial imaging by retro-reflection (AIRR)

Science.gov (United States)

Kurokawa, Nao; Ito, Shusei; Yamamoto, Hirotsugu

2017-06-01

The purpose of this paper is to realize an aerial 3D display. We design optical system that employs a projector below a retro-reflector and a 3D-shaped screen. A floating 3D image is formed with aerial imaging by retro-reflection (AIRR). Our proposed system is composed of a 3D-shaped screen, a projector, a quarter-wave retarder, a retro-reflector, and a reflective polarizer. Because AIRR forms aerial images that are plane-symmetric of the light sources regarding the reflective polarizer, the shape of the 3D screen is inverted from a desired aerial 3D image. In order to expand viewing angle, the 3D-shaped screen is surrounded by a retro-reflector. In order to separate the aerial image from reflected lights on the retro- reflector surface, the retro-reflector is tilted by 30 degrees. A projector is located below the retro-reflector at the same height of the 3D-shaped screen. The optical axis of the projector is orthogonal to the 3D-shaped screen. Scattered light on the 3D-shaped screen forms the aerial 3D image. In order to demonstrate the proposed optical design, a corner-cube-shaped screen is used for the 3D-shaped screen. Thus, the aerial 3D image is a cube that is floating above the reflective polarizer. For example, an aerial green cube is formed by projecting a calculated image on the 3D-shaped screen. The green cube image is digitally inverted in depth by our developed software. Thus, we have succeeded in forming aerial 3D image with our designed optical system.

Large dams and alluvial rivers in the Anthropocene: The impacts of the Garrison and Oahe Dams on the Upper Missouri River

Science.gov (United States)

Skalak, Katherine; Benthem, Adam J.; Schenk, Edward R.; Hupp, Cliff R.; Galloway, Joel M.; Nustad, Rochelle A.; Wiche, Gregg J.

2013-01-01

The Missouri River has had a long history of anthropogenic modification with considerable impacts on river and riparian ecology, form, and function. During the 20th century, several large dam-building efforts in the basin served the needs for irrigation, flood control, navigation, and the generation of hydroelectric power. The managed flow provided a range of uses, including recreation, fisheries, and habitat. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with hundreds more on tributaries. Though the effects of dams and reservoirs are well-documented, their impacts have been studied individually, with relatively little attention paid to their interaction along a river corridor. We examine the morphological and sedimentological changes in the Upper Missouri River between the Garrison Dam in ND (operational in 1953) and Oahe Dam in SD (operational in 1959). Through historical aerial photography, stream gage data, and cross sectional surveys, we demonstrate that the influence of the upstream dam is still a major control of river dynamics when the backwater effects of the downstream reservoir begin. In the “Anthropocene”, dams are ubiquitous on large rivers and often occur in series, similar to the Garrison Dam Segment. We propose a conceptual model of how interacting dams might affect river geomorphology, resulting in distinct and recognizable morphologic sequences that we term “Inter-Dam sequence” characteristic of major rivers in the US.

Aerial shaking performance of wet Anna's hummingbirds

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega-Jimenez, Victor Manuel; Dudley, Robert

2012-01-01

External wetting poses problems of immediate heat loss and long-term pathogen growth for vertebrates. Beyond these risks, the locomotor ability of smaller animals, and particularly of fliers, may be impaired by water adhering to the body. Here, we report on the remarkable ability of hummingbirds to perform rapid shakes in order to expel water from their plumage even while in flight. Kinematic performance of aerial versus non-aerial shakes (i.e. those performed while perching) was compared. Oscillation frequencies of the head, body and tail were lower in aerial shakes. Tangential speeds and accelerations of the trunk and tail were roughly similar in aerial and non-aerial shakes, but values for head motions in air were twice as high when compared with shakes while perching. Azimuthal angular amplitudes for both aerial and non-aerial shakes reached values greater than 180° for the head, greater than 45° for the body trunk and slightly greater than 90° for the tail and wings. Using a feather on an oscillating disc to mimic shaking motions, we found that bending increased average speeds by up to 36 per cent and accelerations of the feather tip up to fourfold relative to a hypothetical rigid feather. Feather flexibility may help to enhance shedding of water and reduce body oscillations during shaking. PMID:22072447

1944 AAF 661 Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1943 AAF 332 Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1944 AAF 547 Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1944 AAF 649 Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

Remote sensing of thermal plumes at the Savannah River Plant in Aiken, South Carolina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jensen, J.R.; Christensen, E.J.

1983-01-01

The report describes a study undertaken to evaluate the utility of a remote sensing technique for measurement of thermal plumes in bodies of water such as the Savannah River. This relatively new technique, which involves aerial infrared sensing and computer analysis of the resulting data, has the potential for delineating thermal plume boundaries and determining compliance with regulatory limits for thermal discharges. Two sets of aerial infrared data were used in the evaluation. One set was taken from an elevation of 1220 meters at 5:44 a.m. on March 28, 1981; the other set of data was taken from an altitude of 3500 meters on April 3, 1981. The study shows that computer analysis of data taken at the lower altitude can yield useful information on thermal plumes in bodies of water. Data taken at the higher altitude did not have sufficient resolution for accurate analysis. This study shows clearly that thermal plumes in the Savannah River from SRP operations can be measured by remote sensing

La guerre contre les drogues illicites : Est-ce qu’elle est perdue ? - Has the war against drugs been lost ? - La guerra contro le droghe è persa ?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dominick M.

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Le système légal du Mexique est dans un état de ruine à cause des cartels de la drogue soutenus et subventionnés par les États-Unis d'Amerique. En effet, les États-Unis sont le marché principal de la marijuana, de la cocaine et, en moindre quantité, des drogues synthétiques provénantes du Mexique. L’article met en évidence que les régions frontalières du Mexique sont pris en otage entre d’une part, les principaux producteurs mondiaux de coca et d’autre part, les principaux consommateurs (de l’Amerique du Nord et de l’Europe. Pour cela, l’avis de l’autrice et de son collaborateur est que le Mexique ne peut résoudre seul les problèmes liés au narcotrafique. The Mexican legal system is in a state of ruin because of illegal drug cartels supported, sustained and subsidized by the United States of America. It is the U.S. which is the market for marijuana, cocaine and to a lesser extent synthetic drugs trafficked through Mexico. This article evidences that especially the frontier regions of Mexico have been taken hostage between, on the one hand, the principal world producers of cocaine and, on the other hand, the principal consumers (from North America and from Europe. Accordingly, it is the view of the author and her collaborator that Mexico cannot resolve in isolation the problems involved in narco-trafficking.Il sistema legale messicano versa in uno stato disastroso a causa dei cartelli della droga sostenuti e sovvenzionati dagli Stati Uniti d’America. Infatti, gli USA rappresentano il principale mercato della marijuana, della cocaina e delle droghe sintetiche (queste ultime in misura minore provenienti dal Messico. L’articolo mette in evidenza che le regioni frontaliere del Messico sono prese in ostaggio, da una parte, dai principali produttori modiali di cocaina e, dall’altra, dai principali consumatori (che si trovano nell’America del Nord ed in Europa. Pertanto, secondo l’autrice ed il suo collaboratore

Aquatic vegetation were photographed from aircraft from Florida Bay, Indian River (Florida), and the Coast of Massachusetts (NODC Accession 0000411)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aerial photographs were taken of the aquatic vegetation of Florida Bay, Indian River (Florida), and the Coast of Massachusetts. Photographs were scanned and...

Multi-temporal environmental analysis of oil field activities in south-central Oklahoma using Landsat thematic mapper, aerial photography and GIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janks, J.S.; Edwards, G.S.; Prelat, A.E.

1995-01-01

Environmental assessments of oil field activities, historical and present, were made using a combination of Landsat Thematic Mapper, aerial photographic and GIS information. Landsat data was used to assess vegetation health in and around the oil fields, and aerial photography was used to document historic changes. We found no evidence of vegetation damage from the oil field activities, even though many fields are located along anticlines and drain into major waterways. GIS technology, mapping roads, wells, rivers, ponds and environmentally-sensitive areas, was used to minimize environmental effects on the placement of shotpoints and receivers. When either shotpoints or receivers were found to interfere with sensitive areas, the points were moved to nearby roads or other open locations. The application of this technology resulted in minimal environmental damage and significant cost savings

Aerial radiation survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pradeep Kumar, K.S.

1998-01-01

Aerial gamma spectrometry surveys are the most effective, comprehensive and preferred tool to delimit the large area surface contamination in a radiological emergency either due to a nuclear accident or following a nuclear strike. The airborne survey apart from providing rapid and economical evaluation of ground contamination over large areas due to larger ground clearance and higher speed, is the only technique to overcome difficulties posed by ground surveys of inaccessible region. The aerial survey technique can also be used for searching of lost radioactive sources, tracking of radioactive plume and generation of background data on the Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) of nuclear installations

AERIAL RADIOLOGICAL SURVEYS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Proctor, A.E.

1997-01-01

Measuring terrestrial gamma radiation from airborne platforms has proved to be a useful method for characterizing radiation levels over large areas. Over 300 aerial radiological surveys have been carried out over the past 25 years including U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites, commercial nuclear power plants, Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program/Uranium Mine Tailing Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP/UMTRAP) sites, nuclear weapons test sites, contaminated industrial areas, and nuclear accident sites. This paper describes the aerial measurement technology currently in use by the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) for routine environmental surveys and emergency response activities. Equipment, data-collection and -analysis methods, and examples of survey results are described

1988 Mosaic of Aerial Photography of the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, St. Croix, USVI

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aerial photographs taken by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey during 1988 were mosaicked and orthorectified by the Biogeography Program. The resulting image was used...

2000 Mosaic of Aerial Photography of the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, St. Croix, USVI

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aerial photographs taken by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey during 2000 were mosaicked and orthorectified by the Biogeography Program. The resulting image was used...

Application of UAVs at the Savannah River Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hofstetter, K.J.; Pendergast, M.M.

1996-01-01

Small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with sensors for physical, chemical, and radiochemical measurements of remote environments have been tested at the Savannah River Site (SRS). A miniature helicopter was used as an aerial platform for testing a variety of sensors with outputs integrated with the flight control system for real-time data acquisition and evaluation. The sensors included a precision magnetometer, two broad band infra-red radiometers, a 1-inch by 1-inch Nal(TI) scintillation detector, and an on-board color video camera. Included in the avionics package was an ultrasonic altimeter, a precision barometer, and a portable Global Positioning System. Two separate demonstration locations at SRS were flown that had been previously characterized by careful sampling and analyses and by aerial surveys at high altitudes. The Steed Pond demonstration site contains elevated levels of uranium in the soil and pond silt due to runoff from one of the site's uranium fuel and target production areas. The soil at the other site is contaminated with oil bearing materials and contains some buried objects. The results and limitations of the UAV surveys are presented and improvements for future measurements are discussed

Phenomena and characteristics of barrier river reaches in the middle and lower Yangtze River, China

Science.gov (United States)

You, Xingying; Tang, Jinwu

2017-06-01

Alluvial river self-adjustment describes the mechanism whereby a river that was originally in an equilibrium state of sediment transport encounters some disturbance that destroys the balance and results in responses such as riverbed deformation. A systematic study of historical and recent aerial photographs and topographic maps in the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River (MLYR) shows that river self-adjustment has the distinguishing feature of transferring from upstream to downstream, which may affect flood safety, waterway morphology, bank stability, and aquatic environmental safety over relatively long reaches downstream. As a result, it is necessary to take measures to control or block this transfer. Using the relationship of the occurrence time of channel adjustments between the upstream and downstream, 34 single-thread river reaches in the MLYR were classified into four types: corresponding, basically corresponding, basically not corresponding, not corresponding. The latter two types, because of their ability to prevent upstream channel adjustment from transferring downstream, are called barrier river reaches in this study. Statistics indicate that barrier river reaches are generally single thread and slightly curved, with a narrow and deep cross-sectional morphology, and without flow deflecting nodes in the upper and middle parts of reaches. Moreover, in the MLYR, barrier river reaches have a hydrogeometric coefficient of {}1.2‱, a silty clay content of the concave bank {>}{9.5}%, and a median diameter of the bed sediment {>}{0.158} mm. The barrier river reach mechanism lies in that can effectively centralise the planimetric position of the main stream from different upstream directions, meaning that no matter how the upper channel adjusts, the main stream shows little change, providing relatively stable inflow conditions for the lower reaches. Regarding river regulation, it is necessary to optimise the benefits of barrier river reaches; long river

A survey of sport fish use on the Copper River Delta, Alaska.

Science.gov (United States)

Dirk W. Lang

2010-01-01

Aerial counts, in-person interviews, and mail-in questionnaires were used to survey sport fish use during the coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch Walbaum) season on the Copper River Delta, Alaska from 2002 through 2006. Angler counts provided an index of use on individual streams and were used to develop a spatial database exhibiting patterns of use...

Persistent Aerial Tracking system for UAVs

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias; Sharma, Gopal; Smith, Neil; Ghanem, Bernard

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by ‘handing over the camera’ from one UAV to another. We evaluate several state-of-the-art trackers on the VIVID aerial video dataset and additional sequences that are specifically tailored to low altitude UAV target tracking. Based on the evaluation, we select the leading tracker and improve upon it by optimizing for both speed and performance, integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Persistent Aerial Tracking system for UAVs

KAUST Repository

Mueller, Matthias

2016-12-19

In this paper, we propose a persistent, robust and autonomous object tracking system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called Persistent Aerial Tracking (PAT). A computer vision and control strategy is applied to a diverse set of moving objects (e.g. humans, animals, cars, boats, etc.) integrating multiple UAVs with a stabilized RGB camera. A novel strategy is employed to successfully track objects over a long period, by ‘handing over the camera’ from one UAV to another. We evaluate several state-of-the-art trackers on the VIVID aerial video dataset and additional sequences that are specifically tailored to low altitude UAV target tracking. Based on the evaluation, we select the leading tracker and improve upon it by optimizing for both speed and performance, integrate the complete system into an off-the-shelf UAV, and obtain promising results showing the robustness of our solution in real-world aerial scenarios.

Palaeoflood evidence on the River Nore, South East Ireland

Science.gov (United States)

Fleming, Ciara; Turner, Jonathan; Bourke, Mary

2017-04-01

Past geomorphic changes can be detected in sediment sinks, through the investigation of natural sediment archives. Since the advent of palaeoflood hydrology in the 1980s, numerous authors have demonstrated that such sediment deposits record valuable evidence of past flooding events. Many of these studies have focussed on fluvial systems in arid environments, with bedrock channels proving to be particularly successful field sites. In some districts, the collected datasets are now routinely employed to augment analyses of flood frequency and magnitude, which have traditionally relied on extrapolation of short hydrometric datasets. This study targets river reaches in a temperate humid environment, with a predominantly alluvial channel. The River Nore is one of the largest catchments draining South East Ireland. It is situated in a valley with an inherited glacial legacy and is principally a lowland river catchment. Specific morphological zones have been targeted which are optimal for flood deposit preservation, including palaeochannels, tributary junctions and floodplain overbank settings.There are a variety of anthropogenic pressures evident in this landscape. Among them are channelisation of select tributaries, a legacy of coal mining in the upland Carboniferous limestones, and the installation of man-made obstacles or modifications along the length of the river channel such as sluices and weirs. Regarding land-use, the majority of the catchment is dominated by agriculture, mainly pasture with some tillage. This study investigates palaeoflood evidence in the River Nore catchment and examines the development of the river floodplain using a variety of complementary field and desk-based methods. The sub-surface and micro-topography of river reaches are investigated using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology. Flood deposits have been characterised by examination of bank exposures and sediment cores. Installation of sediment traps

Accuracy Validation of Point Clouds of Uav Photogrammetry and its Application for River Management

Science.gov (United States)

Kubota, S.; Kawai, Y.; Kadotani, R.

2017-08-01

River administration facilities such as levees and river walls play a major role in preventing flooding due to heavy rain. The forms of such facilities must be constantly monitored for alteration due to rain and running water, and limited human resources and budgets make it necessary to efficiently maintain river administration facilities. During maintenance, inspection results are commonly recorded on paper documents. Continuous inspection and repair using information systems are an on-going challenge. This study proposes a maintenance management system for river facilities that uses three-dimensional data to solve these problems and make operation and maintenance more efficient. The system uses three-dimensional data to visualize river facility deformation and its process, and it has functions that visualize information about river management at any point in the three-dimensional data. The three-dimensional data is generated by photogrammetry using a camera on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

ACCURACY VALIDATION OF POINT CLOUDS OF UAV PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND ITS APPLICATION FOR RIVER MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Kubota

2017-08-01

Full Text Available River administration facilities such as levees and river walls play a major role in preventing flooding due to heavy rain. The forms of such facilities must be constantly monitored for alteration due to rain and running water, and limited human resources and budgets make it necessary to efficiently maintain river administration facilities. During maintenance, inspection results are commonly recorded on paper documents. Continuous inspection and repair using information systems are an on-going challenge. This study proposes a maintenance management system for river facilities that uses three-dimensional data to solve these problems and make operation and maintenance more efficient. The system uses three-dimensional data to visualize river facility deformation and its process, and it has functions that visualize information about river management at any point in the three-dimensional data. The three-dimensional data is generated by photogrammetry using a camera on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Geomorphology and river dynamics of the lower Copper River, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Brabets, Timothy P.; Conaway, Jeffrey S.

2009-01-01

Located in south-central Alaska, the Copper River drains an area of more than 24,000 square miles. The average annual flow of the river near its mouth is 63,600 cubic feet per second, but is highly variable between winter and summer. In the winter, flow averages approximately 11,700 cubic feet per second, and in the summer, due to snowmelt, rainfall, and glacial melt, flow averages approximately 113,000 cubic feet per second, an order of magnitude higher. About 15 miles upstream of its mouth, the Copper River flows past the face of Childs Glacier and enters a large, broad, delta. The Copper River Highway traverses this flood plain, and in 2008, 11 bridges were located along this section of the highway. The bridges cross several parts of the Copper River and in recent years, the changing course of the river has seriously damaged some of the bridges.Analysis of aerial photography from 1991, 1996, 2002, 2006, and 2007 indicates the eastward migration of a channel of the Copper River that has resulted in damage to the Copper River Highway near Mile 43.5. Migration of another channel in the flood plain has resulted in damage to the approach of Bridge 339. As a verification of channel change, flow measurements were made at bridges along the Copper River Highway in 2005–07. Analysis of the flow measurements indicate that the total flow of the Copper River has shifted from approximately 50 percent passing through the bridges at Mile 27, near the western edge of the flood plain, and 50 percent passing through the bridges at Mile 36–37 to approximately 5 percent passing through the bridges at Mile 27 and 95 percent through the bridges at Mile 36–37 during average flow periods.The U.S. Geological Survey’s Multi-Dimensional Surface-Water Modeling System was used to simulate water-surface elevation and velocity, and to compute bed shear stress at two areas where the Copper River is affecting the Copper River Highway. After calibration, the model was used to examine the

Looking for an old aerial photograph

Science.gov (United States)

,

1997-01-01

Attempts to photograph the surface of the Earth date from the 1800's, when photographers attached cameras to balloons, kites, and even pigeons. Today, aerial photographs and satellite images are commonplace. The rate of acquiring aerial photographs and satellite images has increased rapidly in recent years. Views of the Earth obtained from aircraft or satellites have become valuable tools to Government resource planners and managers, land-use experts, environmentalists, engineers, scientists, and a wide variety of other users. Many people want historical aerial photographs for business or personal reasons. They may want to locate the boundaries of an old farm or a piece of family property. Or they may want a photograph as a record of changes in their neighborhood, or as a gift. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains the Earth Science Information Centers (ESIC?s) to sell aerial photographs, remotely sensed images from satellites, a wide array of digital geographic and cartographic data, as well as the Bureau?s wellknown maps. Declassified photographs from early spy satellites were recently added to the ESIC offerings of historical images. Using the Aerial Photography Summary Record System database, ESIC researchers can help customers find imagery in the collections of other Federal agencies and, in some cases, those of private companies that specialize in esoteric products.

Aerial service robotics: the AIRobots perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marconi, L.; Basile, F.; Caprari, G.; Carloni, Raffaella; Chiacchio, P.; Hurzeler, C.; Lippiello, V.; Naldi, R.; Siciliano, B.; Stramigioli, Stefano; Zwicker, E.

This paper presents the main vision and research activities of the ongoing European project AIRobots (Innova- tive Aerial Service Robot for Remote Inspection by Contact, www.airobots.eu). The goal of AIRobots is to develop a new generation of aerial service robots capable of supporting human beings

A REVIEW OF TACTICAL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE DESIGN STUDIES

OpenAIRE

Coban, Sezer; Oktay, Tugrul

2017-01-01

In this study, a literaturesearch was conducted on tactical unmanned aerial vehicles. First of all, it wasclassified as an unmanned aerial vehicle. It is mentioned about thecharacteristics of ZANKA-III, which is highly autonomous, passive and activemorphing, aerodynamically perfect, tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV)ZANKA-III, supported by TUBITAK's 1001 Ardeb program 115M603 by TUBITAK and itis mentioned that they have superior characteristics from other tacticalunmanned aerial veh...

History of river regulation of the Noce River (NE Italy) and related bio-morphodynamic responses

Science.gov (United States)

Serlet, Alyssa; Scorpio, Vittoria; Mastronunzio, Marco; Proto, Matteo; Zen, Simone; Zolezzi, Guido; Bertoldi, Walter; Comiti, Francesco; Prà, Elena Dai; Surian, Nicola; Gurnell, Angela

2016-04-01

The Noce River is a hydropower-regulated Alpine stream in Northern-East Italy and a major tributary of the Adige River, the second longest Italian river. The objective of the research is to investigate the response of the lower course of the Noce to two main stages of hydromorphological regulation; channelization/ diversion and, one century later, hydropower regulation. This research uses a historical reconstruction to link the geomorphic response with natural and human-induced factors by identifying morphological and vegetation features from historical maps and airborne photogrammetry and implementing a quantitative analysis of the river response to channelization and flow / sediment supply regulation related to hydropower development. A descriptive overview is presented. The concept of evolutionary trajectory is integrated with predictions from morphodynamic theories for river bars that allow increased insight to investigate the river response to a complex sequence of regulatory events such as development of bars, islands and riparian vegetation. Until the mid-19th century the river had a multi-thread channel pattern. Thereafter (1852) the river was straightened and diverted. Upstream of Mezzolombardo village the river was constrained between embankments of approximately 100 m width while downstream they are of approximately 50 m width. Since channelization some interesting geomorphic changes have appeared in the river e.g. the appearance of alternate bars in the channel. In 1926 there was a breach in the right bank of the downstream part that resulted in a multi-thread river reach which can be viewed as a recovery to the earlier multi-thread pattern. After the 1950's the flow and sediment supply became strongly regulated by hydropower development. The analysis of aerial images reveals that the multi-thread reach became progressively stabilized by vegetation development over the bars, though signs of some dynamics can still be recognizable today, despite the

Scale orientated analysis of river width changes due to extreme flood hazards

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Krapesch

2011-08-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses the morphological effects of extreme floods (recurrence interval >100 years and examines which parameters best describe the width changes due to erosion based on 5 affected alpine gravel bed rivers in Austria. The research was based on vertical aerial photos of the rivers before and after extreme floods, hydrodynamic numerical models and cross sectional measurements supported by LiDAR data of the rivers. Average width ratios (width after/before the flood were calculated and correlated with different hydraulic parameters (specific stream power, shear stress, flow area, specific discharge. Depending on the geomorphological boundary conditions of the different rivers, a mean width ratio between 1.12 (Lech River and 3.45 (Trisanna River was determined on the reach scale. The specific stream power (SSP best predicted the mean width ratios of the rivers especially on the reach scale and sub reach scale. On the local scale more parameters have to be considered to define the "minimum morphological spatial demand of rivers", which is a crucial parameter for addressing and managing flood hazards and should be used in hazard zone plans and spatial planning.

Kinbasket Reservoir and Upper Columbia River Kokanee spawner index 2005

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manson, H.; Porto, L.

2006-01-01

The results of an escapement survey for tributaries to the Kinbasket Reservoir and the Upper Columbia River were provided. Two aerial surveys were conducted during October, 2005. The Kokanee were grouped in schools and summed in order to provide independent estimates. Otoliths of the fish were also extracted in order to determine their age. Results of the survey showed that an estimated 236,760 Kokanee fish were spawning within 11 index streams and rivers within the Kinbasket Reservoir drainage area. Mean fork length was estimated at 24.7 cm. While the Columbia River continues to be the most important Kokanee spawning location in the Kinbasket Reservoir drainage area, the 2005 Kokanee escapement index was the third lowest recorded since 1996. It was concluded that declining fish size and declining abundance may indicate reduced reservoir productivity. 5 refs., 1 tab., 4 figs

Superpixel-Based Feature for Aerial Image Scene Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongguang Li

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Image scene recognition is a core technology for many aerial remote sensing applications. Different landforms are inputted as different scenes in aerial imaging, and all landform information is regarded as valuable for aerial image scene recognition. However, the conventional features of the Bag-of-Words model are designed using local points or other related information and thus are unable to fully describe landform areas. This limitation cannot be ignored when the aim is to ensure accurate aerial scene recognition. A novel superpixel-based feature is proposed in this study to characterize aerial image scenes. Then, based on the proposed feature, a scene recognition method of the Bag-of-Words model for aerial imaging is designed. The proposed superpixel-based feature that utilizes landform information establishes top-task superpixel extraction of landforms to bottom-task expression of feature vectors. This characterization technique comprises the following steps: simple linear iterative clustering based superpixel segmentation, adaptive filter bank construction, Lie group-based feature quantification, and visual saliency model-based feature weighting. Experiments of image scene recognition are carried out using real image data captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV. The recognition accuracy of the proposed superpixel-based feature is 95.1%, which is higher than those of scene recognition algorithms based on other local features.

CERN: an aerial view

CERN Multimedia

2004-01-01

On 30th January, when CERN still resembled a winter wonderland, a helicopter with a photographer on board took off on an aerial tour. One sunny morning at the end of January, when the area was waking up to an overnight snowfall, a helicopter took off from the Meyrin site with a CERN photographer on board. CERN has been the subject of aerial photographs ever since its creation. Although its appearance has changed over the years, the Laboratory has aged well. The aerial photographs taken during its fifty-year history bear witness to its expansion, showing how a handful of buildings and a first accelerator have blossomed into an entire machine complex. Let's take to the skies and have a look at some of the photos taken on this crisp January morning: a sight for sore eyes! In the foreground, Building 40 on the Meyrin site is recognisable from its magnet shape.On the right of the Route de Meyrin (crossing the photo diagonally), next to Point 1, the work on the Globe of Innovation, which got underway at the beg...

Passive Aerial Grasping of Ferrous Objects

KAUST Repository

Fiaz, Usman Amin

2017-10-19

Aerial transportation is probably the most efficient way to supply quick and effective aid especially in cases of emergency like search and rescue operations. Thus the ability to grasp and deliver objects is of vital importance in all sorts of unmanned and autonomous aerial operations. We detail a simple yet novel approach for aerial grasping of ferrous objects using a passive magnetic pickup and an impulse based drop mechanism. The design enables our gripper to grasp ferrous objects using single as well as multiple gripping pads, with visual as well as pickup and drop feedback. We describe the various components of the gripper with emphasis on its low mass and high lift capability since weight is a matter of high consideration in all aerial applications. In addition, we investigate and address the issues that may cause our design to fail. We demonstrate by experiments that the proposed design is robust and effective, based on its high payload capability, its sturdiness against possible slide during aggressive aerial maneuvers, and optimum performance of the drop mechanism for the designed range of payloads. We also show that the gripper is able to pick up and drop a single as well as multiple ferrous objects of different shapes, curvature, and inclination, which also involves picking up an object and then grasping the next, while keeping hold of the previous one.

Passive Aerial Grasping of Ferrous Objects

KAUST Repository

Fiaz, Usman; Toumi, Noureddine; Shamma, Jeff S.

2017-01-01

Aerial transportation is probably the most efficient way to supply quick and effective aid especially in cases of emergency like search and rescue operations. Thus the ability to grasp and deliver objects is of vital importance in all sorts of unmanned and autonomous aerial operations. We detail a simple yet novel approach for aerial grasping of ferrous objects using a passive magnetic pickup and an impulse based drop mechanism. The design enables our gripper to grasp ferrous objects using single as well as multiple gripping pads, with visual as well as pickup and drop feedback. We describe the various components of the gripper with emphasis on its low mass and high lift capability since weight is a matter of high consideration in all aerial applications. In addition, we investigate and address the issues that may cause our design to fail. We demonstrate by experiments that the proposed design is robust and effective, based on its high payload capability, its sturdiness against possible slide during aggressive aerial maneuvers, and optimum performance of the drop mechanism for the designed range of payloads. We also show that the gripper is able to pick up and drop a single as well as multiple ferrous objects of different shapes, curvature, and inclination, which also involves picking up an object and then grasping the next, while keeping hold of the previous one.

1954 Lea County DHO Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

Index for SCS 1934-1937 Aerial Photography

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1941 Otero County CTF Aerial Photo Idnex

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1946 Whitewater-Animas DDR Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1947 Sandoval County DFD Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1946 Eddy County DEO Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1936 Curry County AG Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

Glaciers along proposed routes extending the Copper River Highway, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Glass, R.L.

1996-01-01

Three inland highway routes are being considered by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to connect the community of Cordova in southcentral Alaska to a statewide road system. The routes use part of a Copper River and Northwest Railway alignment along the Copper River through mountainous terrain having numerous glaciers. An advance of any of several glaciers could block and destroy the roadway, whereas retreating glaciers expose large quantities of unconsolidated, unvegetated, and commonly ice-rich sediments. The purpose of this study was to map historical locations of glacier termini near these routes and to describe hazards associated with glaciers and seasonal snow. Historical and recent locations of glacier termini along the proposed Copper River Highway routes were determined by reviewing reports and maps and by interpreting aerial photographs. The termini of Childs, Grinnell, Tasnuna, and Woodworth Glaciers were 1 mile or less from a proposed route in the most recently available aerial photography (1978-91); the termini of Allen, Heney, and Schwan Glaciers were 1.5 miles or less from a proposed route. In general, since 1911, most glaciers have slowly retreated, but many glaciers have had occasional advances. Deserted Glacier and one of its tributary glaciers have surge-type medial moraines, indicating potential rapid advances. The terminus of Deserted Glacier was about 2.1 miles from a proposed route in 1978, but showed no evidence of surging. Snow and rock avalanches and snowdrifts are common along the proposed routes and will periodically obstruct the roadway. Floods from ice-dammed lakes also pose a threat. For example, Van Cleve Lake, adjacent to Miles Glacier, is as large as 4.4 square miles and empties about every 6 years. Floods from drainages of Van Cleve Lake have caused the Copper River to rise on the order of 20 feet at Million Dollar Bridge.

Preliminary Design of Aerial Spraying System for Microlight Aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Omar, Zamri; Idris, Nurfazliawati; Rahim, M. Zulafif

2017-10-01

Undoubtedly agricultural is an important sector because it provides essential nutrients for human, and consequently is among the biggest sector for economic growth worldwide. It is crucial to ensure crops production is protected from any plant diseases and pests. Thus aerial spraying system on crops is developed to facilitate farmers to for crops pests control and it is very effective spraying method especially for large and hilly crop areas. However, the use of large aircraft for aerial spaying has a relatively high operational cost. Therefore, microlight aircraft is proposed to be used for crops aerial spraying works for several good reasons. In this paper, a preliminary design of aerial spraying system for microlight aircraft is proposed. Engineering design methodology is adopted in the development of the aerial sprayer and steps involved design are discussed thoroughly. A preliminary design for the microlight to be attached with an aerial spraying system is proposed.

Historical Channel Adjustment and Estimates of Selected Hydraulic Values in the Lower Sabine River and Lower Brazos River Basins, Texas and Louisiana

Science.gov (United States)

Heitmuller, Franklin T.; Greene, Lauren E.

2009-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Texas Water Development Board, evaluated historical channel adjustment and estimated selected hydraulic values at U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations in the lower Sabine River Basin in Texas and Louisiana and lower Brazos River Basin in Texas to support geomorphic assessments of the Texas Instream Flow Program. Channel attributes including cross-section geometry, slope, and planform change were evaluated to learn how each river's morphology changed over the years in response to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Historical and contemporary cross-sectional channel geometries at several gaging stations on each river were compared, planform changes were assessed, and hydraulic values were estimated including mean flow velocity, bed shear stress, Froude numbers, and hydraulic depth. The primary sources of historical channel morphology information were U.S. Geological Survey hard-copy discharge-measurement field notes. Additional analyses were done using computations of selected flow hydraulics, comparisons of historical and contemporary aerial photographs, comparisons of historical and contemporary ground photographs, evaluations of how frequently stage-discharge rating curves were updated, reviews of stage-discharge relations for field measurements, and considerations of bridge and reservoir construction activities. Based on historical cross sections at three gaging stations downstream from Toledo Bend Reservoir, the lower Sabine River is relatively stable, but is subject to substantial temporary scour-and-fill processes during floods. Exceptions to this characterization of relative stability include an episode of channel aggradation at the Sabine River near Bon Wier, Texas, during the 1930s, and about 2 to 3 feet of channel incision at the Sabine River near Burkeville, Texas, since the late 1950s. The Brazos River, at gaging stations downstream from Waco, Texas, has adjusted to a combination of

1970's Mosaic of Aerial Photography of the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, St. Croix, USVI

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aerial photographs taken by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey during 1977 and 1971 were mosaicked and orthorectified by the Biogeography Program resulting in a single...

Presence of amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) in rainwater suggests aerial dispersal is possible

Science.gov (United States)

Kolby, Jonathan E.; Sara D. Ramirez,; Lee Berger,; Griffin, Dale W.; Merlijn Jocque,; Lee F. Skerratt,

2015-01-01

Abstract Global spread of the pathogenic amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) may involve dispersal mechanisms not previously explored. Weather systems accompanied by strong wind and rainfall have been known to assist the dispersal of microbes pathogenic to plants and animals, and we considered a similar phenomenon might occur with Bd. We investigated this concept by sampling rainwater from 20 precipitation events for the presence of Bd in Cusuco National Park, Honduras: a site where high Bd prevalence was previously detected in stream-associated amphibians. Quantitative PCR analysis confirmed the presence of Bd in rainwater in one (5 %) of the weather events sampled, although viability cannot be ascertained from molecular presence alone. The source of the Bd and distance that the contaminated rainwater traveled could not be determined; however, this collection site was located approximately 600 m from the nearest observed perennial river by straight-line aerial distance. Although our results suggest atmospheric Bd dispersal is uncommon and unpredictable, even occasional short-distance aerial transport could considerably expand the taxonomic diversity of amphibians vulnerable to exposure and at risk of decline, including terrestrial and arboreal species that are not associated with permanent water bodies.

Land cover mapping and GIS processing for the Savannah River Site Database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christel, L.M.; Guber, A.L.

1994-07-01

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and operated by Westinghouse Savannah River Company. Located in Barnwell, Aiken, and Allendale counties in South Carolina, SRS covers an area of approximately 77,700 hectares. Land cover information for SRS was interpreted from color and color infrared aerial photography acquired between 1980 and 1989. The data were then used as the source of the land cover data layer for the SRS sitewide Geographic Information System database. This database provides SRS managers with recent land use information and has been successfully used to support cost-effective site characterization and reclamation

Online Aerial Terrain Mapping for Ground Robot Navigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Peterson

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This work presents a collaborative unmanned aerial and ground vehicle system which utilizes the aerial vehicle’s overhead view to inform the ground vehicle’s path planning in real time. The aerial vehicle acquires imagery which is assembled into a orthomosaic and then classified. These terrain classes are used to estimate relative navigation costs for the ground vehicle so energy-efficient paths may be generated and then executed. The two vehicles are registered in a common coordinate frame using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS and all image processing is performed onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle, which minimizes the data exchanged between the vehicles. This paper describes the architecture of the system and quantifies the registration errors between the vehicles.

7 CFR 1755.507 - Aerial cable services.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... requirements: (1) Strand supported lashed construction shall be used. (2) Where practicable a 5/16 in. (8 mm...) Construction on poles shall comply with applicable construction drawings for regular line construction. Aerial... copper and fiber optic cables. (4) Where practicable, aerial cable shall pass under electrical guys...

Mapping the temporary and perennial character of whole river networks

Science.gov (United States)

González-Ferreras, A. M.; Barquín, J.

2017-08-01

Knowledge of the spatial distribution of temporary and perennial river channels in a whole catchment is important for effective integrated basin management and river biodiversity conservation. However, this information is usually not available or is incomplete. In this study, we present a statistically based methodology to classify river segments from a whole river network (Deva-Cares catchment, Northern Spain) as temporary or perennial. This method is based on an a priori classification of a subset of river segments as temporary or perennial, using field surveys and aerial images, and then running Random Forest models to predict classification membership for the rest of the river network. The independent variables and the river network were derived following a computer-based geospatial simulation of riverine landscapes. The model results show high values of overall accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity for the evaluation of the fitted model to the training and testing data set (≥0.9). The most important independent variables were catchment area, area occupied by broadleaf forest, minimum monthly precipitation in August, and average catchment elevation. The final map shows 7525 temporary river segments (1012.5 km) and 3731 perennial river segments (662.5 km). A subsequent validation of the mapping results using River Habitat Survey data and expert knowledge supported the validity of the proposed maps. We conclude that the proposed methodology is a valid method for mapping the limits of flow permanence that could substantially increase our understanding of the spatial links between terrestrial and aquatic interfaces, improving the research, management, and conservation of river biodiversity and functioning.

A Simple Aerial Photogrammetric Mapping System Overview and Image Acquisition Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenang Anurogo

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Aerial photogrammetry is one of the Alternative technologies for more detailed data, real time, fast and cheaper. Nowadays, many photogrammetric mapping methods have used UAV / unmanned drones or drones to retrieve and record data from an object in the earth. The application of drones in the field of geospatial science today is in great demand because of its relatively easy operation and relatively affordable cost compared to satellite systems especially high - resolution satellite imagery.  This research aims to determine the stage or overview of data retrieval process with DJI Phantom 4 (multi - rotor quad - copter drone with processing using third party software. This research also produces 2 - dimensional high resolution image data on the research area. Utilization of third party software (Agisoft PhotoScan making it easier to acquire and process aerial photogrammetric data. The results of aerial photogrammetric recording with a flying altitude of 70 meters obtained high resolution images with a spatial resolution of 2 inches / pixels.

1935 15' Quad #292 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #246 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #364 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #056 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #032 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #063 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #147 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #265 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #222 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #122 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #004 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #410 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #368 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #180 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #349 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #266 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #130 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #387 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #223 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #127 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #350 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #009 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #062 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #221 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #243 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #155 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #059 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #152 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #226 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #126 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #037 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #227 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #132 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #298 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #361 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #100 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #490 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #181 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #345 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #272 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #339 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #270 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #219 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #259 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #267 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #386 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #202 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #319 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #370 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #297 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #124 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #388 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #145 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #371 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #269 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #197 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #373 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #172 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #179 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #084 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #054 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #057 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #086 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #010 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #079 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #055 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #083 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #035 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #033 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #012 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #008 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #013 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #110 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #011 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #078 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #109 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #036 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #105 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #085 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #007 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #080 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #201 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #082 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #061 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #006 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #058 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #108 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #060 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #030 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #049 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #242 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #075 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #074 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #176 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #316 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #415 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report. Aerial Protection of Mekong River Convoys in Cambodia

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Mitchell, William A

1971-01-01

...) shortages in the Khmer Republic (Cambodia) which had resulted from successful enemy attacks on commercial shipping vessels sailing the Mekong River inside Cambodia These attacks, combined with the closure of land Route 4 from the port city...

1936 Quay County AG Index Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

1947 Dona Ana County DEY Aerial Photo Index

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial photographs are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The aerial photo inventory contains imagery from various sources that are now archived at the Earth...

An Aerial Video Stabilization Method Based on SURF Feature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wu Hao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The video captured by Micro Aerial Vehicle is often degraded due to unexpected random trembling and jitter caused by wind and the shake of the aerial platform. An approach for stabilizing the aerial video based on SURF feature and Kalman filter is proposed. SURF feature points are extracted in each frame, and the feature points between adjacent frames are matched using Fast Library for Approximate Nearest Neighbors search method. Then Random Sampling Consensus matching algorithm and Least Squares Method are used to remove mismatching points pairs, and estimate the transformation between the adjacent images. Finally, Kalman filter is applied to smooth the motion parameters and separate Intentional Motion from Unwanted Motion to stabilize the aerial video. Experiments results show that the approach can stabilize aerial video efficiently with high accuracy, and it is robust to the translation, rotation and zooming motion of camera.

Discussion on emergency aerial survey system for practical use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moriuchi, Shigeru; Nagaoka, Toshi; Sakamoto, Ryuichi; Tsutsumi, Masahiro; Satio, Kimiaki; Amano, Hikaru; Matsunaga, Takeshi; Yanase, Nobuyuki; Kasai, Atsushi

1989-02-01

In 1980, after the occurrence of the TMI-2 accident in the United States, JAERI started the research and development of aerial survey techniques, and completed two prototype aerial survey systems in 1985 for gamma ray survey and for radioactivity monitoring. Following the Chernobyl reactor accident which occured in Soviet Union in 1986, European countries experienced environmental radiological monitoring using their aerial survey systems, and proved the effectiveness of aerial survey in the emergency. This report describes the outline of the prototype survey systems developed at JAERI, and showed the practical survey systems data processing, data analysis and the techniques including data processing, data analysis and the example outputs. Also, this report made some proposals concerning practical construction and the arrangement of the aerial survey equipments and the establishment of organization which takes charge of the practical emergency survey and the routine maintenance, based on our past experience. (author)

Application of remote sensing methods for detection of water pollution degree in rivers and water reservoirs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krzyworzeka, M.; Piasek, Z.

1997-01-01

The paper presents non-contact registration methods of the electromagnetic radiation which can be used for the detection of water pollution in rivers and water reservoirs. These methods include aerial photographs, satellite images and thermograms. The satellite images need reprocessing to obtain the mutual comparability of the images from various multispectral scanners (TM and MSS)

Telemetry of Aerial Radiological Measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, H. W. Jr.

2002-01-01

Telemetry has been added to National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA's) Aerial Measuring System (AMS) Incident Response aircraft to accelerate availability of aerial radiological mapping data. Rapid aerial radiological mapping is promptly performed by AMS Incident Response aircraft in the event of a major radiological dispersal. The AMS airplane flies the entire potentially affected area, plus a generous margin, to provide a quick look at the extent and severity of the event. The primary result of the AMS Incident Response over flight is a map of estimated exposure rate on the ground along the flight path. Formerly, it was necessary to wait for the airplane to land before the map could be seen. Now, while the flight is still in progress, data are relayed via satellite directly from the aircraft to an operations center, where they are displayed and disseminated. This permits more timely utilization of results by decision makers and redirection of the mission to optimize its value. The current telemetry capability can cover all of North America. Extension to a global capability is under consideration

Aerial Triangulation Close-range Images with Dual Quaternion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SHENG Qinghong

2015-05-01

Full Text Available A new method for the aerial triangulation of close-range images based on dual quaternion is presented. Using dual quaternion to represent the spiral screw motion of the beam in the space, the real part of dual quaternion represents the angular elements of all the beams in the close-range area networks, the real part and the dual part of dual quaternion represents the line elements corporately. Finally, an aerial triangulation adjustment model based on dual quaternion is established, and the elements of interior orientation and exterior orientation and the object coordinates of the ground points are calculated. Real images and large attitude angle simulated images are selected to run the experiments of aerial triangulation. The experimental results show that the new method for the aerial triangulation of close-range images based on dual quaternion can obtain higher accuracy.

Towards Biological Restoration of Tehran Megalopolis River Valleys- Case Study: Farahzad River

Science.gov (United States)

Samadi, Nafishe; Oveis Torabi, Seyed; Akhani, Hossein

2017-04-01

Towards biological restoration of Tehran megalopolis river-valleys: case study Farahzad river 1Nafiseh Samadi, 2OveisTorabi, 3Hossein Akhani 1Mahsab Shargh Company, Tehran ,Iran, nafiseh19@gmail.com 2 Mahsab Shargh Company, Tehran ,Iran, weg@tna-co.com 3Department of Plant Sciences, Halophytes and C4 Research Laboratory, School of Biology, College of Sciences, University of Tehran, PO Box 14155-6455, Tehran, Iran, akhani@khayam.ut.ac.ir Tehran is located in northcentral parts of Iran on the alluvium of southern Alborz Mountains. Seven rivers originated from the highlands of N Tehran run inside and around the city. Many of these river valleys have been deformed by a variety of urban utilizations such as garden, building, canal, park, autobahn etc. Tehran with more than eight million populations suffered from adverse environmental conditions such as pollution and scarcity of natural habitats for recreational activities. Ecological restoration of altered river valleys of Tehran is one of the priorities of Tehran municipality started as a pilot project in Farahzad river. Intensive disturbance, conversion into various urban utilization, illegal building construction, waste water release into the river, garbage accumulation, artificial park constructions and domination of invasive species have largely altered the river. Parts of the river located in Pardisan Nature Park was studied before its complete deformation into a modern park. The riparian vegetation consisted of Tamarix ramosissima and Salix acmophylla shrubs with large number of aquatic and palustric plants. The norther parts of the river still contain semi-natural vegetation which change into patchy and intensive degraded habitats towards its southern parts. In northern parts of valley there are old gardens of Morus alba and Juglans regia, and planted trees such as Plataneus oreientalis and Acer negundo. Salix acmophylla, Fraxinus excelsior and Celtis caucasica are native species growing on river margin or

Optimization of the Flight Path of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasyl Myklukha

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The article describes the features of optimizing the flight path of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The paper analyzes the composition and designation of main equipment and payload of unmanned aerial vehicle. In particular, attention is drawn to the basic requirements that relate to the unmanned aerial vehicle today.

Groundwater controls on river channel pattern

Science.gov (United States)

Bätz, Nico; Colombini, Pauline; Cherubini, Paolo; Lane, Stuart N.

2017-04-01

Braided rivers are characterized by high rates of morphological change. However, despite the potential for frequent disturbance, vegetated patches may develop within this system and influence long-term channel dynamics and channel patterns through the "engineering effects" of vegetation. The stabilizing effect of developing vegetation on morphological change has been widely shown by flume experiments and (historic) aerial pictures analysis. Thus, there is a balance between disturbance and stabilization, mediated through vegetation, that may determine the long-term geomorphic and biogeomorphic evolution of the river. It follows that with a change in disturbance frequency relative to the rate of vegetation establishment, a systematic geomorphological shift could occur. Research has addressed how changes in disturbance frequency affect river channel pattern, but has rarely addressed the way in which the stabilizing effects of biogeomorphic succession interact with disturbance frequency to maintain a river in a more dynamic or a less dynamic state. Here, we quantify how the interplay between groundwater access, disturbance frequency and vegetation succession, drive changes in channel pattern. We studied this complex interplay on a transitional gravel-bed river system (braided, wandering, meandering) close to Geneva (Switzerland) - the Allondon River. Dendroecological analysis demonstrate that vegetation growth is driven by groundwater access. Groundwater access conditions the rate of vegetation stabilization at the sub-reach scale and, due to a reduction in flood-related disturbance frequency over the last 50 years, drives a change in channel pattern. Where groundwater is shallower, vegetation encroachment rates were high and as flood-related disturbance decreased, the river has shifted towards a meandering state. Where groundwater was deeper, vegetation growth was limited by water-access and thus vegetation encroachment rates were low. Even though there was a

An automatic high precision registration method between large area aerial images and aerial light detection and ranging data

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Q.; Xie, D.; Sun, Y.

2015-06-01

The integration of digital aerial photogrammetry and Light Detetion And Ranging (LiDAR) is an inevitable trend in Surveying and Mapping field. We calculate the external orientation elements of images which identical with LiDAR coordinate to realize automatic high precision registration between aerial images and LiDAR data. There are two ways to calculate orientation elements. One is single image spatial resection using image matching 3D points that registered to LiDAR. The other one is Position and Orientation System (POS) data supported aerotriangulation. The high precision registration points are selected as Ground Control Points (GCPs) instead of measuring GCPs manually during aerotriangulation. The registration experiments indicate that the method which registering aerial images and LiDAR points has a great advantage in higher automation and precision compare with manual registration.

Aeromagnetic and aerial photographic survey in the South Shetland Islands,Antarctica, conducted by a small unmanned aerial vehicle (Ant-Plane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minoru Funaki

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Two small unmanned aerial vehicles, Ant-Plane 6 and Ant-Plane 3, were assembled using parts and technologies developed for model airplanes. The aerial vehicles were scheduled to conduct aero magnetic and photographic surveys of the Brans?eld Basin, from a takeoff runway at Marsh Air?eld on the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, during January 2011. However, the scheduled surveys were not conducted on account of poor weather. Research was later conducted on a glacier, using a takeoff runway at St. Kliment Ohridski Base, Livingston Island, during December 2011. A ?ight from St. Kliment Ohridski Base to Deception Island yielded satisfactory results; the total distance of 302.4 km was traversed in 3 h 7 min (3:07. On this ?ight, aeromagnetic and aerial photographic data were obtained from an altitude of 780 m for a 9×18 km area on the northern half of Deception Island. Aerial photographs of Deception Island and South Bay showed the distributions of glaciers and their crevasses. The Ant-Plane ?ew over the Antarctic horizon and surveyed above Deception Island. That was the successful venture of this kind, demonstrating that airborne surveys by Ant-Planes are useful for Antarctic research investigations. Airborne surveys provide a safe and economical approach to data acquisition as compared with manned aerial operations.

Arachnid aloft: directed aerial descent in neotropical canopy spiders.

Science.gov (United States)

Yanoviak, Stephen P; Munk, Yonatan; Dudley, Robert

2015-09-06

The behaviour of directed aerial descent has been described for numerous taxa of wingless hexapods as they fall from the tropical rainforest canopy, but is not known in other terrestrial arthropods. Here, we describe similar controlled aerial behaviours for large arboreal spiders in the genus Selenops (Selenopidae). We dropped 59 such spiders from either canopy platforms or tree crowns in Panama and Peru; the majority (93%) directed their aerial trajectories towards and then landed upon nearby tree trunks. Following initial dorsoventral righting when necessary, falling spiders oriented themselves and then translated head-first towards targets; directional changes were correlated with bilaterally asymmetric motions of the anterolaterally extended forelegs. Aerial performance (i.e. the glide index) decreased with increasing body mass and wing loading, but not with projected surface area of the spider. Along with the occurrence of directed aerial descent in ants, jumping bristletails, and other wingless hexapods, this discovery of targeted gliding in selenopid spiders further indicates strong selective pressures against uncontrolled falls into the understory for arboreal taxa. © 2015 The Author(s).

Re-examining data-intensive surface water models with high-resolution topography derived from unmanned aerial system photogrammetry

Science.gov (United States)

Pai, H.; Tyler, S.

2017-12-01

Small, unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) are quickly becoming a cost-effective and easily deployable tool for high spatial resolution environmental sensing. Land surface studies from sUAS imagery have largely focused on accurate topographic mapping, quantifying geomorphologic changes, and classification/identification of vegetation, sediment, and water quality tracers. In this work, we explore a further application of sUAS-derived topographic mapping to a two-dimensional (2-d), depth-averaged river hydraulic model (Flow and Sediment Transport with Morphological Evolution of Channels, FaSTMECH) along a short, meandering reach of East River, Colorado. On August 8, 2016, we flew a sUAS as part of the Center for Transformative Environmental Monitoring Programs with a consumer-grade visible camera and created a digital elevation map ( 1.5 cm resolution; 5 cm accuracy; 500 m long river corridor) with Agisoft Photoscan software. With the elevation map, we created a longitudinal water surface elevation (WSE) profile by manually delineating the bank-water interface and river bathymetry by applying refraction corrections for more accurate water depth estimates, an area of ongoing research for shallow and clear river systems. We tested both uncorrected and refraction-corrected bathymetries with the steady-state, 2-d model, applying sensitivities for dissipation parameters (bed roughness and eddy characteristics). Model performance was judged from the WSE data and measured stream velocities. While the models converged, performance and insights from model output could be improved with better bed roughness characterization and additional water depth cross-validation for refraction corrections. Overall, this work shows the applicability of sUAS-derived products to a multidimensional river model, where bathymetric data of high resolution and accuracy are key model input requirements.

Application of remote sensing data to land use and land cover assessment in the Tubarao River coastal plain, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

1982-01-01

By means of aerial photography and MSS-LANDSAT data a land use/land cover classification was applied to the Tubarao River coastal plain. The following classes were identified: coal related areas, permanently flooded wetlands, periodically flooded wetlands, agricultural lands, bare soils, water bodies, urban areas, forestlands.

Cytosolic streaming in vegetative mycelium and aerial structures of Aspergillus niger.

Science.gov (United States)

Bleichrodt, R; Vinck, A; Krijgsheld, P; van Leeuwen, M R; Dijksterhuis, J; Wösten, H A B

2013-03-15

Aspergillus niger forms aerial hyphae and conidiophores after a period of vegetative growth. The hyphae within the mycelium of A. niger are divided by septa. The central pore in these septa allows for cytoplasmic streaming. Here, we studied inter- and intra-compartmental streaming of the reporter protein GFP in A. niger. Expression of the gene encoding nuclear targeted GFP from the gpdA or glaA promoter resulted in strong fluorescence of nuclei within the vegetative hyphae and weak fluorescence in nuclei within the aerial structures. These data and nuclear run on experiments showed that gpdA and glaA are higher expressed in the vegetative mycelium when compared to aerial hyphae, conidiophores and conidia. Notably, gpdA or glaA driven expression of the gene encoding cytosolic GFP resulted in strongly fluorescent vegetative hyphae and aerial structures. Apparently, GFP streams from vegetative hyphae into aerial structures. This was confirmed by monitoring fluorescence of photo-activatable GFP (PA-GFP). In contrast, PA-GFP did not stream from aerial structures to vegetative hyphae. Streaming of PA-GFP within vegetative hyphae or within aerial structures of A. niger occurred at a rate of 10-15 μm s(-1). Taken together, these results not only show that GFP streams from the vegetative mycelium to aerial structures but it also indicates that its encoding RNA is not streaming. Absence of RNA streaming would explain why distinct RNA profiles were found in aerial structures and the vegetative mycelium by nuclear run on analysis and micro-array analysis.

1935 15' Quad #129 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - NM

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #173 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - NM

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #417 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - AZ

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #195 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - NM

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #106 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - NM

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

7 CFR 611.21 - Availability of aerial photography.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Availability of aerial photography. 611.21 Section 611.21 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION OPERATIONS SOIL SURVEYS Cartographic Operations § 611.21 Availability of aerial photography. The...

ACQUISION OF GEOMETRICAL DATA OF SMALL RIVERS WITH AN UNMANNED WATER VEHICLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Sardemann

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Rivers with small- and medium-scaled catchments have been increasingly affected by extreme events, i.e. flash floods, in the last years. New methods to describe and predict these events are developed in the interdisciplinary research project EXTRUSO. Flash flood events happen on small temporal and spatial scales, stressing the necessity of high-resolution input data for hydrological and hydrodynamic modelling. Among others, the benefit of high-resolution digital terrain models (DTMs will be evaluated in the project. This article introduces a boat-based approach for the acquisition of geometrical and morphological data of small rivers and their banks. An unmanned water vehicle (UWV is used as a multi-sensor platform to collect 3D-point clouds of the riverbanks, as well as bathymetric measurements of water depth and river morphology. The UWV is equipped with a mobile Lidar, a panorama camera, an echo sounder and a positioning unit. Whole (sub- catchments of small rivers can be digitalized and provided for hydrological modelling when UWV-based and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle based point clouds are fused.

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs, drones) in plant ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Cruzan, Mitchell B; Weinstein, Ben G; Grasty, Monica R; Kohrn, Brendan F; Hendrickson, Elizabeth C; Arredondo, Tina M; Thompson, Pamela G

2016-09-01

Low-elevation surveys with small aerial drones (micro-unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) may be used for a wide variety of applications in plant ecology, including mapping vegetation over small- to medium-sized regions. We provide an overview of methods and procedures for conducting surveys and illustrate some of these applications. Aerial images were obtained by flying a small drone along transects over the area of interest. Images were used to create a composite image (orthomosaic) and a digital surface model (DSM). Vegetation classification was conducted manually and using an automated routine. Coverage of an individual species was estimated from aerial images. We created a vegetation map for the entire region from the orthomosaic and DSM, and mapped the density of one species. Comparison of our manual and automated habitat classification confirmed that our mapping methods were accurate. A species with high contrast to the background matrix allowed adequate estimate of its coverage. The example surveys demonstrate that small aerial drones are capable of gathering large amounts of information on the distribution of vegetation and individual species with minimal impact to sensitive habitats. Low-elevation aerial surveys have potential for a wide range of applications in plant ecology.

Infra Red Aerial Photograph Interpretation for Soil Erosion at Wuryantoro, Wonogiri

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S Suharjo

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Collecting data of soil erosion hazard terrestrially needs much time, high cost, and large energy. Therefore it is needed appropriate technology in addition to terrestrially decreasing necessity of time, cost and energy. Aerial photograph is picture of earth surface, which shape and place similar to condition on earth surface. Using aerial photograph in this research is expected to be able to take account for erosion factors. This research is conducted in Kecamatan Wuryantoro Kabupaten Wonogiri. Research method that used is aerial photograph interpretation with land unit approach. Amounts of soil lost are approached with USLE formula. Aerial photograph that used in this research is aerial photograph coloured infrared with 1:10.000 in scale and 1991 in year of taking photography. The result shows that using aerial photograph is very useful in supporting soil erosion rate calculation. Erosion rate at research area is 0.0968 ton/ha/year to 100.4344 ton/ha/year. This number is included in class of light erosion hazard (

New interpretations of the Fort Clark State Historic Site based on aerial color and thermal infrared imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Heller, Andrew Roland

The Fort Clark State Historic Site (32ME2) is a well known site on the upper Missouri River, North Dakota. The site was the location of two Euroamerican trading posts and a large Mandan-Arikara earthlodge village. In 2004, Dr. Kenneth L. Kvamme and Dr. Tommy Hailey surveyed the site using aerial color and thermal infrared imagery collected from a powered parachute. Individual images were stitched together into large image mosaics and registered to Wood's 1993 interpretive map of the site using Adobe Photoshop. The analysis of those image mosaics resulted in the identification of more than 1,500 archaeological features, including as many as 124 earthlodges.

A summary of ecological investigations at the burial ground complex, Savannah River Site - 1994

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Friday, G.P.; Hartman, G.D.; Mackey, H.E. Jr.; Riley, R.S.; Roach, J.L.; Specht, W.L.; Westbury, H.M.; Wike, L.D.

1994-11-01

This report summarizes the results of three ecological investigations that were conducted in 1994 at the Burial Ground Complex (BGC) at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The three topics of study included remote sensing, aquatic toxicity testing, and qualitative surveys of herpetofauna and small mammals. Interim reports from each investigation are included in the appendices (A, B, and C). The objectives of the remote sensing effort were to compile historical aerial photography of the BGC and to develop a land use/cover map of the complex using recent aerial imagery. The goal of the aquatic toxicity testing was to determine if surface waters were toxic to aquatic biota whereas the objectives of the vertebrate surveys were to identify the species diversity and relative abundances of amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals inhabiting the study area.

A summary of ecological investigations at the burial ground complex, Savannah River Site - 1994

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Friday, G.P.; Hartman, G.D.; Mackey, H.E. Jr.; Riley, R.S.; Roach, J.L.; Specht, W.L.; Westbury, H.M.; Wike, L.D.

1994-11-01

This report summarizes the results of three ecological investigations that were conducted in 1994 at the Burial Ground Complex (BGC) at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The three topics of study included remote sensing, aquatic toxicity testing, and qualitative surveys of herpetofauna and small mammals. Interim reports from each investigation are included in the appendices (A, B, and C). The objectives of the remote sensing effort were to compile historical aerial photography of the BGC and to develop a land use/cover map of the complex using recent aerial imagery. The goal of the aquatic toxicity testing was to determine if surface waters were toxic to aquatic biota whereas the objectives of the vertebrate surveys were to identify the species diversity and relative abundances of amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals inhabiting the study area

Aerial Logistics Management for Carrier Onboard Delivery

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-01

NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS AERIAL LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT FOR CARRIER ONBOARD DELIVERY by Samuel L. Chen September 2016...AND SUBTITLE AERIAL LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT FOR CARRIER ONBOARD DELIVERY 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 6. AUTHOR(S) Samuel L. Chen 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S...delivery (COD) is the use of aircraft to transport people and cargo from a forward logistics site (FLS) to a carrier strike group (CSG). The goal of

River morphodynamics from space: the Landsat frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Schwenk, Jon; Khandelwal, Ankush; Fratkin, Mulu; Kumar, Vipin; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi

2017-04-01

NASA's Landsat family of satellites have been observing the entire globe since 1984, providing over 30 years of snapshots with an 18 day frequency and 30 meter resolution. These publicly-available Landsat data are particularly exciting to researchers interested in river morphodynamics, who are often limited to use of historical maps, aerial photography, and field surveys with poor and irregular time resolutions and limited spatial extents. Landsat archives show potential for overcoming these limitations, but techniques and tools for accurately and efficiently mining the vault of scenes must first be developed. In this PICO presentation, we detail the problems we encountered while mapping and quantifying planform dynamics of over 1,300 km of the actively-migrating, meandering Ucayali River in Peru from Landsat imagery. We also present methods to overcome these obstacles and introduce the Matlab-based RivMAP (River Morphodynamics from Analysis of Planforms) toolbox that we developed to extract banklines and centerlines, compute widths, curvatures, and angles, identify cutoffs, and quantify planform changes via centerline migration and erosion/accretion over large spatial domains with high temporal resolution. Measurement uncertainties were estimated by analyzing immobile, abandoned oxbow lakes. Our results identify hotspots of planform changes, and combined with limited precipitation, stage, and topography data, we parse three simultaneous controls on river migration: climate, sediment, and meander cutoff. Overall, this study demonstrates the vast potential locked within Landsat archives to identify multi-scale controls on river migration, observe the co-evolution of width, curvature, discharge, and migration, and discover and develop new geomorphic insights.

Using small unmanned aerial vehicle for instream habitat evaluation and modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Astegiano, Luca; Vezza, Paolo; Comoglio, Claudio; Lingua, Andrea; Spairani, Michele

2015-04-01

Recent advances in digital image collection and processing have led to the increased use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for river research and management. In this paper, we assess the capabilities of a small UAV to characterize physical habitat for fish in three river stretches of North-Western Italy. The main aim of the study was identifying the advantages and challenges of this technology for environmental river management, in the context of the increasing river exploitation for hydropower production. The UAV used to acquire overlapping images was a small quadcopter with a two different high-resolution (non-metric) cameras (Nikon J1™ and Go-Pro Hero 3 Black Edition™). The quadcopter was preprogrammed to fly set waypoints using a small tablet PC. With the acquired imagery, we constructed a 5-cm resolution orthomosaic image and a digital surface model (DSM). The two products were used to map the distribution of aquatic and riparian habitat features, i.e., wetted area, morphological unit distributions, bathymetry, water surface gradient, substrates and grain sizes, shelters and cover for fish. The study assessed the quality of collected data and used such information to identify key reach-scale metrics and important aspects of fluvial morphology and aquatic habitat. The potential and limitations of using UAV for physical habitat survey were evaluated and the collected data were used to initialize and run common habitat simulation tools (MesoHABSIM). Several advantages of using UAV-based imagery were found, including low cost procedures, high resolution and efficiency in data collection. However, some challenges were identified for bathymetry extraction (vegetation obstructions, white waters, turbidity) and grain size assessment (preprocessing of data and automatic object detection). The application domain and possible limitation for instream habitat mapping were defined and will be used as a reference for future studies. Ongoing activities include the

Geomorphic status of regulated rivers in the Iberian Peninsula.

Science.gov (United States)

Lobera, G; Besné, P; Vericat, D; López-Tarazón, J A; Tena, A; Aristi, I; Díez, J R; Ibisate, A; Larrañaga, A; Elosegi, A; Batalla, R J

2015-03-01

River regulation by dams modifies flow regimes, interrupts the transfer of sediment through channel networks, and alters downstream bed dynamics, altogether affecting channel form and processes. So far, most studies on the geomorphic impacts of dams are restricted to single rivers, or even single river stretches. In this paper we analyse the geomorphic status of 74 river sites distributed across four large basins in the Iberian Peninsula (i.e. 47 sites located downstream of dams). For this purpose, we combine field data with hydrological data available from water agencies, and analyse historical (1970) and current aerial photographs. In particular, we have developed a Geomorphic Status (GS) index that allows us to assess the physical structure of a given channel reach and its change through time. The GS encompasses a determination of changes in sedimentary units, sediment availability, bar stability and channel flow capacity. Sites are statistically grouped in four clusters based on contrasted physical and climate characteristics. Results emphasise that regulation changes river's flow regime with a generalized reduction of the magnitude and frequency of floods (thus flow competence). This, in addition to the decrease downstream sediment supply, results in the loss of active bars as they are encroached by vegetation, to the point that only reaches with little or no regulation maintain exposed sedimentary deposits. The GS of regulated river reaches is negatively correlated with magnitude of the impoundment (regulation). Heavily impacted reaches present channel stabilization and, in contrast to the hydrological response, the distance and number of tributaries do not reverse the geomorphic impact of the dams. Stabilization limits river dynamics and may contribute to the environmental degradation of the fluvial ecosystem. Overall, results describe the degree of geomorphological alteration experienced by representative Iberian rivers mostly because of regulation

U. S. Department of Energy Aerial Measuring Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. J. Lease

1998-10-01

The Aerial Measuring Systems (AMS) is an aerial surveillance system. This system consists of remote sensing equipment to include radiation detectors; multispectral, thermal, radar, and laser scanners; precision cameras; and electronic imaging and still video systems. This equipment, in varying combinations, is mounted in an airplane or helicopter and flown at different heights in specific patterns to gather various types of data. This system is a key element in the US Department of Energy's (DOE) national emergency response assets. The mission of the AMS program is twofold--first, to respond to emergencies involving radioactive materials by conducting aerial surveys to rapidly track and map the contamination that may exist over a large ground area and second, to conduct routinely scheduled, aerial surveys for environmental monitoring and compliance purposes through the use of credible science and technology. The AMS program evolved from an early program, begun by a predecessor to the DOE--the Atomic Energy Commission--to map the radiation that may have existed within and around the terrestrial environments of DOE facilities, which produced, used, or stored radioactive materials.

U. S. Department of Energy Aerial Measuring Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lease, J.J.

1998-01-01

The Aerial Measuring Systems (AMS) is an aerial surveillance system. This system consists of remote sensing equipment to include radiation detectors; multispectral, thermal, radar, and laser scanners; precision cameras; and electronic imaging and still video systems. This equipment, in varying combinations, is mounted in an airplane or helicopter and flown at different heights in specific patterns to gather various types of data. This system is a key element in the US Department of Energy's (DOE) national emergency response assets. The mission of the AMS program is twofold--first, to respond to emergencies involving radioactive materials by conducting aerial surveys to rapidly track and map the contamination that may exist over a large ground area and second, to conduct routinely scheduled, aerial surveys for environmental monitoring and compliance purposes through the use of credible science and technology. The AMS program evolved from an early program, begun by a predecessor to the DOE--the Atomic Energy Commission--to map the radiation that may have existed within and around the terrestrial environments of DOE facilities, which produced, used, or stored radioactive materials

Brief Communication: Mapping river ice using drones and structure from motion

Science.gov (United States)

Alfredsen, Knut; Haas, Christian; Tuhtan, Jeffrey A.; Zinke, Peggy

2018-02-01

In cold climate regions, the formation and break-up of river ice is important for river morphology, winter water supply, and riparian and instream ecology as well as for hydraulic engineering. Data on river ice is therefore significant, both to understand river ice processes directly and to assess ice effects on other systems. Ice measurement is complicated due to difficult site access, the inherent complexity of ice formations, and the potential danger involved in carrying out on-ice measurements. Remote sensing methods are therefore highly useful, and data from satellite-based sensors and, increasingly, aerial and terrestrial imagery are currently applied. Access to low cost drone systems with quality cameras and structure from motion software opens up a new possibility for mapping complex ice formations. Through this method, a georeferenced surface model can be built and data on ice thickness, spatial distribution, and volume can be extracted without accessing the ice, and with considerably fewer measurement efforts compared to traditional surveying methods. A methodology applied to ice mapping is outlined here, and examples are shown of how to successfully derive quantitative data on ice processes.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems for Disaster Relief: Tornado Alley

Science.gov (United States)

DeBusk, Wesley M.

2009-01-01

Unmanned aerial vehicle systems are currently in limited use for public service missions worldwide. Development of civil unmanned technology in the United States currently lags behind military unmanned technology development in part because of unresolved regulatory and technological issues. Civil unmanned aerial vehicle systems have potential to augment disaster relief and emergency response efforts. Optimal design of aerial systems for such applications will lead to unmanned vehicles which provide maximum potentiality for relief and emergency response while accounting for public safety concerns and regulatory requirements. A case study is presented that demonstrates application of a civil unmanned system to a disaster relief mission with the intent on saving lives. The concept utilizes unmanned aircraft to obtain advanced warning and damage assessments for tornados and severe thunderstorms. Overview of a tornado watch mission architecture as well as commentary on risk, cost, need for, and design tradeoffs for unmanned aerial systems are provided.

An Automated Approach to Extracting River Bank Locations from Aerial Imagery Using Image Texture

Science.gov (United States)

2015-11-04

is more likely to be encountered in high latitudes. The technique recognizes areas of urban or rural built environments, such as mowed fields...optical remote sensing of river channel morphology and in-stream habitat : physical basis and feasability. Remote Sensing of the Environment 93: 493

Port-based Modeling and Control of Underactuated Aerial Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mersha, A.Y.; Carloni, Raffaella; Stramigioli, Stefano

2011-01-01

In this paper, we propose a generic model and a controller design for a class of underactuated aerial vehicles, namely for unmanned aerial vehicles whose primary support against gravity is thrust. The approach followed is based on energetic consideration and uses the formalisms of port-Hamiltonian

Aerial service robots: an overview of the AIRobots activity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marconi, L.; Naldi, R.; Torre, A.; Nikolic, J.; Huerzeler, C.; Caprari, G.; Zwicker, E.; Siciliano, B.; Lippiello, V.; Carloni, Raffaella; Stramigioli, Stefano

This video paper outlines some of the results achieved during the first two years of the ongoing European project AIRobots (Innovative Aerial Service Robots for Remote Inspection by Contact, www.airobots.eu). Goal of AIRobots is to develop a new generation of aerial service robots capable of

Detail design of empennage of an unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Sarker, Md. Samad; Panday, Shoyon; Rasel, Md; Salam, Md. Abdus; Faisal, Kh. Md.; Farabi, Tanzimul Hasan

2017-12-01

In order to maintain the operational continuity of air defense systems, unmanned autonomous or remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plays a great role as a target for the anti-aircraft weapons. The aerial vehicle must comply with the requirements of high speed, remotely controlled tracking and navigational aids, operational sustainability and sufficient loiter time. It can also be used for aerial reconnaissance, ground surveillance and other intelligence operations. This paper aims to develop a complete tail design of an unmanned aerial vehicle using Systems Engineering approach. The design fulfils the requirements of longitudinal and directional trim, stability and control provided by the horizontal and vertical tail. Tail control surfaces are designed to provide sufficient control of the aircraft in critical conditions. Design parameters obtained from wing design are utilized in the tail design process as required. Through chronological calculations and successive iterations, optimum values of 26 tail design parameters are determined.

Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review

OpenAIRE

Colomina, Ismael; Molina, Pere

2014-01-01

We discuss the evolution and state-of-the-art of the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in the field of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PaRS). UAS, Remotely-Piloted Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or simply, drones are a hot topic comprising a diverse array of aspects including technology, privacy rights, safety and regulations, and even war and peace. Modern photogrammetry and remote sensing identified the potential of UAS-sourced imagery more than thirty years ago. In the last...

Automatic Georeferencing of Aerial Images by Means of Topographic Database Information

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høhle, Joachim

The book includes a preface and four articles which deal with the automatic georeferencing of aerial images. The articles are the written contribution of an seminar, held at Aalborg University in October 2002. The georeferencing or orientation of aerial images is the first step in mapping tasks l...... like generation of orthoimages, updating of topographic map data bases and generation of digial terrain models.......The book includes a preface and four articles which deal with the automatic georeferencing of aerial images. The articles are the written contribution of an seminar, held at Aalborg University in October 2002. The georeferencing or orientation of aerial images is the first step in mapping tasks...

Aerial Object Following Using Visual Fuzzy Servoing

OpenAIRE

Olivares Méndez, Miguel Ángel; Mondragon Bernal, Ivan Fernando; Campoy Cervera, Pascual; Mejias Alvarez, Luis; Martínez Luna, Carol Viviana

2011-01-01

This article presents a visual servoing system to follow a 3D moving object by a Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MUAV). The presented control strategy is based only on the visual information given by an adaptive tracking method based on the color information. A visual fuzzy system has been developed for servoing the camera situated on a rotary wing MAUV, that also considers its own dynamics. This system is focused on continuously following of an aerial moving target object, maintai...

Fuzzy C-Means Algorithm for Segmentation of Aerial Photography Data Obtained Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Akinin, M. V.; Akinina, N. V.; Klochkov, A. Y.; Nikiforov, M. B.; Sokolova, A. V.

2015-05-01

The report reviewed the algorithm fuzzy c-means, performs image segmentation, give an estimate of the quality of his work on the criterion of Xie-Beni, contain the results of experimental studies of the algorithm in the context of solving the problem of drawing up detailed two-dimensional maps with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. According to the results of the experiment concluded that the possibility of applying the algorithm in problems of decoding images obtained as a result of aerial photography. The considered algorithm can significantly break the original image into a plurality of segments (clusters) in a relatively short period of time, which is achieved by modification of the original k-means algorithm to work in a fuzzy task.

Automated recognition of forest patterns using aerial photographs

Science.gov (United States)

Barbezat, Vincent; Kreiss, Philippe; Sulzmann, Armin; Jacot, Jacques

1996-12-01

In Switzerland, aerial photos are indispensable tools for research into ecosystems and their management. Every six years since 1950, the whole of Switzerland has been systematically surveyed by aerial photos. In the forestry field, these documents not only provide invaluable information but also give support to field activities such as the drawing up of tree population maps, intervention planning, precise positioning of the upper forest limit, evaluation of forest damage and rates of tree growth. Up to now, the analysis of aerial photos has been carried out by specialists who painstakingly examine every photograph, which makes it a very long, exacting and expensive job. The IMT-DMT of the EPFL and Antenne romande of FNP, aware of the special interest involved and the necessity of automated classification of aerial photos, have pooled their resources to develop a software program capable of differentiating between single trees, copses and dense forests. The developed algorithms detect the crowns of the trees and the surface of the orthogonal projection. Form the shadow of each tree they calculate its height. They also determine the position of the tree in the Swiss national coordinate thanks to the implementation of a numeric altitude model. For the future, we have the prospect of many new and better uses of aerial photos being available to us, particularly where isolated stands are concerned and also when evolutions based on a diachronic series of photos have to be assessed: from timberline monitoring in the research on global change to the exploitation of wooded pastures on small surface areas.

Cooperative path planning of unmanned aerial vehicles

CERN Document Server

Tsourdos, Antonios; Shanmugavel, Madhavan

2010-01-01

An invaluable addition to the literature on UAV guidance and cooperative control, Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is a dedicated, practical guide to computational path planning for UAVs. One of the key issues facing future development of UAVs is path planning: it is vital that swarm UAVs/ MAVs can cooperate together in a coordinated manner, obeying a pre-planned course but able to react to their environment by communicating and cooperating. An optimized path is necessary in order to ensure a UAV completes its mission efficiently, safely, and successfully. Focussing on the path planning of multiple UAVs for simultaneous arrival on target, Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles also offers coverage of path planners that are applicable to land, sea, or space-borne vehicles. Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is authored by leading researchers from Cranfield University and provides an authoritative resource for researchers, academics and engineers working in...

Pilot aerial infrared roof top survey. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-10-15

A summary is presented of a pilot aerial infrared roof top study conducted by the Minnesota Energy Agency. Infrared surveys of 27 Minnesota cities were conducted during the fall and winter of the 1976-1977 heating season. In addition, conventional daytime color photographs were taken of several cities. Film processing was done by the Environmental Protection Agency. The University of Minnesota conducted ground tests to verify the aerial infrared imagery. Thermograph dissemination centers were established in each city and training seminars and materials were prepared and delivered to dissemination center staff. A survey of homeowners who viewed their thermograph at a dissemination center were used to determine the energy savings resulting from the program. An Aerial Infrared Program Users Manual was prepared by the Energy Agency and the Remote Sensing Institute of Brookings, South Dakota.

1:500 Scale Aerial Triangulation Test with Unmanned Airship in Hubei Province

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feifei, Xie; Zongjian, Lin; Dezhu, Gui

2014-01-01

A new UAVS (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System) for low altitude aerial photogrammetry is introduced for fine surveying and mapping, including the platform airship, sensor system four-combined wide-angle camera and photogrammetry software MAP-AT. It is demonstrated that this low-altitude aerial photogrammetric system meets the precision requirements of 1:500 scale aerial triangulation based on the test of this system in Hubei province, including the working condition of the airship, the quality of image data and the data processing report. This work provides a possibility for fine surveying and mapping

Numerical Model Study of the Tuscarawas River below Dover Dam, Ohio

Science.gov (United States)

2009-09-01

chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/sms). Cross-sections from a ERDC/CHL TR-09-17 7 HEC - RAS model provided by the district, along with aerial photographs for proper alignment...ER D C/ CH L TR -0 9 -1 7 Numerical Model Study of the Tuscarawas River below Dover Dam, Ohio Richard L. Stockstill and Jane M. Vaughan...September 2009 C oa st al a n d H yd ra u lic s La b or at or y Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. ERDC/CHL TR-09

Applicability of New Approaches of Sensor Orientation to Micro Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Rehak, M.; Skaloud, J.

2016-06-01

This study highlights the benefits of precise aerial position and attitude control in the context of mapping with Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). Accurate mapping with MAVs is gaining importance in applications such as corridor mapping, road and pipeline inspections or mapping of large areas with homogeneous surface structure, e.g. forests or agricultural fields. There, accurate aerial control plays a major role in successful terrain reconstruction and artifact-free ortophoto generation. The presented experiments focus on new approaches of aerial control. We confirm practically that the relative aerial position and attitude control can improve accuracy in difficult mapping scenarios. Indeed, the relative orientation method represents an attractive alternative in the context of MAVs for two reasons. First, the procedure is somewhat simplified, e.g. the angular misalignment, so called boresight, between the camera and the inertial measurement unit (IMU) does not have to be determined and, second, the effect of possible systematic errors in satellite positioning (e.g. due to multipath and/or incorrect recovery of differential carrier-phase ambiguities) is mitigated. First, we present a typical mapping project over an agricultural field and second, we perform a corridor road mapping. We evaluate the proposed methods in scenarios with and without automated image observations. We investigate a recently proposed concept where adjustment is performed using image observations limited to ground control and check points, so called fast aerial triangulation (Fast AT). In this context we show that accurate aerial control (absolute or relative) together with a few image observations can deliver accurate results comparable to classical aerial triangulation with thousands of image measurements. This procedure in turns reduces the demands on processing time and the requirements on the existence of surface texture. Finally, we compare the above mentioned procedures with direct sensor

ARM Unmanned Aerial Systems Implementation Plan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmid, Beat [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Ivey, Mark [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2016-11-01

Recent advances in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) coupled with changes in the regulatory environment for operations of UAS in the National Airspace increase the potential value of UAS to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility. UAS include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and tethered balloon systems (TBS). The roles UAVs and TBSs could play within the ARM Facility, particularly science questions they could help address, have been discussed in several workshops, reports, and vision documents, including: This document describes the implementation of a robust and vigorous program for use of UAV and TBS for the science missions ARM supports.

Iran the aerial defense facing a preventive attack against the nuclear sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gruselle, B.; Payre, G.

2006-01-01

In the context of the nuclear uranium enrichment program development facing the international opinion, the author discusses the Iran policy of implementing a defense against an aerial attack. Even with the modernization of its anti-aerial defense, the Iran will cannot support an aerial american campaign, precise and long. (A.L.B.)

2010 NOAA Ortho-rectified Mosaic from Color Aerial Imagery of MISSISSIPPI RIVER - LAPLACE TO VENICE

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains ortho-rectified mosaic tiles, created as a product from the NOAA Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IOCM) initiative of MISSISSIPPI RIVER -...

Spectral anomaly methods for aerial detection using KUT nuisance rejection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Detwiler, R.S.; Pfund, D.M.; Myjak, M.J.; Kulisek, J.A.; Seifert, C.E.

2015-01-01

This work discusses the application and optimization of a spectral anomaly method for the real-time detection of gamma radiation sources from an aerial helicopter platform. Aerial detection presents several key challenges over ground-based detection. For one, larger and more rapid background fluctuations are typical due to higher speeds, larger field of view, and geographically induced background changes. As well, the possible large altitude or stand-off distance variations cause significant steps in background count rate as well as spectral changes due to increased gamma-ray scatter with detection at higher altitudes. The work here details the adaptation and optimization of the PNNL-developed algorithm Nuisance-Rejecting Spectral Comparison Ratios for Anomaly Detection (NSCRAD), a spectral anomaly method previously developed for ground-based applications, for an aerial platform. The algorithm has been optimized for two multi-detector systems; a NaI(Tl)-detector-based system and a CsI detector array. The optimization here details the adaptation of the spectral windows for a particular set of target sources to aerial detection and the tailoring for the specific detectors. As well, the methodology and results for background rejection methods optimized for the aerial gamma-ray detection using Potassium, Uranium and Thorium (KUT) nuisance rejection are shown. Results indicate that use of a realistic KUT nuisance rejection may eliminate metric rises due to background magnitude and spectral steps encountered in aerial detection due to altitude changes and geographically induced steps such as at land–water interfaces

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs, drones) in plant ecology1

Science.gov (United States)

Cruzan, Mitchell B.; Weinstein, Ben G.; Grasty, Monica R.; Kohrn, Brendan F.; Hendrickson, Elizabeth C.; Arredondo, Tina M.; Thompson, Pamela G.

2016-01-01

Premise of the study: Low-elevation surveys with small aerial drones (micro–unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]) may be used for a wide variety of applications in plant ecology, including mapping vegetation over small- to medium-sized regions. We provide an overview of methods and procedures for conducting surveys and illustrate some of these applications. Methods: Aerial images were obtained by flying a small drone along transects over the area of interest. Images were used to create a composite image (orthomosaic) and a digital surface model (DSM). Vegetation classification was conducted manually and using an automated routine. Coverage of an individual species was estimated from aerial images. Results: We created a vegetation map for the entire region from the orthomosaic and DSM, and mapped the density of one species. Comparison of our manual and automated habitat classification confirmed that our mapping methods were accurate. A species with high contrast to the background matrix allowed adequate estimate of its coverage. Discussion: The example surveys demonstrate that small aerial drones are capable of gathering large amounts of information on the distribution of vegetation and individual species with minimal impact to sensitive habitats. Low-elevation aerial surveys have potential for a wide range of applications in plant ecology. PMID:27672518

AERIAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN ROMANIA. SITES FROM ROMAN DACIA EXAMINED USING AERIAL PHOTOS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rus Gabriel Emanuel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The history of aerial archaeology in Romania is strictly linked to the political history of the state represented by the regimes and bureaucracy systems. The importance of this domain was only acknowledged in Romania after 1989 when important programs were unrolled, in particular those for the sites belonging to the Roman period in Dacia’s area.

Research of aerial imaging spectrometer data acquisition technology based on USB 3.0

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Junze; Wang, Yueming; He, Daogang; Yu, Yanan

2016-11-01

With the emergence of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) platform for aerial imaging spectrometer, research of aerial imaging spectrometer DAS(data acquisition system) faces new challenges. Due to the limitation of platform and other factors, the aerial imaging spectrometer DAS requires small-light, low-cost and universal. Traditional aerial imaging spectrometer DAS system is expensive, bulky, non-universal and unsupported plug-and-play based on PCIe. So that has been unable to meet promotion and application of the aerial imaging spectrometer. In order to solve these problems, the new data acquisition scheme bases on USB3.0 interface.USB3.0 can provide guarantee of small-light, low-cost and universal relying on the forward-looking technology advantage. USB3.0 transmission theory is up to 5Gbps.And the GPIF programming interface achieves 3.2Gbps of the effective theoretical data bandwidth.USB3.0 can fully meet the needs of the aerial imaging spectrometer data transmission rate. The scheme uses the slave FIFO asynchronous data transmission mode between FPGA and USB3014 interface chip. Firstly system collects spectral data from TLK2711 of high-speed serial interface chip. Then FPGA receives data in DDR2 cache after ping-pong data processing. Finally USB3014 interface chip transmits data via automatic-dma approach and uploads to PC by USB3.0 cable. During the manufacture of aerial imaging spectrometer, the DAS can achieve image acquisition, transmission, storage and display. All functions can provide the necessary test detection for aerial imaging spectrometer. The test shows that system performs stable and no data lose. Average transmission speed and storage speed of writing SSD can stabilize at 1.28Gbps. Consequently ,this data acquisition system can meet application requirements for aerial imaging spectrometer.

Air-to-Air UAV Aerial Refueling

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Armstrong researchers, in cooperation with Northrop Grumman Corporation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) demonstrated autonomous aerial...

Hybrid Control of Long-Endurance Aerial Robotic Vehicles for Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deok-Jin Lee

2011-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an effective hybrid control approach for building stable wireless sensor networks between heterogeneous unmanned vehicles using long‐ endurance aerial robotic vehicles. For optimal deployment of the aerial vehicles in communication networks, a gradient climbing based self‐estimating control algorithm is utilized to locate the aerial platforms to maintain maximum communication throughputs between distributed multiple nodes. The autonomous aerial robots, which function as communication relay nodes, extract and harvest thermal energy from the atmospheric environment to improve their flight endurance within specified communication coverage areas. The rapidly‐deployable sensor networks with the high‐endurance aerial vehicles can be used for various application areas including environment monitoring, surveillance, tracking, and decision‐making support. Flight test and simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid control technique for robust communication networks.

Unmanned Aerial System Four-Dimensional Gunnery Training Device Development

Science.gov (United States)

2017-10-01

Aerial System (UAS) Four-Dimensional Gunnery Training Device: Training Effectiveness Assessment (James & Miller, in press). 31 Technical ...Research Product 2018-05 Unmanned Aerial System Four-Dimensional Gunnery Training Device Development David R. James...for the Department of the Army by Northrop Grumman Corporation. Technical review by Thomas Rhett Graves, Ph.D., U.S. Army Research Institute

Amazon River carbon dioxide outgassing fuelled by wetlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Abril, Gwenaël; Martinez, Jean-Michel; Artigas, L Felipe; Moreira-Turcq, Patricia; Benedetti, Marc F; Vidal, Luciana; Meziane, Tarik; Kim, Jung-Hyun; Bernardes, Marcelo C; Savoye, Nicolas; Deborde, Jonathan; Souza, Edivaldo Lima; Albéric, Patrick; Landim de Souza, Marcelo F; Roland, Fabio

2014-01-16

River systems connect the terrestrial biosphere, the atmosphere and the ocean in the global carbon cycle. A recent estimate suggests that up to 3 petagrams of carbon per year could be emitted as carbon dioxide (CO2) from global inland waters, offsetting the carbon uptake by terrestrial ecosystems. It is generally assumed that inland waters emit carbon that has been previously fixed upstream by land plant photosynthesis, then transferred to soils, and subsequently transported downstream in run-off. But at the scale of entire drainage basins, the lateral carbon fluxes carried by small rivers upstream do not account for all of the CO2 emitted from inundated areas downstream. Three-quarters of the world's flooded land consists of temporary wetlands, but the contribution of these productive ecosystems to the inland water carbon budget has been largely overlooked. Here we show that wetlands pump large amounts of atmospheric CO2 into river waters in the floodplains of the central Amazon. Flooded forests and floating vegetation export large amounts of carbon to river waters and the dissolved CO2 can be transported dozens to hundreds of kilometres downstream before being emitted. We estimate that Amazonian wetlands export half of their gross primary production to river waters as dissolved CO2 and organic carbon, compared with only a few per cent of gross primary production exported in upland (not flooded) ecosystems. Moreover, we suggest that wetland carbon export is potentially large enough to account for at least the 0.21 petagrams of carbon emitted per year as CO2 from the central Amazon River and its floodplains. Global carbon budgets should explicitly address temporary or vegetated flooded areas, because these ecosystems combine high aerial primary production with large, fast carbon export, potentially supporting a substantial fraction of CO2 evasion from inland waters.

A Decentralized Interactive Architecture for Aerial and Ground Mobile Robots Cooperation

OpenAIRE

Harik, El Houssein Chouaib; Guérin, François; Guinand, Frédéric; Brethé, Jean-François; Pelvillain, Hervé

2014-01-01

International audience; —This paper presents a novel decentralized interactive architecture for aerial and ground mobile robots cooperation. The aerial mobile robot is used to provide a global coverage during an area inspection, while the ground mobile robot is used to provide a local coverage of ground features. We include a human-in-the-loop to provide waypoints for the ground mobile robot to progress safely in the inspected area. The aerial mobile robot follows continuously the ground mobi...

Some results on the investigation of earth resources by aerial and polygon methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vinnichenko, N K; Tishchenko, A P

1980-01-01

Papers are presented on integrated aerial-satellite remote sensing systems, the resolution of TV scanning systems, the transfer of spectral contrasts in multispectral photography, and pseudocolor representation of multispectral aerial images. Consideration is also given to the use of spectral and physical-geographic characteristics of natural objects on the earth's surface for the interpretation of multispectral satellite photographs, the determination of the types and state of crops from multispectral aerial images, and the automated classification of agricultural objects from their multispectral aerial images.

Remotely deployable aerial inspection using tactile sensors

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeod, C. N.; Cao, J.; Pierce, S. G.; Sullivan, J. C.; Pipe, A. G.; Dobie, G.; Summan, R.

2014-02-01

For structural monitoring applications, the use of remotely deployable Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) inspection platforms offer many advantages, including improved accessibility, greater safety and reduced cost, when compared to traditional manual inspection techniques. The use of such platforms, previously reported by researchers at the University Strathclyde facilitates the potential for rapid scanning of large areas and volumes in hazardous locations. A common problem for both manual and remote deployment approaches lies in the intrinsic stand-off and surface coupling issues of typical NDE probes. The associated complications of these requirements are obviously significantly exacerbated when considering aerial based remote inspection and deployment, resulting in simple visual techniques being the preferred sensor payload. Researchers at Bristol Robotics Laboratory have developed biomimetic tactile sensors modelled on the facial whiskers (vibrissae) of animals such as rats and mice, with the latest sensors actively sweeping their tips across the surface in a back and forth motion. The current work reports on the design and performance of an aerial inspection platform and the suitability of tactile whisking sensors to aerial based surface monitoring applications.

Aerial vehicles collision avoidance using monocular vision

Science.gov (United States)

Balashov, Oleg; Muraviev, Vadim; Strotov, Valery

2016-10-01

In this paper image-based collision avoidance algorithm that provides detection of nearby aircraft and distance estimation is presented. The approach requires a vision system with a single moving camera and additional information about carrier's speed and orientation from onboard sensors. The main idea is to create a multi-step approach based on a preliminary detection, regions of interest (ROI) selection, contour segmentation, object matching and localization. The proposed algorithm is able to detect small targets but unlike many other approaches is designed to work with large-scale objects as well. To localize aerial vehicle position the system of equations relating object coordinates in space and observed image is solved. The system solution gives the current position and speed of the detected object in space. Using this information distance and time to collision can be estimated. Experimental research on real video sequences and modeled data is performed. Video database contained different types of aerial vehicles: aircrafts, helicopters, and UAVs. The presented algorithm is able to detect aerial vehicles from several kilometers under regular daylight conditions.

Utilization of Local Law Enforcement Aerial Resources in Consequence Management (CM) Response

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wasiolek, Piotr T.; Malchow, Russell L.

2013-03-12

During the past decade the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was instrumental in enhancing the nation’s ability to detect and prevent a radiological or nuclear attack in the highest risk cities. Under the DHS Securing the Cities initiative, nearly 13,000 personnel in the New York City region have been trained in preventive radiological and nuclear detection operations, and nearly 8,500 pieces of radiological detection equipment have been funded. As part of the preventive radiological/nuclear detection (PRND) mission, several cities have received funding to purchase commercial aerial radiation detection systems. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Aerial Measuring System (AMS) program started providing Mobile Aerial Radiological Surveillance (MARS) training to such assets, resulting in over 150 HAZMAT teams’ officers and pilots from 10 law enforcement organizations and fire departments being trained in the aerial radiation detection. From the beginning, the MARS training course covered both the PRND and consequence management (CM) missions. Even if the law enforcement main focus is PRND, their aerial assets can be utilized in the collection of initial radiation data for post-event radiological CM response. Based on over 50 years of AMS operational experience and information collected during MARS training, this presentation will focus on the concepts of CM response using aerial assets as well as utilizing law enforcement/fire department aerial assets in CM. Also discussed will be the need for establishing closer relationships between local jurisdictions’ aerial radiation detection capabilities and state and local radiation control program directors, radiological health department managers, etc. During radiological events these individuals may become primary experts/advisers to Incident Commanders for radiological emergency response, especially in the early stages of a response. The knowledge of the existence

1935 15' Quad #103 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - 1 of 2

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #103 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - 2 of 2

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #193 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - 2 of 2

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #146 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - 1 of 2

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

1935 15' Quad #107 Aerial Photo Mosaic Index - 1 of 2

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Aerial Photo Reference Mosaics contain aerial photographs that are retrievable on a frame by frame basis. The inventory contains imagery from various sources that...

The remote characterization of vegetation using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle photography

Science.gov (United States)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can fly in place of piloted aircraft to gather remote sensing information on vegetation characteristics. The type of sensors flown depends on the instrument payload capacity available, so that, depending on the specific UAV, it is possible to obtain video, aerial phot...

Autonomous Aerial Sensors for Wind Power Meteorology - A Pre-Project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giebel, Gregor; Schmidt Paulsen, Uwe; Bange, Jens

Autonomous Aerial Sensors, i.e. meteorological sensors mounted on Unmanned Aerial Systems UAS, can characterise the atmospheric flow in and around wind farms. We instrumented three planes, a helicopter and a lighter-than-air LTA system to fly one week together in a well-instrumented wind farm...

2006-2008 annual review on aerial infrared decoy flares

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koch, Ernst-Christian [NATO Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center, Brussels (Belgium)

2009-02-15

The most recent progress in the field of advanced aerial infrared decoy flare technology is documented. 71 references from the public domain are given. Recently, two reviews on progress in the field of aerial infrared decoy flares have been prepared by the author. The fast development in the field already delayed the preparation of the second report by nearly a year.Hence, the objective of the present paper is to report about recent advances in the field of aerial infrared countermeasures and related topics. The paper treats information published between January, 2005 and September, 30, 2008. Depending on the progress, it is intended to report occasionally in the future about new developments and scientific findings in this field. (Abstract Copyright [2009], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE USE FOR WOOD CHIPS PILE VOLUME ESTIMATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Mokroš

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicles is a challenge for applied research. Many technologies are developed and then researcher are looking up for their application in different sectors. Therefore, we decided to verify the use of the unmanned aerial vehicle for wood chips pile monitoring. We compared the use of GNSS device and unmanned aerial vehicle for volume estimation of four wood chips piles. We used DJI Phantom 3 Professional with the built-in camera and GNSS device (geoexplorer 6000. We used Agisoft photoscan for processing photos and ArcGIS for processing points. Volumes calculated from pictures were not statistically significantly different from amounts calculated from GNSS data and high correlation between them was found (p = 0.9993. We conclude that the use of unmanned aerial vehicle instead of the GNSS device does not lead to significantly different results. Tthe data collection consumed from almost 12 to 20 times less time with the use of UAV. Additionally, UAV provides documentation trough orthomosaic.

Aerial sampling using drones for measuring trace gases

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chih-Chung; Wang, Jia-Lin; Chang, Chih-Yuan; Lin, Ming-Ren; Ou-Yang, Chang-Feng; Pan, Xiang-Xu; Lin, Neng-Huei

2017-04-01

Aerial and ground-level samples were simultaneously collected at the northern tip of Taiwan, Cape Fuguei, which is commonly served as a receptor site to receive air parcels from East Asia, Asian continent, the northwest Pacific Ocean and the island of Taiwan itself. Both aerial and surface samples were analyzed for 106 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and divided into three categories as follows: 1. the total concentrations of 106 VOC (T-VOC) at 300-m height that are lower than the T-VOC level at the surface (Category A), 2. T-VOC concentrations at 300-m that are higher than those at the surface (Category B), and 3. comparable concentrations (Category C). Ten VOCs were exploited as tracers for a variety of emission sources linking to possible sources and transport routes of airborne pollutants. The first two categories A and B showed significant differences in the observed composition and concentrations of tracers between aerial and ground-level samples, implying that the pollutants at different heights may have resulted from different sources and poor air mixing, despite only a 300-m difference in vertical height. In contrast, Category C showed good vertical mixing, as indicated by the comparable concentrations between the aerial and surface measurements. Since the three categories occurred in specific meteorological conditions (between, prior to, and after cold fronts), respectively, it suggests that varied prevailing meteorology controlled the distribution and transport of airborne pollutants. Unlike sampling commonly performed at the surface, this study uses aerial sampling to demonstrate that layered structures under different meteorological conditions. Sampling aloft in lower boundary layer avoids samples being over-influenced by the close-by surface sources such as traffic to reveal signatures of a broader region.

Regulation of Unmanned Aerial Systems and Related Privacy Issues in Lithuania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pūraitė Aurelija

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the past few years the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in Lithuania has significantly increased. However, enjoying the advantages of this technology, which improves society’s socio-economical safety (public safety in a broad sense, raises some privacy concerns. This article analyses European Union and national legal regulations regarding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as well as legal tools for defence of the right to privacy or prevention from its breaches in the Republic of Lithuania. Unmanned aerial vehicles have become popular only recently; thus, legislation regarding their use has not yet become a common topic among lawyers. Furthermore, case law of the Republic of Lithuania is silent about it. Thus, the authors model a situation of breach of privacy using an unmanned aerial vehicle and analyse possible defence mechanisms.

Assessing geomorphic sensitivity in relation to river capacity for adjustment

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, H. E.; Brierley, G. J.

2015-12-01

River sensitivity describes the nature and rate of channel adjustments. An approach to analysis of geomorphic river sensitivity outlined in this paper relates potential sensitivity based on the expected capacity of adjustment for a river type to the recent history of channel adjustment. This approach was trialled to assess low, moderate and high geomorphic sensitivity for four different types of river (10 reaches in total) along the Lower Tongariro River, North Island, New Zealand. Building upon the River Styles framework, river types were differentiated based upon valley setting (width and confinement), channel planform, geomorphic unit assemblages and bed material size. From this, the behavioural regime and potential for adjustment (type and extent) were determined. Historical maps and aerial photographs were geo-rectified and the channel planform digitised to assess channel adjustments for each reach from 1928 to 2007. Floodplain width controlled by terraces, exerted a strong influence upon reach scale sensitivity for the partly-confined, wandering, cobble-bed river. Although forced boundaries occur infrequently, the width of the active channel zone is constrained. An unconfined braided river reach directly downstream of the terrace-confined section was the most geomorphically sensitive reach. The channel in this reach adjusted recurrently to sediment inputs that were flushed through more confined, better connected upstream reaches. A meandering, sand-bed river in downstream reaches has exhibited negligible rates of channel migration. However, channel narrowing in this reach and the associated delta indicate that the system is approaching a threshold condition, beyond which channel avulsion is likely to occur. As this would trigger more rapid migration, this reach is considered to be more geomorphically sensitive than analysis of its low migration rate alone would indicate. This demonstrates how sensitivity is fashioned both by the behavioural regime of a reach

FlyAR: augmented reality supported micro aerial vehicle navigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zollmann, Stefanie; Hoppe, Christof; Langlotz, Tobias; Reitmayr, Gerhard

2014-04-01

Micro aerial vehicles equipped with high-resolution cameras can be used to create aerial reconstructions of an area of interest. In that context automatic flight path planning and autonomous flying is often applied but so far cannot fully replace the human in the loop, supervising the flight on-site to assure that there are no collisions with obstacles. Unfortunately, this workflow yields several issues, such as the need to mentally transfer the aerial vehicle’s position between 2D map positions and the physical environment, and the complicated depth perception of objects flying in the distance. Augmented Reality can address these issues by bringing the flight planning process on-site and visualizing the spatial relationship between the planned or current positions of the vehicle and the physical environment. In this paper, we present Augmented Reality supported navigation and flight planning of micro aerial vehicles by augmenting the user’s view with relevant information for flight planning and live feedback for flight supervision. Furthermore, we introduce additional depth hints supporting the user in understanding the spatial relationship of virtual waypoints in the physical world and investigate the effect of these visualization techniques on the spatial understanding.

Influence of riparian vegetation on near-bank flow structure and erosion rates on a large meandering river

Science.gov (United States)

Konsoer, K. M.; Rhoads, B. L.; Langendoen, E. J.; Johnson, K.; Ursic, M.

2012-12-01

Rates of meander migration are dependent upon dynamic interactions between planform geometry, three-dimensional flow structure, sediment transport, and the erodibility and geotechnical properties of the channel banks and floodplains. Riparian vegetation can greatly reduce the rate of migration through root-reinforcement and increased flow resistance near the bank. In particular, forested riverbanks can also provide large woody debris (LWD) to the channel, and if located near the outer bank, can act to amour the bank by disrupting three-dimensional flow patterns and redirecting flow away from the bank-toe, the locus of erosion in meandering rivers. In this paper, three-dimensional flow patterns and migration rates are compared for two meander bends, one forested and one non-forested, on the Wabash River, near Grayville, Illinois. Flow data were obtained using acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) for two large flow events in May and June 2011. LWD was mapped using a terrestrial LiDAR survey, and residence times for the LWD were estimated by comparing the survey data to time-series aerial photography. Rates of migration and planform evolution were determined through time-series analysis of aerial photography from 1938-2011. Results from this study show that near-bank LWD can have a significant influence on flow patterns through a meander bend and can disrupt helical flow near the outer bank, thereby reducing the effect of the high velocity core on the toe of the bank. Additionally, these effects influence migration rates and the planform evolution of meandering rivers.

Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) as a Tool for Field Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Sander, Lasse

2014-01-01

Kite aerial photography (KAP) is proposed as a creative tool for geography field teaching and as a medium to approach the complexity of readily available geodata. The method can be integrated as field experiment, surveying technique or group activity. The acquired aerial images can instantaneously be integrated in geographic information systems…

Aerospace toxicology overview: aerial application and cabin air quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaturvedi, Arvind K

2011-01-01

Aerospace toxicology is a rather recent development and is closely related to aerospace medicine. Aerospace toxicology can be defined as a field of study designed to address the adverse effects of medications, chemicals, and contaminants on humans who fly within or outside the atmosphere in aviation or on space flights. The environment extending above and beyond the surface of the Earth is referred to as aerospace. The term aviation is frequently used interchangeably with aerospace. The focus of the literature review performed to prepare this paper was on aerospace toxicology-related subject matters, aerial application and aircraft cabin air quality. Among the important topics addressed are the following: · Aerial applications of agricultural chemicals, pesticidal toxicity, and exposures to aerially applied mixtures of chemicals and their associated formulating solvents/surfactants The safety of aerially encountered chemicals and the bioanalytical methods used to monitor exposures to some of them · The presence of fumes and smoke, as well as other contaminants that may generally be present in aircraft/space vehicle cabin air · And importantly, the toxic effects of aerially encountered contaminants, with emphasis on the degradation products of oils, fluids, and lubricants used in aircraft, and finally · Analytical methods used for monitoring human exposure to CO and HCN are addressed in the review, as are the signs and symptoms associated with exposures to these combustion gases. Although many agricultural chemical monitoring studies have been published, few have dealt with the occurrence of such chemicals in aircraft cabin air. However, agricultural chemicals do appear in cabin air; indeed, attempts have been made to establish maximum allowable concentrations for several of the more potentially toxic ones that are found in aircraft cabin air. In this article, I emphasize the need for precautionary measures to be taken to minimize exposures to aerially

A Spherical Aerial Terrestrial Robot

Science.gov (United States)

Dudley, Christopher J.

This thesis focuses on the design of a novel, ultra-lightweight spherical aerial terrestrial robot (ATR). The ATR has the ability to fly through the air or roll on the ground, for applications that include search and rescue, mapping, surveillance, environmental sensing, and entertainment. The design centers around a micro-quadcopter encased in a lightweight spherical exoskeleton that can rotate about the quadcopter. The spherical exoskeleton offers agile ground locomotion while maintaining characteristics of a basic aerial robot in flying mode. A model of the system dynamics for both modes of locomotion is presented and utilized in simulations to generate potential trajectories for aerial and terrestrial locomotion. Details of the quadcopter and exoskeleton design and fabrication are discussed, including the robot's turning characteristic over ground and the spring-steel exoskeleton with carbon fiber axle. The capabilities of the ATR are experimentally tested and are in good agreement with model-simulated performance. An energy analysis is presented to validate the overall efficiency of the robot in both modes of locomotion. Experimentally-supported estimates show that the ATR can roll along the ground for over 12 minutes and cover the distance of 1.7 km, or it can fly for 4.82 minutes and travel 469 m, on a single 350 mAh battery. Compared to a traditional flying-only robot, the ATR traveling over the same distance in rolling mode is 2.63-times more efficient, and in flying mode the system is only 39 percent less efficient. Experimental results also demonstrate the ATR's transition from rolling to flying mode.

Aerial Observation Needs Workshop, May 13-14, 2015

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nasiri, Shaima [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Serbin, Shawn [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Lesmes, David [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Petty, Rick [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Schmid, Beat [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Vogelmann, Andrew [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); de Boer, Gijs [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Dafflon, Baptiste [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Guenther, Alex [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Moore, David [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

2015-10-01

The mission of the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) within the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science is "to advance a robust, predictive understanding of Earth's climate and environmental systems and to inform the development of sustainable solutions to the nation's energy and environmental challenges." Accomplishing this mission requires aerial observations of the atmospheric and terrestrial components of the climate system. CESD is assessing its current and future aerial observation needs to develop a strategy and roadmap of capability requirements for the next decade. To facilitate this process, a workshop was convened that consisted of invited experts in the atmospheric and terrestrial sciences, airborne observations, and modeling. This workshop report summarizes the community input prior to and during the workshop on research challenges and opportunities, as well as specific science questions and observational needs that require aerial observations to address.

Analysis Of Aerial Photography With Drone Type Fixed Wing In Kotabaru, Lampung

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Indreswari Suroso

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In the world of photography is very closely related to the unmanned aerial vehicle called drones. Drones mounted camera so that the plane is pilot controlled from the mainland. Photography results were seen by the pilot after the drone aircraft landed. Drones are unmanned drones that are controlled remotely. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, is a flying machine that operates with remote control by the pilot. Methode for this research are preparation assembly of drone, planning altitude flying, testing on ground, camera of calibration, air capture, result of aerial photos and analysis of result aerial photos. There are two types of drones, multicopter and fixed wing. Fixed wing  has an airplane like shape with a wing system. Fixed wing use bettery 4000 mAh . Fixed wing drone in this research used   mapping in  This drone has a load ability of 1 kg and operational time is used approximately 30 minutes for an areas 20 to 50 hectares with a height of 100 m  to 200 m and payload 1 kg  above ground level. The aerial photographs in Kotabaru produce excellent aerial photographs that can help mapping the local government in the Kotabaru region.

Identification of areas of recharge and discharge using Landsat-TM satellite imagery and aerial photography mapping techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Salama, R. B.; Tapley, I.; Ishii, T.; Hawkes, G.

1994-10-01

Aerial photographs (AP) and Landsat (TM) colour composites were used to map the geomorphology, geology and structures of the Salt River System of Western Australia. Geomorphic features identified are sand plains, dissected etchplain, colluvium, lateritic duricrust and rock outcrops. The hydrogeomorphic units include streams, lakes and playas, palaeochannels and palaeodeltas. The structural features are linear and curvilinear lineaments, ring structures and dolerite dykes. Suture lines control the course of the main river channel. Permeable areas around the circular granitic plutons were found to be the main areas of recharge in the uplands. Recharge was also found to occur in the highly permeable areas of the sandplains. Discharge was shown to be primarily along the main drainage lines, on the edge of the circular sandplains, in depressions and in lakes. The groundwater occurrence and hydrogeological classification of the recharge potential of the different units were used to classify the mapped areas into recharge and discharge zones. The results also show that TM colour composites provide a viable source of data comparable with AP for mapping and delineating areas of recharge and discharge on a regional scale.

Anti-diabetic potential of aerial parts of Galium tricornutum (Dandy ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Purpose: To evaluate the anti-diabetic potential of methanol extract of the aerial parts of Galium tricornutum (Dandy) in diabetic rats. Methods: The methanol extract of the aerial parts of Galium tricornutum was first subjected to acute toxicity studies. Thereafter, the effect of the extract on oral glucose tolerance was determined ...

Kite aerial photography (KAP) as a tool for field teaching

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sander, Lasse

2014-01-01

Kite aerial photography (KAP) is proposed as a creative tool for geography field teaching and as a medium to approach the complexity of readily available geodata. The method can be integrated as field experiment, surveying technique or group activity. The acquired aerial images can instantaneousl...... a new vantage point to the fieldwork experience....

Conditions and processes affecting sand resources at archeological sites in the Colorado River corridor below Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

East, Amy E.; Collins, Brian D.; Sankey, Joel B.; Corbett, Skye C.; Fairley, Helen C.; Caster, Joshua J.

2016-05-17

This study examined links among fluvial, aeolian, and hillslope geomorphic processes that affect archeological sites and surrounding landscapes in the Colorado River corridor downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona. We assessed the potential for Colorado River sediment to enhance the preservation of river-corridor archeological resources through aeolian sand deposition or mitigation of gully erosion. By identifying locally prevailing wind directions, locations of modern sandbars, and likely aeolian-transport barriers, we determined that relatively few archeological sites are now ideally situated to receive aeolian sand supply from sandbars deposited by recent controlled floods. Whereas three-fourths of the 358 river-corridor archeological sites we examined include Colorado River sediment as an integral component of their geomorphic context, only 32 sites currently appear to have a high degree of connectivity (coupled interactions) between modern fluvial sandbars and sand-dominated landscapes downwind. This represents a substantial decrease from past decades, as determined by aerial-photograph analysis. Thus, we infer that recent controlled floods have had a limited, and declining, influence on archeological-site preservation.

Aerial photography in peat production technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tervo, M.

1998-01-01

In this project, possibilities of using aerial photography in peat technology were studied experimentally, the frequency of self-heating in peat stockpiles was surveyed and the effect of compacting on the inner temperature in a self-heated milled peat stockpile was studied. Air photographs can be used in several sub-fields of the peat production. On the basis of these photos it is possible to draw conclusions from the environmental impacts of peat production, from conditions in the peat field, and from qualitative and moisture differences of surface peat. In addition, aerial photography can be utilised in updating bog maps. On the basis of aerial thermal photography in autumns 1987 - 1993, 29 % of milled peat stockpiles, and 4 % of sod peat stockpiles were found to be self-heated. The susceptibility to self-heating varied at different peatlands. The effect of compacting with a bulldozer was studied at three self-heated test stock-piles, two of which were compacted. The inner temperatures in the test stockpiles decreased significantly over the three-month monitoring period. The falls in the inner temperature of all three stockpiles were identical. Compacting did not have any significant effect on the temperature fall or on the rate of fall. The number of test stockpiles (3) is insufficient to give any statistical reliability. (orig.)

Orientation Strategies for Aerial Oblique Images

Science.gov (United States)

Wiedemann, A.; Moré, J.

2012-07-01

Oblique aerial images become more and more distributed to fill the gap between vertical aerial images and mobile mapping systems. Different systems are on the market. For some applications, like texture mapping, precise orientation data are required. One point is the stable interior orientation, which can be achieved by stable camera systems, the other a precise exterior orientation. A sufficient exterior orientation can be achieved by a large effort in direct sensor orientation, whereas minor errors in the angles have a larger effect than in vertical imagery. The more appropriate approach is by determine the precise orientation parameters by photogrammetric methods using an adapted aerial triangulation. Due to the different points of view towards the object the traditional aerotriangulation matching tools fail, as they produce a bunch of blunders and require a lot of manual work to achieve a sufficient solution. In this paper some approaches are discussed and results are presented for the most promising approaches. We describe a single step approach with an aerotriangulation using all available images; a two step approach with an aerotriangulation only of the vertical images plus a mathematical transformation of the oblique images using the oblique cameras excentricity; and finally the extended functional model for a bundle block adjustment considering the mechanical connection between vertical and oblique images. Beside accuracy also other aspects like efficiency and required manual work have to be considered.

Interactions between Streptomyces coelicolor and Bacillus subtilis: Role of surfactants in raising aerial structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Straight, Paul D; Willey, Joanne M; Kolter, Roberto

2006-07-01

Using mixed-species cultures, we have undertaken a study of interactions between two common spore-forming soil bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Streptomyces coelicolor. Our experiments demonstrate that the development of aerial hyphae and spores by S. coelicolor is inhibited by surfactin, a lipopeptide surfactant produced by B. subtilis. Current models of aerial development by sporulating bacteria and fungi postulate a role for surfactants in reducing surface tension at air-liquid interfaces, thereby removing the major barrier to aerial growth. S. coelicolor produces SapB, an amphipathic peptide that is surface active and required for aerial growth on certain media. Loss of aerial hyphae in developmental mutants can be rescued by addition of purified SapB. While a surfactant from a fungus can substitute for SapB in a mutant that lacks aerial hyphae, not all surfactants have this effect. We show that surfactin is required for formation of aerial structures on the surface of B. subtilis colonies. However, in contrast to this positive role, our experiments reveal that surfactin acts antagonistically by arresting S. coelicolor aerial development and causing altered expression of developmental genes. Our observations support the idea that surfactants function specifically for a given organism regardless of their shared ability to reduce surface tension. Production of surfactants with antagonistic activity could provide a powerful competitive advantage during surface colonization and in competition for resources.

Towards a Transferable UAV-Based Framework for River Hydromorphological Characterization.

Science.gov (United States)

Rivas Casado, Mónica; González, Rocío Ballesteros; Ortega, José Fernando; Leinster, Paul; Wright, Ros

2017-09-26

The multiple protocols that have been developed to characterize river hydromorphology, partly in response to legislative drivers such as the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU WFD), make the comparison of results obtained in different countries challenging. Recent studies have analyzed the comparability of existing methods, with remote sensing based approaches being proposed as a potential means of harmonizing hydromorphological characterization protocols. However, the resolution achieved by remote sensing products may not be sufficient to assess some of the key hydromorphological features that are required to allow an accurate characterization. Methodologies based on high resolution aerial photography taken from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been proposed by several authors as potential approaches to overcome these limitations. Here, we explore the applicability of an existing UAV based framework for hydromorphological characterization to three different fluvial settings representing some of the distinct ecoregions defined by the WFD geographical intercalibration groups (GIGs). The framework is based on the automated recognition of hydromorphological features via tested and validated Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Results show that the framework is transferable to the Central-Baltic and Mediterranean GIGs with accuracies in feature identification above 70%. Accuracies of 50% are achieved when the framework is implemented in the Very Large Rivers GIG. The framework successfully identified vegetation, deep water, shallow water, riffles, side bars and shadows for the majority of the reaches. However, further algorithm development is required to ensure a wider range of features (e.g., chutes, structures and erosion) are accurately identified. This study also highlights the need to develop an objective and fit for purpose hydromorphological characterization framework to be adopted within all EU member states to facilitate comparison of results.

Non-Operational Property Evaluation for the Hanford Site River Corridor - 12409

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lowe, John [CH2M HILL, Richland, Washington 99354 (United States); Aly, Alaa [CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company and INTERA Incorporated, Richland, Washington 99354 (United States)

2012-07-01

The Hanford Site River Corridor consists of the former reactor areas of the 100 Areas and the former industrial (fuel processing) area in the 300 Area. Most of the waste sites are located close to the decommissioned reactors or former industrial facilities along the Columbia River. Most of the surface area of the River Corridor consists of land with little or no subsurface infrastructure or indication of past or present releases of hazardous constituents, and is referred to as non-operational property or non-operational area. Multiple lines of evidence have been developed to assess identified fate and transport mechanisms and to evaluate the potential magnitude and significance of waste site-related contaminants in the non-operational area. Predictive modeling was used for determining the likelihood of locating waste sites and evaluating the distribution of radionuclides in soil based on available soil concentration data and aerial radiological surveys. The results of this evaluation indicated: 1) With the exception of stack emissions, transport pathways associated with waste site contaminants are unlikely to result in dispersion of contaminants in soil away from operational areas, 2) Stack emissions that may have been associated with Hanford Site operations generally emitted short-lived and/or gaseous radionuclides, and (3) the likelihood of detecting elevated radionuclide concentrations or other waste sites in non-operational area soils is very small. The overall conclusions from the NPE evaluation of the River Corridor are: - With the exception of stack emissions to the air, transport pathways associated with waste site contaminants are unlikely to result in dispersion of contaminants in soil away from operational areas. While pathways such as windblown dust, overland transport and biointrusion have the potential for dispersing waste site contaminants, the resulting transport is unlikely to result in substantial contamination in non-operational areas. - Stack

Architecture of channel-belt deposits in an aggrading shallow sandbed braided river: the lower Niobrara River, northeast Nebraska

Science.gov (United States)

Skelly, Raymond L.; Bristow, Charlie S.; Ethridge, Frank G.

2003-05-01

Architecture of recent channel-belt deposits of the Niobrara River, northeast Nebraska, USA, records the response of a sandy braided river to rapid base-level rise. Up to 3 m of aggradation has occurred within the lower 14 km of the Niobrara River since the mid-1950s as a result of base-level rise at the confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers. Aerial photographs and channel surveys indicate that the lower Niobrara has evolved from a relatively deep, stable channel with large, bank-attached braid bars to a relatively shallow, aggrading channel with braid bars and smaller secondary channels. Architecture of channel-belt deposits associated with the recent aggradation has been defined using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and vibracores. The channel-belt deposits exhibit a series of amalgamated channel fills and braid bar complexes (i.e., macroforms). Radar facies identified in the GPR data represent architectural elements of the braid bar complexes, large and small bedforms [two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) dunes], and channels. Individual braid bars appear to consist of basal high-flow and upper low-flow components. Preservation of the complete, high-flow bar geometry is generally incomplete due to frequent migration of smaller scale, secondary channels within the channel belt (i.e., braided channel network) at low discharges. The large-scale stratification of the braid bar deposits is dominated by cross-channel and upstream accretion. Elements of downstream accretion are also recognized. These accretion geometries have not been documented previously in similar sandy braided rivers. Braid bar deposits with low-flow modification (e.g., incision by secondary channels) are recognized in the deeper portions of the deposits imaged by GPR. Preservation of braid bars, with both high- and low-flow components, is a result of the rapid base-level rise and channel-bed aggradation experienced by the Niobrara River over the past 45 years. Recent avulsion

Monitoring and mapping selected riparian habitat along the lower Snake River

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Downs, J. L; Tiller, B. L [Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States); Witter, M. [Shannon and Wilson, Inc., Seattle, WA (United States). Geotechnical and Environmental Consultants, Seattle, Washington (United States); Mazaika, R. [Corps of Engineers, Portland, OR (United States)

1996-01-01

Studies in this document were initiated to establish baseline information on riparian and wetland habitat conditions at the areas studied under the current reservoir operations on the lower Snake River. Two approaches were used to assess habitat at 28 study sites selected on the four pools on the lower Snake River. These areas all contribute significant riparian habitat along the river, and several of these areas are designated habitat management units. At 14 of the 28 sites, we monitored riparian habitat on three dates during the growing season to quantify vegetation abundance and composition along three transects: soil nutrients, moisture, and pH and water level and pH. A second approach involved identifying any differences in the extent and amount of riparian/wetland habitat currently found at the study areas from that previously documented. We used both ground and boat surveys to map and classify the changes in vegetative cover along the shoreline at the 14 monitoring sites and at 14 additional sites along the lower Snake selected to represent various riparian/wetland habitat conditions. Results of these mapping efforts are compared with maps of cover types previously generated using aerial photography taken in 1987.

High Density Aerial Image Matching: State-Of and Future Prospects

Science.gov (United States)

Haala, N.; Cavegn, S.

2016-06-01

Ongoing innovations in matching algorithms are continuously improving the quality of geometric surface representations generated automatically from aerial images. This development motivated the launch of the joint ISPRS/EuroSDR project "Benchmark on High Density Aerial Image Matching", which aims on the evaluation of photogrammetric 3D data capture in view of the current developments in dense multi-view stereo-image matching. Originally, the test aimed on image based DSM computation from conventional aerial image flights for different landuse and image block configurations. The second phase then put an additional focus on high quality, high resolution 3D geometric data capture in complex urban areas. This includes both the extension of the test scenario to oblique aerial image flights as well as the generation of filtered point clouds as additional output of the respective multi-view reconstruction. The paper uses the preliminary outcomes of the benchmark to demonstrate the state-of-the-art in airborne image matching with a special focus of high quality geometric data capture in urban scenarios.

Getting Started with PEAs-Based Flapping-Wing Mechanisms for Micro Aerial Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Carlos Durán Hernández

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces recent advances on flapping-wing Micro and Nano Aerial Vehicles (MAVs and NAVs based on Piezoelectric Actuators (PEA. Therefore, this work provides essential information to address the development of such bio-inspired aerial robots. PEA are commonly used in micro-robotics and precise positioning applications (e.g., micro-positioning and micro-manipulation, whereas within the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs domain, motors are the classical actuators used for rotary or fixed-wing configurations. Therefore, we consider it pertinent to provide essential information regarding the modeling and control of piezoelectric cantilever actuators to accelerate early design and development stages of aerial microrobots based on flapping-wing systems. In addition, the equations describing the aerodynamic behavior of a flapping-wing configuration are presented.

How to ensure reliable connectivity for aerial vehicles over cellular networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nguyen, Huan Cong; Amorim, Rafhael Medeiros de; Wigard, Jeroen

2018-01-01

reliable operation of aerial vehicles in various deployment scenarios. In this paper, we investigate the performance of aerial radio connectivity in a typical rural area network deployment using extensive channel measurements and system simulations. First, we highlight that downlink and uplink radio...

Development of an Index to Bird Predation of Juvenile Salmonids within the Yakima River, 1999 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gassley, James M.; Grue, Christian E. (University of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Seattle, WA)

2001-10-01

Avian predation of fish is suspected to contribute to the loss of juvenile spring chinook salmon in the Yakima Basin, potentially constraining natural production. In 1997 and 1998, the Yakama/Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)--whose goal is to increase natural production historically present within the Yakima River--initiated investigations to assess the feasibility of developing an index to avian predation of juvenile salmon within the river. This research--conducted by Dr. Steve Mathews and David Phinney of the University of Washington--confirmed that Ring-billed Gulls and Common Mergansers were the primary avian predators of juvenile salmon, and that under certain conditions could significantly impact migrating smolt populations. Beginning in 1999, the Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit was asked by the YKFP and the WDFW to continue development of avian consumption indices. Monitoring methods developed by Mathews and Phinney were adopted (with modifications) and monitoring of impacts to juvenile salmon along river reaches and at areas of high predator/prey concentrations (colloquially referred to as ''hotspots'') continued. New efforts initiated in 1999 included piscivorous bird surveys at smolt acclimation sites operated by the Yakama Nation, monitoring of the North Fork Teanaway River for changes in avian piscivore abundance associated with the installation of the Jack Creek acclimation facility, and aerial surveys seeking to identify avian piscivores along the length of the Yakima River. In 1999, piscivorous birds were counted from river banks at hotspots and from a raft or drift boat along river reaches. Consumption by gulls was based on direct observations of foraging success and modeled abundance; consumption by Common Mergansers (which forage underwater) was estimated using published dietary requirements and modeled abundance. A second-order polynomial

Decentralized Control of Unmanned Aerial Robots for Wireless Airborne Communication Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deok-Jin Lee

2010-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a cooperative control strategy for a team of aerial robotic vehicles to establish wireless airborne communication networks between distributed heterogeneous vehicles. Each aerial robot serves as a flying mobile sensor performing a reconfigurable communication relay node which enabls communication networks with static or slow-moving nodes on gorund or ocean. For distributed optimal deployment of the aerial vehicles for communication networks, an adaptive hill-climbing type decentralized control algorithm is developed to seek out local extremum for optimal localization of the vehicles. The sensor networks estabilished by the decentralized cooperative control approach can adopt its configuraiton in response to signal strength as the function of the relative distance between the autonomous aerial robots and distributed sensor nodes in the sensed environment. Simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed decentralized cooperative control technique for robust communication networks.

CMOS Imaging Sensor Technology for Aerial Mapping Cameras

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Klaus; Welzenbach, Martin; Timm, Martin

2016-06-01

In June 2015 Leica Geosystems launched the first large format aerial mapping camera using CMOS sensor technology, the Leica DMC III. This paper describes the motivation to change from CCD sensor technology to CMOS for the development of this new aerial mapping camera. In 2002 the DMC first generation was developed by Z/I Imaging. It was the first large format digital frame sensor designed for mapping applications. In 2009 Z/I Imaging designed the DMC II which was the first digital aerial mapping camera using a single ultra large CCD sensor to avoid stitching of smaller CCDs. The DMC III is now the third generation of large format frame sensor developed by Z/I Imaging and Leica Geosystems for the DMC camera family. It is an evolution of the DMC II using the same system design with one large monolithic PAN sensor and four multi spectral camera heads for R,G, B and NIR. For the first time a 391 Megapixel large CMOS sensor had been used as PAN chromatic sensor, which is an industry record. Along with CMOS technology goes a range of technical benefits. The dynamic range of the CMOS sensor is approx. twice the range of a comparable CCD sensor and the signal to noise ratio is significantly better than with CCDs. Finally results from the first DMC III customer installations and test flights will be presented and compared with other CCD based aerial sensors.

Atlantic Protected Species Assessment Aerial Surveys

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These data sets include a compilation of aerial line-transect surveys conducted over continental shelf waters of the southeastern U.S. Surveys have been conducted...

Aerial mapping of biotope types; Biotoptypenkartierung aus der Luft

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tielbaar, H.C. [Hansa Luftbild GmbH, Muenster (Germany). Umweltdaten und Landschaftsplanung

1996-12-31

Landscape planning is a very important instrument for determination of nature protection and landscape cultivation purposes. For production of surface covering basic data aerial photo flights for interpretation purposes are carried out using color-infrared-films. In such aerial photos the vegetation is already figured highly differentiated. On the basis of the biotope structure received on the spot an interpretation key is set up which allows an evaluation of aerial photos from large districts. This interpretation covers also existing biological, geological and soildata. All data of aerial photos serve for development of special maps and may flow into. Geo-information-systems (GIS) which allow a still more extensive analysis. (orig.) [Deutsch] Landschaftsplanung ist ein wichtiges Instrument zur Bestimmung der Belange von Naturschutz und Landespflege. Zur Gewinnung flaechendeckender Grundlagendaten werden Luftbildbefliegungen fuer Interpretationszwecke durchgefuehrt; zur Verwendung kommen dabei Color-Infrarotfilme. In solchen Luftbildern wird die Vegetation bereits sehr differenziert abgebildet. Auf der Grundlage der vor Ort festgestellten Biotopstruktur wird ein Interpretationsschluessel erstellt, der eine Auswertung der Luftbilder grosser Landschaftsraeume ermoeglicht. In diese Interpretation fliessen vorhandene Datenkollektive biologischer oder auch geologischer bzw. bodenkundlicher Art ein. Die gesamten Datenkollektive der Luftbilder dienen zur Erstellung thematischer Karten und koennen zudem in Geo-Informationssysteme (GIS) einfliessen, die eine noch weitergehende Analyse ermoeglichen. (orig.)

Detection of Aspens Using High Resolution Aerial Laser Scanning Data and Digital Aerial Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalle Eerikäinen

2008-08-01

Full Text Available The aim was to use high resolution Aerial Laser Scanning (ALS data and aerial images to detect European aspen (Populus tremula L. from among other deciduous trees. The field data consisted of 14 sample plots of 30 m × 30 m size located in the Koli National Park in the North Karelia, Eastern Finland. A Canopy Height Model (CHM was interpolated from the ALS data with a pulse density of 3.86/m2, low-pass filtered using Height-Based Filtering (HBF and binarized to create the mask needed to separate the ground pixels from the canopy pixels within individual areas. Watershed segmentation was applied to the low-pass filtered CHM in order to create preliminary canopy segments, from which the non-canopy elements were extracted to obtain the final canopy segmentation, i.e. the ground mask was analysed against the canopy mask. A manual classification of aerial images was employed to separate the canopy segments of deciduous trees from those of coniferous trees. Finally, linear discriminant analysis was applied to the correctly classified canopy segments of deciduous trees to classify them into segments belonging to aspen and those belonging to other deciduous trees. The independent variables used in the classification were obtained from the first pulse ALS point data. The accuracy of discrimination between aspen and other deciduous trees was 78.6%. The independent variables in the classification function were the proportion of vegetation hits, the standard deviation of in pulse heights, accumulated intensity at the 90th percentile and the proportion of laser points reflected at the 60th height percentile. The accuracy of classification corresponded to the validation results of earlier ALS-based studies on the classification of individual deciduous trees to tree species.

Aerial gamma ray and magnetic survey: Powder River II Project, Gillette Quadrangle, Wyoming. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-04-01

The Gillette quadrangle in northeastern Wyoming and western South Dakota contains approximately equal portions of the Powder River Basin and the Black Hills Uplift. In these two structures, a relatively thick sequence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata represent nearly continuous deposition over the Precambrian basement complex. The Powder River Basin also contains a thick sequence of early Tertiary rocks which cover about 50% of the surface. A stratigraphic sequence from Upper Cretaceous to Precambrian is exposed in the Black Hills Uplift to the east. Magnetic data apparently illustrate the relative depth to the Precambrian crystalline rocks, but only weakly define the boundary between the Powder River Basin and the Black Hills Uplift. The positions of some small isolated Tertiary intrusive bodies in the Black Hills Uplift are relatively well expressed. The Gillette quadrangle has been productive in terms of uranium mining, but its current status is uncertain. The producing uranium deposits occur within the Lower Cretaceous Inyan Kara Group and the Jurassic Morrison Formation in the Black Hills Uplift. Other prospects occur within the Tertiary Wasatch and Fort Union Formations in the Pumpkin Buttes - Turnercrest district, where it extends into the quadrangle from the Newcastle quadrangle to the south. These four formations, all predominantly nonmarine, contain all known uranium deposits in the Gillette quadrangle. A total of 108 groups of sample responses in the uranium window constitute anomalies as defined in Volume I. The anomalies are most frequently found in the Inyan Kara-Morrison, Wasatch and Fort Union Formations. Many anomalies occur over known mines or prospects. Others may result from unmapped uranium mines or areas where material other than uranium is mined. The remainder may relate to natural geologic features

Conceptual Approach to Utilisation of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Diverse Activities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelena Ćosić Lesičar

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper considers current situation and development of software for group of mobile agents applicable on group of unmanned aerial vehicles. Generally, unmanned aerial vehicles are used for transfer of information, mass and energy and their group work enhances their success rate in comparison with the success rate of the use of a single unmanned aerial vehicle. Despite the constant daily use, their potential is realized only in a small portion. It is argued that software development is the natural further step in achieving considerably larger portion of realizations of their potential of groups of unmanned aerial vehicles. Starting requirements that such software must fulfill are rudimentariness of the code, openness regarding number of group members and closeness regarding information exchange. Prospective directions of development of that software are analyzed.

The Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle Impact on Sustainment Operations

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-09

Artificial Intelligence , Sustainment Operations, Rifle Company, Autonomous Aerial Resupply, Joint Tactical Autonomous Aerial Resupply System 16...Integrations and Development System AI Artificial Intelligence ARCIC Army Capabilities Integration Center ARDEC Armament Research, Development and...Government Printing Office, 2016), 176. 3 HQDA, TRADOC Pam 525-3-1, 11-12. 3 combat team types, such as the Armored Brigade Combat Team and Stryker

Aerial firing and stray bullet injuries: a rising tide.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Syed Asad; Tahir, Syed Mohammad; Makhdoom, Asadullah; Shaikh, Abdul Razaque; Siddique, Akmal Jamal

2015-04-01

Aerial firing is shooting, using fire arm, into the air usually during a celebration. This observational study aimed to quantify magnitude and impact of stray bullet injuries by aerial firing at surgical emergencies of the Liaquat University Hospital (a university hospital), Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan from January 2009 to December 2010 (2 years). During the study period, 144 firearm injuries due to stray bullet reported to the A and E departments of the university hospital. All patients referred to surgical unit providing emergency cover on that day irrespective of the severity of the injury for medico-legal reasons. For this study, the cases were divided into those having trivial injury and do not require any active surgical intervention and those having serious injury mandating surgical intervention. One hundred and two cases of stray bullet injury sustained trivial injury and followed as outpatients after an overnight period of indoor hospitalization; however, 42 patients with stray bullet injuries requiring surgical intervention were hospitalized. The most common events leading to aerial firing and stray bullet injuries were marriage ceremonies, followed by a political rallies and New Year celebrations. Stray bullet injury also reported after aerial firing on cricket/hockey team victories, Pakistan Independence Day (14th August), cultural day in Sindh and Basant (Kite) festival in Punjab. The most frequent sites with serious stray bullet injury were chest (15), head and neck (10), abdomen (9) and limbs (8), respectively. Surgical interventions performed included chest intubation, exploration of wound tract to retrieve bullet if lodged superficially and was palpable, laparotomy to managed intra-abdominal injury, reduction of fracture site followed by reconstruction, flap reconstruction and graft for nonhealing wound. The mean duration of hospital stay was 19 days. No mortality was observed in this series of patients. We conclude that the prevalence of aerial

Electromagnetic wave scattering by aerial and ground radar objects

CERN Document Server

Sukharevsky, Oleg I

2014-01-01

Electromagnetic Wave Scattering by Aerial and Ground Radar Objects presents the theory, original calculation methods, and computational results of the scattering characteristics of different aerial and ground radar objects. This must-have book provides essential background for computing electromagnetic wave scattering in the presence of different kinds of irregularities, as well as Summarizes fundamental electromagnetic statements such as the Lorentz reciprocity theorem and the image principleContains integral field representations enabling the study of scattering from various layered structur

Assessment of Photogrammetric Mapping Accuracy Based on Variation Flying Altitude Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Udin, W S; Ahmad, A

2014-01-01

Photogrammetry is the earliest technique used to collect data for topographic mapping. The recent development in aerial photogrammetry is the used of large format digital aerial camera for producing topographic map. The aerial photograph can be in the form of metric or non-metric imagery. The cost of mapping using aerial photogrammetry is very expensive. In certain application, there is a need to map small area with limited budget. Due to the development of technology, small format aerial photogrammetry technology has been introduced and offers many advantages. Currently, digital map can be extracted from digital aerial imagery of small format camera mounted on light weight platform such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This study utilizes UAV system for large scale stream mapping. The first objective of this study is to investigate the use of light weight rotary-wing UAV for stream mapping based on different flying height. Aerial photograph were acquired at 60% forward lap and 30% sidelap specifications. Ground control points and check points were established using Total Station technique. The digital camera attached to the UAV was calibrated and the recovered camera calibration parameters were then used in the digital images processing. The second objective is to determine the accuracy of the photogrammetric output. In this study, the photogrammetric output such as stereomodel in three dimensional (3D), contour lines, digital elevation model (DEM) and orthophoto were produced from a small stream of 200m long and 10m width. The research output is evaluated for planimetry and vertical accuracy using root mean square error (RMSE). Based on the finding, sub-meter accuracy is achieved and the RMSE value decreases as the flying height increases. The difference is relatively small. Finally, this study shows that UAV is very useful platform for obtaining aerial photograph and subsequently used for photogrammetric mapping and other applications

Quantifying the Geomorphic Dynamics of the Extensively Impacted Lower Yuba River

Science.gov (United States)

Wyrick, J. R.; Pasternack, G. B.; Carley, J. K.; Barker, R.; Massa, D.; Bratovich, P.; Reedy, G.; Johnson, T.

2010-12-01

potential for significant morphological adjustment since ~1950 on the basis of visual indicators and aerial photos. To conduct a quantitative analysis, two raster DEMs of the entire LYR from a decade apart were differenced with a method accounting for uncertainty. Then the resulting spatial pattern of high-confidence erosion and deposition were analyzed by stratifying the river according to different “masks”, such as morphological unit types, reaches, and process domains. Overall, the most conservative account indicated that there was 3,887,384 m3 of cut and 3,758,810 m3 of fill, yielding a net export of 128,574 m3. Alignment of the DEM difference results with historical aerial photos and 2D model simulations revealed the relative roles of different processes in the river, such as meander migration, kickpoint migration, and non-meander bank erosion. After 68 years of post-dam blockage of hydraulic mining influx, the LYR is still highly dynamic and adjusting. The results of this study are being used to guide diverse river management and rehabilitation actions.

An aerial radiological survey of the Nevada Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hendricks, T.J.; Riedhauser, S.R.

1999-01-01

A team from the Remote Sensing Laboratory conducted an aerial radiological survey of the US Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site including three neighboring areas during August and September 1994. The survey team measured the terrestrial gamma radiation at the Nevada Test Site to determine the levels of natural and man-made radiation. This survey included the areas covered by previous surveys conducted from 1962 through 1993. The results of the aerial survey showed a terrestrial background exposure rate that varied from less than 6 microroentgens per hour (mR/h) to 50 mR/h plus a cosmic-ray contribution that varied from 4.5 mR/h at an elevation of 900 meters (3,000 feet) to 8.5 mR/h at 2,400 meters (8,000 feet). In addition to the principal gamma-emitting, naturally occurring isotopes (potassium-40, thallium-208, bismuth-214, and actinium-228), the man-made radioactive isotopes found in this survey were cobalt-60, cesium-137, europium-152, protactinium-234m an indicator of depleted uranium, and americium-241, which are due to human actions in the survey area. Individual, site-wide plots of gross terrestrial exposure rate, man-made exposure rate, and americium-241 activity (approximating the distribution of all transuranic material) are presented. In addition, expanded plots of individual areas exhibiting these man-made contaminations are given. A comparison is made between the data from this survey and previous aerial radiological surveys of the Nevada Test Site. Some previous ground-based measurements are discussed and related to the aerial data. In regions away from man-made activity, the exposure rates inferred from the gamma-ray measurements collected during this survey agreed very well with the exposure rates inferred from previous aerial surveys

Status of aerial survey emergency preparedness and ground support equipment, calibration, and sensitivities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlstrom, T.S.

1986-01-01

During the course of EG and G Energy Measurements, Inc. history in aerial surveillance, the scope of response has broadened from routine surveys and accident response with aerial systems, to being prepared to respond to any radiological incident with aerial, ground mobile, and hand-held instrumentation. The aerial survey system presently consists of four MBB BO-105 helicopters outfitted with gamma pods and specialized navigation systems (MRS or URS) that allow the operator and pilot to fly well-defined survey lines. Minimum detectable activities (MDA) for various isotopes range from a few tenths of a mCi to 100 mCI for point sources and from 1 to 200 pCi/g for volume sources

Control of a Quadcopter Aerial Robot Using Optic Flow Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Hurd, Michael Brandon

This thesis focuses on the motion control of a custom-built quadcopter aerial robot using optic flow sensing. Optic flow sensing is a vision-based approach that can provide a robot the ability to fly in global positioning system (GPS) denied environments, such as indoor environments. In this work, optic flow sensors are used to stabilize the motion of quadcopter robot, where an optic flow algorithm is applied to provide odometry measurements to the quadcopter's central processing unit to monitor the flight heading. The optic-flow sensor and algorithm are capable of gathering and processing the images at 250 frames/sec, and the sensor package weighs 2.5 g and has a footprint of 6 cm2 in area. The odometry value from the optic flow sensor is then used a feedback information in a simple proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller on the quadcopter. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of using optic flow for controlling the motion of the quadcopter aerial robot. The technique presented herein can be applied to different types of aerial robotic systems or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as unmanned ground vehicles (UGV).

Data-Foraging-Oriented Reconnaissance Based on Bio-Inspired Indirect Communication for Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Josué Castañeda Cisneros

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In recent years, aerial vehicles have allowed exploring scenarios with harsh conditions. These can conduct reconnaissance tasks in areas that change periodically and have a high spatial and temporal resolution. The objective of a reconnaissance task is to survey an area and retrieve strategic information. The aerial vehicles, however, have inherent constraints in terms of energy and transmission range due to their mobility. Despite these constraints, the Data Foraging problem requires the aerial vehicles to exchange information about profitable data sources. In Data Foraging, establishing a single path is not viable because of dynamic conditions of the environment. Thus, reconnaissance must be focused on periodically searching profitable environmental data sources, as some animals perform foraging. In this work, a data-foraging-oriented reconnaissance algorithm based on bio-inspired indirect communication for aerial vehicles is presented. The approach establishes several paths that overlap to identify valuable data sources. Inspired by the stigmergy principle, the aerial vehicles indirectly communicate through artificial pheromones. The aerial vehicles traverse the environment using a heuristic algorithm that uses the artificial pheromones as feedback. The solution is formally defined and mathematically evaluated. In addition, we show the viability of the algorithm by simulations which have been tested through various statistical hypothesis.

30 CFR 77.1602 - Use of aerial tramways to transport persons.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Use of aerial tramways to transport persons. 77.1602 Section 77.1602 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR COAL... UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Loading and Haulage § 77.1602 Use of aerial tramways to transport persons. Persons...

Mapping reflectance anisotropy of a potato canopy using aerial images acquired with an unmanned aerial vehicle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roosjen, Peter; Suomalainen, Juha; Bartholomeus, Harm; Kooistra, Lammert; Clevers, Jan

2017-01-01

Viewing and illumination geometry has a strong influence on optical measurements of natural surfaces due to their anisotropic reflectance properties. Typically, cameras on-board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are affected by this because of their relatively large field of view (FOV) and thus large

Reducing environmental damage through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technology

Science.gov (United States)

Fedulova, E. A.; Akulov, A. O.; Rada, A. O.; Alabina, T. A.; Savina, Ju Ju

2018-01-01

The article examines the possibilities of using unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technologies in the field of agriculture and mining. The object of the study is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as the best available technology. The main areas of application of this technology are identified: agro technical operations, aerial photography of mining operations. The technology of unmanned aerial vehicles is compared with the technologies of ground agricultural machinery. The research methodology includes an expert evaluation of the unmanned aerial vehicle technology belonging to the class of the best available technologies by the criteria: the level of environmental impact, resource saving, the use of low-waste, non-waste processes, the existence of at least two objects, economic efficiency. Expert evaluations were processed using the apparatus of fuzzy sets, which make it possible to construct membership functions. This allowed us to prove that the technology of unmanned aerial vehicles belongs to a fuzzy set of the best available technologies. The results of the research show that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles provides a saving of resources, especially non-renewable combustible minerals, reduces emissions and discharges of pollutants into the atmosphere, and also reduces soil erosion. Unmanned aerial vehicles should be included in the national directories of the best available technologies for the mining industry and agriculture.

The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Geothermal Exploitation Monitoring: Khankala Field Example

OpenAIRE

Sergey V. Cherkasov; Anvar M. Farkhutdinov; Dmitriy P. Rykovanov; Arbi A. Shaipov

2018-01-01

The article is devoted to the use of unmanned aerial vehicle for geothermal waters exploitation monitoring. Development of a geothermal reservoir usually requires a system of wells, pipelines and pumping equipment and control of such a system is quite complicated. In this regard, use of unmanned aerial vehicle is relevant. Two test unmanned aerial vehicle based infrared surveys have been conducted at the Khankala field (Chechen Republic) with the Khankala geothermal plant operating at differe...

Locating Shallow Groundwater Discharge to Streams Near Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Using Aerial Infrared Thermography: A Novel Potential Pollution Detection Method

Science.gov (United States)

Mapes, K. L.; Pricope, N. G.

2017-12-01

The Cape Fear River Basin (CFRB) has some of the highest densities of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) in the United States (factoryfarmmap.org) and was recently named one of the country's most endangered rivers (americanrivers.org). There is high potential for CAFO land use to degrade stream water quality by introducing pollutants, primarily nitrates and fecal coliform, into sub-surface and surface waters. The regionally high water table in the Lower CFRB increases the risk of water quality degradation due to increased connectivity of ground- and surface water. The Lower CFRB is periodically subjected to frequent or intense hurricanes, which have been shown to exacerbate water quality issues associated with CAFOs. Additionally, the growing population in this region is placing more pressure on an already taxed water source and will continue to rely on the Cape Fear River for drinking water and wastewater discharge. While there are documented occurrences of groundwater contamination from CAFOs, we still have little understanding on how and where pollution may be entering streams by shallow sub-surface discharge. Shallow groundwater discharge to streams is becoming easier to detect using thermal infrared imaging cameras onboard unmanned aerial systems. The temperature differences between groundwater and stream water are easily distinguished in the resulting images. While this technology cannot directly measure water quality, it can locate areas of shallow groundwater discharge that can later be tested for pollutants using conventional methods. We will utilize a thermal infrared camera onboard a SenseFly eBee Plus to determine the feasibility of using this technology on a larger scale within the Lower CFRB as an inexpensive means of identifying sites of potential pollution input. Aerial surveys will be conducted in two sub-watersheds: one containing swine CAFO and a control that lacks swine CAFO. Information from this study can be integrated into

Biologically-Inspired Hardware for Land/Aerial Robots

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Future generations of NASA land/aerial robots will be required to operate in the harsh, unpredictable environments of extra-terrestrial bodies including asteroids,...

Debris Flow Occurrence and Sediment Persistence, Upper Colorado River Valley, CO.

Science.gov (United States)

Grimsley, K J; Rathburn, S L; Friedman, J M; Mangano, J F

2016-07-01

Debris flow magnitudes and frequencies are compared across the Upper Colorado River valley to assess influences on debris flow occurrence and to evaluate valley geometry effects on sediment persistence. Dendrochronology, field mapping, and aerial photographic analysis are used to evaluate whether a 19th century earthen, water-conveyance ditch has altered the regime of debris flow occurrence in the Colorado River headwaters. Identifying any shifts in disturbance processes or changes in magnitudes and frequencies of occurrence is fundamental to establishing the historical range of variability (HRV) at the site. We found no substantial difference in frequency of debris flows cataloged at eleven sites of deposition between the east (8) and west (11) sides of the Colorado River valley over the last century, but four of the five largest debris flows originated on the west side of the valley in association with the earthen ditch, while the fifth is on a steep hillslope of hydrothermally altered rock on the east side. These results suggest that the ditch has altered the regime of debris flow activity in the Colorado River headwaters as compared to HRV by increasing the frequency of debris flows large enough to reach the Colorado River valley. Valley confinement is a dominant control on response to debris flows, influencing volumes of aggradation and persistence of debris flow deposits. Large, frequent debris flows, exceeding HRV, create persistent effects due to valley geometry and geomorphic setting conducive to sediment storage that are easily delineated by valley confinement ratios which are useful to land managers.

Capturing the Green River -- Multispectral airborne videography to evaluate the environmental impacts of hydropower operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snider, M.A.; Hayse, J.W.; Hlohowskyj, I.; LaGory, K.E.

1996-01-01

The 500-mile long Green River is the largest tributary of the Colorado River. From its origin in the Wind River Range mountains of western Wyoming to its confluence with the Colorado River in southeastern Utah, the Green River is vital to the arid region through which it flows. Large portions of the area remain near-wilderness with the river providing a source of recreation in the form of fishing and rafting, irrigation for farming and ranching, and hydroelectric power. In the late 1950's and early 1960's hydroelectric facilities were built on the river. One of these, Flaming Gorge Dam, is located just south of the Utah-Wyoming border near the town of Dutch John, Utah. Hydropower operations result in hourly and daily fluctuations in the releases of water from the dam that alter the natural stream flow below the dam and affect natural resources in and along the river corridor. In the present study, the authors were interested in evaluating the potential impacts of hydropower operations at Flaming Gorge Dam on the downstream natural resources. Considering the size of the area affected by the daily pattern of water release at the dam as well as the difficult terrain and limited accessibility of many reaches of the river, evaluating these impacts using standard field study methods was virtually impossible. Instead an approach was developed that used multispectral aerial videography to determine changes in the affected parameters at different flows, hydrologic modeling to predict flow conditions for various hydropower operating scenarios, and ecological information on the biological resources of concern to assign impacts

Issues in bridge deck damage evaluation using aerial photos

Science.gov (United States)

Natarajan, M.; Chen, S. E.; Boyle, C.; Martin, E.; Hauser, E.

2012-04-01

Small format aerial photography (SFAP) with low flying technique is proposed for damage evaluation of bridge decks. High resolution images obtained using under-belly photography can be used to quantify the various bridge deck problems. The conventional truck-mount or vehicle-mount deck imaging technologies require a large number of image samples. Hence the physical scanning is time consuming and it is also challenging consider the size and location of a bridge. Aerial imaging overcomes these issues, but they face different kinds of challenges that are posed by obstacles such as shadow from trees, power lines and vehicles, signs and luminaries structures. The image resolution uncertainty, which is a function of the pilot skills and flying conditions, may also add additional challenges to aerial imaging technique. Hence different image processing tools have to be integrated into a single package to achieve the desired task. This paper summarizes the challenges faced and the preliminary results are presented and discussed.

Douglas County Historical Rectified Aerial Photos 1937

Data.gov (United States)

Kansas Data Access and Support Center — This raster dataset consists of approximately 200 aerial photographs taken in 1937 in Douglas county, Kansas, United States. The Douglas County Public Works...

Douglas County Historical Rectified Aerial Photos 1954

Data.gov (United States)

Kansas Data Access and Support Center — This raster dataset consists of approximately 200 aerial photographs taken in 1954 in Douglas county, Kansas, United States. The Douglas County Public Works...

LAND-USE CHANGES AND THEIR EFFECT ON FLOODPLAIN AGGRADATION ALONG THE MIDDLE-TISZA RIVER, HUNGARY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

TÍMEA KISS

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Land-use changes and their effect on overbank sediment accumulation were investigated on the floodplain of Middle-Tisza River. Military survey maps (1783, 1860, 1883 and 1890 and aerial photos (1950, 1965, 1980 and 2000 were used to evaluate land-use changes and to calculate the vegetational roughness of the area. To determinate the rate of overbank sedimentation sediment samples were collected from a pit, the grain-size, content of organic matter, heavy metal content (Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni and Cd and pH were measured. Until 1950 meadows and pastures were typical on the floodplain, gallery-forest was along the river, the oxbow-lake and the artificial levee. Notable landuse changes were detected in the second half of the 20th century, as the aerial photo taken in 1965 shows extensive forestry in the area. These land-use changes affected the average vegetational roughness, as it has been doubled since the disappearance of grasslands. Land-use changes highly affect the aggradation, as the increased roughness decreases the flood velocity on the floodplain, causing accelerated aggradation. Using Pb marker horizons and grain-size changes the studied sediment profile was compared to dated profiles (Braun et al. 2003, thus, the sediment accumulation rate could be determined for the periods of 1858-1965 and 1965-2005. According to our measurements the accumulation rate was doubled since 1965, very likely in connection with the doubled vegetational roughness.

Kinetic scrolling-based position mapping for haptic teleoperation of unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruesch, A.; Mersha, A.Y.; Stramigioli, Stefano; Carloni, Raffaella

In this paper, we present a haptic teleoperation control algorithm for unmanned aerial vehicles, applying a kinetic scrolling-based position mapping. The proposed algorithm overcomes the master workspace limitations and enables to teleoperate the aerial vehicle in unbounded workspace in a fast and

A TOOL FOR PLANNING AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Science.gov (United States)

abstract The U.S. EPAs Pacific Coastal Ecology Branch has developed a tool in the form of an Excel. spreadsheet that facilitates planning aerial photography missions. The spreadsheet accepts various input parameters such as desired photo-scale and boundary coordinates of the stud...

Motion coordination for VTOL unmanned aerial vehicles attitude synchronisation and formation control

CERN Document Server

Abdessameud, Abdelkader

2013-01-01

Motion Coordination for VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicles develops new control design techniques for the distributed coordination of a team of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles. In particular, it provides new control design approaches for the attitude synchronization of a formation of rigid body systems. In addition, by integrating new control design techniques with some concepts from nonlinear control theory and multi-agent systems, it presents  a new theoretical framework for the formation control of a class of under-actuated aerial vehicles capable of vertical take-off and landing. Several practical problems related to the systems’ inputs, states measurements, and  restrictions on the interconnection  topology  between the aerial vehicles in the team  are addressed. Worked examples with sufficient details and simulation results are provided to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the theoretical results discussed in the book. The material presented is primarily intended for researchers an...

77 FR 36250 - Information Collection Request; Request for Aerial Photography

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-18

...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on an extension of a currently approved information collection associated with FSA Aerial Photography Program. The FSA Aerial Photography Field Office (APFO) uses the information from this form to collect the customer and photography information needed to produce and ship the various photographic products ordered.

The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Geothermal Exploitation Monitoring: Khankala Field Example

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergey V. Cherkasov

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the use of unmanned aerial vehicle for geothermal waters exploitation monitoring. Development of a geothermal reservoir usually requires a system of wells, pipelines and pumping equipment and control of such a system is quite complicated. In this regard, use of unmanned aerial vehicle is relevant. Two test unmanned aerial vehicle based infrared surveys have been conducted at the Khankala field (Chechen Republic with the Khankala geothermal plant operating at different regimes: during the first survey – with, and the second – without reinjection of used geothermal fluid. Unmanned aerial vehicle Geoscan 201 equipped with digital (Sony DSX-RX1 and thermal imaging (Thermoframe-MX-TTX cameras was used. Besides different images of the geothermal plant obtained by the surveys, 13 thermal anomalies have been identified. Analysis of the shape and temperature facilitated determination of their different sources: fire, heating systems, etc., which was confirmed by a ground reconnaissance. Results of the study demonstrate a high potential of unmanned aerial vehicle based thermal imagery use for environmental and technological monitoring of geothermal fields under operation.

Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL) Year 2 Report and Year 3 Proposal

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, Brent D.; Box, Richard C.; Fink, Mary M.; Gogos, Geroge; Lehrer, Henry R.; Narayanan, Ram M.; Nickerson, Jocelyn S.; Tarry, Scott E.; Vlasek, Karisa D.

2003-01-01

The Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL): a comprehensive, multi-faceted NASA EPSCoR 2000 initiative, contributes to the strategic research and technology priorities of NASA while intensifying Nebraska s rapidly growing aeronautics research and development endeavors. AERIAL enables Nebraska researchers to: (a) continue strengthening their collaborative relationships with NASA Field Centers, Codes, and Enterprises; (b) increase the capacity of higher education throughout Nebraska to invigorate and expand aeronautics research; and (c) expedite the development of aeronautics-related research infrastructure and industry in the state. This report contains a summary of AERIAL's activities and accomplishments during the second year of implementation. The AERIAL Year 3 proposal is also included.

Review of the SAFARI 2000 RC-10 Aerial Photography

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Jeff; Shelton, Gary; Annegarn, Harrold; Peterson, David L. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This presentation will review the aerial photography collected by the NASA ER-2 aircraft during the SAFARI (Southern African Regional Science Initiative) year 2000 campaign. It will include specifications on the camera and film, and will show examples of the imagery. It will also detail the extent of coverage, and the procedures to obtain film products from the South African government. Also included will be some sample applications of aerial photography for various environmental applications, and its use in augmenting other SAFARI data sets.

Similar Running Economy With Different Running Patterns Along the Aerial-Terrestrial Continuum.

Science.gov (United States)

Lussiana, Thibault; Gindre, Cyrille; Hébert-Losier, Kim; Sagawa, Yoshimasa; Gimenez, Philippe; Mourot, Laurent

2017-04-01

No unique or ideal running pattern is the most economical for all runners. Classifying the global running patterns of individuals into 2 categories (aerial and terrestrial) using the Volodalen method could permit a better understanding of the relationship between running economy (RE) and biomechanics. The main purpose was to compare the RE of aerial and terrestrial runners. Two coaches classified 58 runners into aerial (n = 29) or terrestrial (n = 29) running patterns on the basis of visual observations. RE, muscle activity, kinematics, and spatiotemporal parameters of both groups were measured during a 5-min run at 12 km/h on a treadmill. Maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O 2 max) and peak treadmill speed (PTS) were assessed during an incremental running test. No differences were observed between aerial and terrestrial patterns for RE, V̇O 2 max, and PTS. However, at 12 km/h, aerial runners exhibited earlier gastrocnemius lateralis activation in preparation for contact, less dorsiflexion at ground contact, higher coactivation indexes, and greater leg stiffness during stance phase than terrestrial runners. Terrestrial runners had more pronounced semitendinosus activation at the start and end of the running cycle, shorter flight time, greater leg compression, and a more rear-foot strike. Different running patterns were associated with similar RE. Aerial runners appear to rely more on elastic energy utilization with a rapid eccentric-concentric coupling time, whereas terrestrial runners appear to propel the body more forward rather than upward to limit work against gravity. Excluding runners with a mixed running pattern from analyses did not affect study interpretation.

ARM Aerial Facility ArcticShark Unmanned Aerial System

Science.gov (United States)

Schmid, B.; Hubbell, M.; Mei, F.; Carroll, P.; Mendoza, A.; Ireland, C.; Lewko, K.

2017-12-01

The TigerShark Block 3 XP-AR "ArcticShark" Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), developed and manufactured by Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation (NASC), is a single-prop, 60 hp rotary-engine platform with a wingspan of 6.5 m and Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight of 295 Kg. The ArcticShark is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and has been operated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) since March 2017. The UAS will serve as an airborne atmospheric research observatory for DOE ARM, and, once fully operational, can be requested through ARM's annual call for proposals. The Arctic Shark is anticipated to measure a wide range of radiative, aerosol, and cloud properties using a variable instrument payload weighing up to 46 Kg. SATCOM-equipped, it is capable of taking measurements up to altitudes of 5.5 Km over ranges of up to 500 Km. The ArcticShark operates at airspeeds of 30 to 40 m/s, making it capable of slow sampling. With a full fuel load, its endurance exceeds 8 hours. The aircraft and its Mobile Operations Center (MOC) have been hardened specifically for operations in colder temperatures.ArcticShark's design facilitates rapid integration of various types of payloads. 2500 W of its 4000 W electrical systems is dedicated to payload servicing. It has an interior payload volume of almost 85 L and four wing-mounted pylons capable of carrying external probes. Its payload bay volume, electrical power, payload capacity, and flight characteristics enable the ArcticShark to accommodate multiple combinations of payloads in numerous configurations. Many instruments will be provided by the ARM Aerial Facility (AAF), but other organizations may eventually propose instrumentation for specific campaigns. AAF-provided measurement capabilities will include the following atmospheric state and thermodynamics: temperature, pressure, winds; gases: H2O and CO2; up- and down-welling broadband infrared and visible radiation; surface temperature; aerosol number concentration

Foraminiferal assemblages along the intertidal zone of Itapanhaú River, Bertioga (Brazil)

Science.gov (United States)

Passos, Camila Cunha; Kukimodo, Isabela; Semensatto, Décio

2017-11-01

Foraminifera found in intertidal zones have been successfully used in studies examining relative sea level monitoring around the world. For this purpose, it is necessary to establish the typical foraminiferal assemblages of different salinity regimes and sediment sub aerial exposition. In the present work we collected 27 sediment samples from 5 transversal transects in the mangroves of the Itapanhaú River (Bertioga, SP, Brazil). Transects were distributed along salinity and altitudinal gradients in order to study the community structure of recent foraminifera in terms of diversity and species composition. We identified 35 species and described 5 groups of species in different environmental settings, from downstream to upstream and from margin to landward in the mangrove forest, associated with salinity regime and sediment proportional exposure time. These variables seem to primarily control species distribution and community structure in the intertidal zone, although dissolution of calcareous taxa cannot be ruled out. The first group is dominated by Ammonia spp. and Elphidium spp., colonizes the mouth of the river on an unvegetated tidal flat in the lowest portion of the intertidal zone, under a polyhaline regime. This group exhibits the smallest sub aerial exposition (19,3%) as well as comparatively high species diversity. The second group is formed by a sample dominated by Trochammina inflata and Arenoparrella mexicana, obtained in a polyhaline area on the margin of the mangrove. The third group is dominated by Miliammina fusca and Ammotium spp., and colonizes mesohaline mangrove forests, with proportional exposure time of between 50 and 75%, and high species diversity. The fourth group comprises communities dominated by M. fusca and T. inflata, and colonizes the intermediate level in the interior of the mangrove forest, exhibiting high species diversity. The fifth group comprises communities broadly dominated by M. fusca, colonizing oligohaline margins and the

Photogrammetric mapping using unmanned aerial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Graça, N.; Mitishita, E.; Gonçalves, J.

2014-11-01

Nowadays Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology has attracted attention for aerial photogrammetric mapping. The low cost and the feasibility to automatic flight along commanded waypoints can be considered as the main advantages of this technology in photogrammetric applications. Using GNSS/INS technologies the images are taken at the planned position of the exposure station and the exterior orientation parameters (position Xo, Yo, Zo and attitude ω, φ, χ) of images can be direct determined. However, common UAVs (off-the-shelf) do not replace the traditional aircraft platform. Overall, the main shortcomings are related to: difficulties to obtain the authorization to perform the flight in urban and rural areas, platform stability, safety flight, stability of the image block configuration, high number of the images and inaccuracies of the direct determination of the exterior orientation parameters of the images. In this paper are shown the obtained results from the project photogrammetric mapping using aerial images from the SIMEPAR UAV system. The PIPER J3 UAV Hydro aircraft was used. It has a micro pilot MP2128g. The system is fully integrated with 3-axis gyros/accelerometers, GPS, pressure altimeter, pressure airspeed sensors. A Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W300 was calibrated and used to get the image block. The flight height was close to 400 m, resulting GSD near to 0.10 m. The state of the art of the used technology, methodologies and the obtained results are shown and discussed. Finally advantages/shortcomings found in the study and main conclusions are presented

Microencapsuling aerial conidia of Trichoderma harzianum through spray drying at elevated temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Trichoderma conidia are mostly produced by solid fermentation systems. Inoculum is produced by liquid culturing, and then transferred to solid substrate for aerial conidial production. Aerial conidia of T. harzianum are hydrophilic in nature, and it is difficult to separate them from the solid subst...

Back to the future: aerial warfare in Libya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

João Paulo Nunes Vicente

2013-05-01

Full Text Available A century after the first air bomb mission, a new intervention in the same geographic space has made evident the changes in Airpower. The Aerial Warfare in Libya has radically changed the civil war, complying with a UN mission to protect Libyan population, imposing a no-fly zone and an arms embargo. Therefore, Operation Unified Protector became one of the most successful campaigns in the history of NATO. We aim to assess the operational efficiency of Airpower in the conflict in Libya, focusing on the challenges of a War essentially Aerial. Despite the military results and the fact that some political objectives were met, we can identify some concerning trends that, if not shifted, may negatively influence future NATO operations. We do not aim to draw general and universal conclusions on the strategic value of Airpower based on the analysis of a specific case. Above all, we focus on identifying some lessons which have influenced OUP operational efficiency. Thus, we must analyze some factors, such as the scope of objectives, the type of opposing action and aerial strategy used by the coalition and then focus on the challenges arising from the OUP.

Can reliable sage-grouse lek counts be obtained using aerial infrared technology

Science.gov (United States)

Gillette, Gifford L.; Coates, Peter S.; Petersen, Steven; Romero, John P.

2013-01-01

More effective methods for counting greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are needed to better assess population trends through enumeration or location of new leks. We describe an aerial infrared technique for conducting sage-grouse lek counts and compare this method with conventional ground-based lek count methods. During the breeding period in 2010 and 2011, we surveyed leks from fixed-winged aircraft using cryogenically cooled mid-wave infrared cameras and surveyed the same leks on the same day from the ground following a standard lek count protocol. We did not detect significant differences in lek counts between surveying techniques. These findings suggest that using a cryogenically cooled mid-wave infrared camera from an aerial platform to conduct lek surveys is an effective alternative technique to conventional ground-based methods, but further research is needed. We discuss multiple advantages to aerial infrared surveys, including counting in remote areas, representing greater spatial variation, and increasing the number of counted leks per season. Aerial infrared lek counts may be a valuable wildlife management tool that releases time and resources for other conservation efforts. Opportunities exist for wildlife professionals to refine and apply aerial infrared techniques to wildlife monitoring programs because of the increasing reliability and affordability of this technology.

Novel roaming and stationary tethered aerial robots for continuous mobile missions in nuclear power plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gu, Beom W.; Choi, Su Y.; Rim, Chun T. [Dept. of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Young Soo [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Cai, Guowei; Seneviratne, Lakmal [Dept. of Aerospace Engineering, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)

2016-08-15

In this paper, new tethered aerial robots including roaming tethered aerial robots (RTARs) for radioactive material sampling and stationary tethered aerial robots (STARs) for environment monitoring are proposed to meet extremely-long-endurance missions of nuclear power plants. The flight of the proposed tethered aerial robots may last for a few days or even a few months as long as the tethered cable provides continuous power. A high voltage AC or DC power system was newly adopted to reduce the mass of the tethered cable. The RTAR uses a tethered cable spooled from the aerial robot and an aerial tension control system. The aerial tension control system provides the appropriate tension to the tethered cable, which is accordingly laid down on the ground as the RTAR roams. The STAR includes a tethered cable spooled from the ground and a ground tension control system, which enables the STAR to reach high altitudes. Prototypes of the RTAR and STAR were designed and successfully demonstrated in outdoor environments, where the load power, power type, operating frequency, and flight attitude of the RTAR and STAR were: 180 W, AC 100 kHz, and 20 m; and 300 W, AC or DC 100 kHz, and 80 m, respectively.

Novel Roaming and Stationary Tethered Aerial Robots for Continuous Mobile Missions in Nuclear Power Plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beom W. Gu

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, new tethered aerial robots including roaming tethered aerial robots (RTARs for radioactive material sampling and stationary tethered aerial robots (STARs for environment monitoring are proposed to meet extremely-long-endurance missions of nuclear power plants. The flight of the proposed tethered aerial robots may last for a few days or even a few months as long as the tethered cable provides continuous power. A high voltage AC or DC power system was newly adopted to reduce the mass of the tethered cable. The RTAR uses a tethered cable spooled from the aerial robot and an aerial tension control system. The aerial tension control system provides the appropriate tension to the tethered cable, which is accordingly laid down on the ground as the RTAR roams. The STAR includes a tethered cable spooled from the ground and a ground tension control system, which enables the STAR to reach high altitudes. Prototypes of the RTAR and STAR were designed and successfully demonstrated in outdoor environments, where the load power, power type, operating frequency, and flight attitude of the RTAR and STAR were: 180 W, AC 100 kHz, and 20 m; and 300 W, AC or DC 100 kHz, and 80 m, respectively.

7 CFR 1755.702 - Copper coated steel reinforced (CCSR) aerial service wire.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Copper coated steel reinforced (CCSR) aerial service wire. 1755.702 Section 1755.702 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS, AND STANDARD CONTRACT FORMS § 1755.702 Copper coated steel reinforced (CCSR) aerial...

Combining Human Computing and Machine Learning to Make Sense of Big (Aerial) Data for Disaster Response.

Science.gov (United States)

Ofli, Ferda; Meier, Patrick; Imran, Muhammad; Castillo, Carlos; Tuia, Devis; Rey, Nicolas; Briant, Julien; Millet, Pauline; Reinhard, Friedrich; Parkan, Matthew; Joost, Stéphane

2016-03-01

Aerial imagery captured via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is playing an increasingly important role in disaster response. Unlike satellite imagery, aerial imagery can be captured and processed within hours rather than days. In addition, the spatial resolution of aerial imagery is an order of magnitude higher than the imagery produced by the most sophisticated commercial satellites today. Both the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) have noted that aerial imagery will inevitably present a big data challenge. The purpose of this article is to get ahead of this future challenge by proposing a hybrid crowdsourcing and real-time machine learning solution to rapidly process large volumes of aerial data for disaster response in a time-sensitive manner. Crowdsourcing can be used to annotate features of interest in aerial images (such as damaged shelters and roads blocked by debris). These human-annotated features can then be used to train a supervised machine learning system to learn to recognize such features in new unseen images. In this article, we describe how this hybrid solution for image analysis can be implemented as a module (i.e., Aerial Clicker) to extend an existing platform called Artificial Intelligence for Disaster Response (AIDR), which has already been deployed to classify microblog messages during disasters using its Text Clicker module and in response to Cyclone Pam, a category 5 cyclone that devastated Vanuatu in March 2015. The hybrid solution we present can be applied to both aerial and satellite imagery and has applications beyond disaster response such as wildlife protection, human rights, and archeological exploration. As a proof of concept, we recently piloted this solution using very high-resolution aerial photographs of a wildlife reserve in Namibia to support rangers with their wildlife conservation efforts (SAVMAP project, http://lasig.epfl.ch/savmap ). The

THE DRONES ARE COMING. WHAT TO CHOOSE? LOW AND MEDIUM ALTITUDE AERIAL ARCHAEOLOGY ON LIMES TRANSALUTANUS.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Ștefan

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Aerial archaeology has more than one century of tradition as a valuable research method. Like archaeology, the aerial reconnaissance is undergoing dynamic changes. The field must face the profound conceptual challenges raised by the evolving demands of archaeologists. In addition, aerial archaeology has to adapt its own methods in order to constantly incorporate new technologies such as: thermal vision, LiDAR and also advanced photogrammetry processing techniques. One of the greatest challenges and promising perspectives for evolution of the field is the arriving and rapidly spreading of small remote controlled aerial vehicles (UAVs – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, known also as drones. However, a real development of the UAVs based aerial archaeology’s branch is conditioned by the availability of special tailored aerial vehicles for archaeologist’s needs. Unfortunately, the time has not yet come for this, while the major efforts in drones development is spent for aerial videography applications, surveillance and general entertainment. The implementation of a research project, dedicated to the longest built sector of the Roman limes in Dacia – Limes Transalutanus, represented for the authors a suitable occasion to assess the possibilities and limits of the large scale aerial archaeology based on UAVs. On the occasion there were tested two custom flying platforms and one commercial, multiple flight strategies and several processing algorithms. The linear nature and the extent of the site (basically a corridor of 157 km in length called for distinct augmentation of equipment and survey workflows, with applicability in ‘corridor’ archaeological projects like those for highways and utilities networks.

Anomalies from aerial spectrometric and total count radiometric surveys in the southeastern United States

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, C.H.; Lawton, D.E.

1978-01-01

Aerial radiometric reconnaissance surveys are conducted because of their cost, time, and manpower savings compared to surface studies. Two types of aerial surveys are being flown in the southeastern United States: total count gamma-ray surveys for the Coastal Plains Regional Commission and the US Geological Survey, and differential gamma-ray spectrometric surveys for the US Department of Energy. Anomalous radioactivity detected during aerial surveys is related to higher concentrations of naturally occurring uranium, or to cultural activities, natural causes, or mapping errors which simulate real uranium anomalies. Each anomaly should be ground checked; however, several types of anomalies may be eliminated by evaluation of the aerial data in the office if field time is limited

Cross-Correlation-Based Structural System Identification Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyungchul Yoon

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Computer vision techniques have been employed to characterize dynamic properties of structures, as well as to capture structural motion for system identification purposes. All of these methods leverage image-processing techniques using a stationary camera. This requirement makes finding an effective location for camera installation difficult, because civil infrastructure (i.e., bridges, buildings, etc. are often difficult to access, being constructed over rivers, roads, or other obstacles. This paper seeks to use video from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs to address this problem. As opposed to the traditional way of using stationary cameras, the use of UAVs brings the issue of the camera itself moving; thus, the displacements of the structure obtained by processing UAV video are relative to the UAV camera. Some efforts have been reported to compensate for the camera motion, but they require certain assumptions that may be difficult to satisfy. This paper proposes a new method for structural system identification using the UAV video directly. Several challenges are addressed, including: (1 estimation of an appropriate scale factor; and (2 compensation for the rolling shutter effect. Experimental validation is carried out to validate the proposed approach. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy and significant potential of the proposed approach.

High-frequency acoustic imaging of L Lake Phase 4 [Savannah River Site, South Carolina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dunn, D.L.; Sjostrom, Keith J.; Leist, Rodney L.; Harmon, Thomas S. Jr.

1997-01-01

The objective of the seismic reflection and side scan sonar survey is to determine the location, aerial extent, and depth of burial pits situated along the reservoir bottom of L Lake, Savannah River Site, SC. The results will be used in the overall characterization of L Lake by providing continuous profile line coverage of the bottom and subbottom sediment structure along the entire length of the project area. The results are also intended to supplement previous scientific information obtained from soil samples, aerial photography, and radiometric studies. Resultant information will be used as input for an Environmental Impact Statement of the site. Overall, the seismic reflection data will provide better descriptions of variations in the actual subbottom conditions and help identify the differing sediment layers. The side scan sonar will help identify the location of the burial pits and any other features on the bottom of the reservoir. A 3.5 kiloHertz (kHz), high resolution subbottom profiling system and an EG and G Model 260 side scan sonar system were used to meet the primary objectives of the investigation

Aerial surveys adjusted by ground surveys to estimate area occupied by black-tailed prairie dog colonies

Science.gov (United States)

Sidle, John G.; Augustine, David J.; Johnson, Douglas H.; Miller, Sterling D.; Cully, Jack F.; Reading, Richard P.

2012-01-01

Aerial surveys using line-intercept methods are one approach to estimate the extent of prairie dog colonies in a large geographic area. Although black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) construct conspicuous mounds at burrow openings, aerial observers have difficulty discriminating between areas with burrows occupied by prairie dogs (colonies) versus areas of uninhabited burrows (uninhabited colony sites). Consequently, aerial line-intercept surveys may overestimate prairie dog colony extent unless adjusted by an on-the-ground inspection of a sample of intercepts. We compared aerial line-intercept surveys conducted over 2 National Grasslands in Colorado, USA, with independent ground-mapping of known black-tailed prairie dog colonies. Aerial line-intercepts adjusted by ground surveys using a single activity category adjustment overestimated colonies by ≥94% on the Comanche National Grassland and ≥58% on the Pawnee National Grassland. We present a ground-survey technique that involves 1) visiting on the ground a subset of aerial intercepts classified as occupied colonies plus a subset of intercepts classified as uninhabited colony sites, and 2) based on these ground observations, recording the proportion of each aerial intercept that intersects a colony and the proportion that intersects an uninhabited colony site. Where line-intercept techniques are applied to aerial surveys or remotely sensed imagery, this method can provide more accurate estimates of black-tailed prairie dog abundance and trends

Managing Environmental Flows for Impounded Rivers in Semi-Arid Regions- A Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) Approach for the Assessment of River Habitat for Salmonid Populations

Science.gov (United States)

Pai, H.; Sivakumaran, K.; Villamizar, S. R.; Flanagan, J.; Guo, Q.; Harmon, T. C.

2013-12-01

Balancing ecosystem health in water-scarce, agriculturally dominated river basins remains a challenge. In dry water years, maintaining conditions for restored and sustained indigenous fish populations (a frequently used indicator for ecosystem health) is particularly challenging. Competing human demands include urban and agricultural water supplies, hydropower, and flood control. In many semi-arid regions, increasing drought intensity and frequency under future climate scenarios will combine with population increases to water scarcity. The goal of this work is to better understand how reservoir releases affect fish habitat and overall river aquatic ecosystem quality. Models integrating a diverse array of physical and biological processes and system state are used to forecast the river ecosystem response to changing drivers. We propose a distributed parameter-based Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) approach for assessing fish habitat quality. Our river ecosystem HSI maps are based on a combination of the following: (1) In situ data describing stream flow and water quality conditions; (2) Spatial observations, including surveyed cross-sections, aerial imagery and digital elevation maps (DEM) of the river and its riparian corridor; and (3) Simulated spatially distributed water depths, flow velocities, and temperatures estimated from 1D and 2D river flow and temperature models (HEC-RAS and CE-QUAL-W2, respectively). With respect to (2), image processing schemes are used to classify and map key habitat features, namely riparian edge and shallow underwater vegetation. HSI maps can be modified temporally to address specific life cycle requirements of indicator fish species. Results are presented for several reaches associated with the San Joaquin River Restoration Project, focusing on several components of the Chinook salmon life cycle. HSI maps and interpretations are presented in the context of a range of prescribed reservoir release hydrographs linked to California water

Spatial consistency of chinook salmon redd distribution within and among years in the Cowlitz River, Washington

Science.gov (United States)

Klett, Katherine J.C.; Torgersen, Christian E.; Henning, Julie A.; Murray, Christopher J.

2013-01-01

We investigated the spawning patterns of Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha on the lower Cowlitz River, Washington, using a unique set of fine- and coarse-scale temporal and spatial data collected during biweekly aerial surveys conducted in 1991–2009 (500 m to 28 km resolution) and 2008–2009 (100–500 m resolution). Redd locations were mapped from a helicopter during 2008 and 2009 with a hand-held GPS synchronized with in-flight audio recordings. We examined spatial patterns of Chinook Salmon redd reoccupation among and within years in relation to segment-scale geomorphic features. Chinook Salmon spawned in the same sections each year with little variation among years. On a coarse scale, 5 years (1993, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2009) were compared for reoccupation. Redd locations were highly correlated among years. Comparisons on a fine scale (500 m) between 2008 and 2009 also revealed a high degree of consistency among redd locations. On a finer temporal scale, we observed that Chinook Salmon spawned in the same sections during the first and last week. Redds were clustered in both 2008 and 2009. Regression analysis with a generalized linear model at the 500-m scale indicated that river kilometer and channel bifurcation were positively associated with redd density, whereas sinuosity was negatively associated with redd density. Collecting data on specific redd locations with a GPS during aerial surveys was logistically feasible and cost effective and greatly enhanced the spatial precision of Chinook Salmon spawning surveys.

The Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL) 2002 Report

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, Brent D.; Fink, Mary M.; Nickerson, Jocelyn S.

2002-01-01

This report presents and overview of the Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL). It covers the University of Nebraska's areas of research, and its outreach to students at Native American schools as part of AERIAL. The report contains three papers: "Airborne Remote Sensing (ARS) for Agricultural Research and Commercialization Application" (White Paper), "Validated Numerical Models for the Convective Extinction of Fuel Droplets (CEFD)", and "The Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS): Research Collaborations with the NASA Langley Research Center".

Aerial Measuring System (AMS)/ Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) Joint Comparison Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halevy, I.; Dadon, S.; Sheinfeld, M.; Broide, A.; Rofe, S.; Yaar, I.; Wasiolek, P.

2014-01-01

In support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) International Emergency Management and Cooperation (IEMC/NA-46) Program, the comparison of the U.S. and Israeli Aerial Measuring Systems (AMS) study was proposed and accepted. The study, organized by the DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL), involved the DOE/NNSA Aerial Measuring System Project based at the RSL and operated under a contractor agreement by National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec), and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) Aerial Measuring System. The operational comparison was conducted at RSL-Nellis in Las Vegas, Nevada, during week of June 24–27, 2013. The Israeli system, Air RAM 2000 (figure 1, down), was shipped to RSL-Nellis and mounted together with the DOE Spectral Advanced Radiological Computer System, Model A (SPARCS-A, figure 1 up) on U.S. DOE Bell-412 helicopter for a series of aerial comparison measurements at local test ranges, including the Desert Rock Airport and Area 3 at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). A four-person Israeli team from the IAEC, Nuclear Research Center – Negev (NRCN) supported the activity. The main objective of this joint comparison was use the DOE/RSL Bell-412 helicopter aerial platform, perform the comparison study of measuring techniques and radiation acquisition systems utilized for emergency response by IEAC and NNSA AMS

Understanding successful and unsuccessful landings of aerial maneuver variations in professional surfing.

Science.gov (United States)

Forsyth, J R; Riddiford-Harland, D L; Whitting, J W; Sheppard, J M; Steele, J R

2018-05-01

Although performing aerial maneuvers can increase wave score and winning potential in competitive surfing, the critical features underlying successful aerial performance have not been systematically investigated. This study aimed to analyze highly skilled aerial maneuver performance and to identify the critical features associated with successful or unsuccessful landing. Using video recordings of the World Surf League's Championship Tour, every aerial performed during the quarterfinal, semifinal, and final heats from the 11 events in the 2015 season was viewed. From this, 121 aerials were identified with the Frontside Air (n = 15) and Frontside Air Reverse (n = 67) being selected to be qualitatively assessed. Using chi-squared analyses, a series of key critical features, including landing over the center of the surfboard (FS Air χ 2  = 14.00, FS Air Reverse χ 2  = 26.61; P < .001) and landing with the lead ankle in dorsiflexion (FS Air χ 2  = 3.90, FS Air Reverse χ 2  = 13.64; P < .05), were found to be associated with successful landings. These critical features help surfers land in a stable position, while maintaining contact with the surfboard. The results of this study provide coaches with evidence to adjust the technique of their athletes to improve their winning potential. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Upstream passage, spawning, and stock identification of fall chinook in the Snake River, 1992 and 1993. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blankenship, H.L.; Mendel, G.W.

1997-05-01

This final report of the 3-year study summarizes activities and results for 1993. Study objectives were to: (1) determine the source of losses (or accounting errors) for adult chinook salmon between Ice Harbor Dam (IHR) and Lower Granite Dam (LGR), and upstream of LGR in the Snake River; (2) identify spawning locations upstream of LGR for calibration of aerial redd surveys, redd habitat mapping, carcass recovery for genetic stock profile analysis, and correction of estimated adult/redd ratios; and (3) estimate passage and migration times at Snake River. 200 fall chinook salmon were radio tagged and tracked with aerial, fixed-site, and ground mobile tracking. Fish were released upstream of IHR at Charbonneau Park (CHAR). 190 of the fish were tracked or relocated away from CHAR. 59 fish descended to below IHR without crossing Lower Monumental Dam (LMO). Another 128 salmon passed upstream of LMO without falling back at IHR. Only 80 salmon passed Little Goose Dam (LGO) without falling back at a downstream dam; 66 of these fish passed LGR. Many fish that fell back reascended the dams. A total of 72 salmon released at CHAR passed upstream of LGR, including fish that had fallen back and reascended a dam. Over 80 percent of the salmon that entered Lyons Ferry Hatchery each year had reached LGO before descending to the hatchery. Extensive wandering was documented between LMO and upstream of LGR before salmon entered Lyons Ferry Hatchery or the Tucannon River. In 1993, 41 salmon were found to be of hatchery origin when recovered. These fish entered Lyons Ferry Hatchery with similar movements to unmarked salmon. Each year a few salmon have remained near the hatchery without entering, which suggests the hatchery may have inadequate attraction flows. Fall chinook passed lower Snake River dams in 2-5 days each on average. Median travel times through LMO and LGO were 1.0-1.3 days each, which was slower than for spring chinook or steelhead in 1993. 5 refs., 21 figs., 20 tabs

Preliminary phytochemical screening of roots and aerial parts of leptadenia pyrotechnica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munazir, M.; Qureshi, R.; Munir, M.

2015-01-01

Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Forssk.) Decne is a medicinal plant that is native to hot deserts of Pakistan. This plant is sporadically known with reference to bioactivity including phytochemical screening especially from Pakistan. The present study was designed to screen out four major groups of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and tannins from eight solvents based roots and aerial parts extracts viz., hexane, chloroform, acetone, ethyl acetate, butanol, ethanol, methanol and water of the selected plant. The qualitative screening showed the presence of all major groups of phytochemicals in both plant parts extracts in which methanolic ones were the most efficient that extracted all the selected classes of phytochemicals. Quantitative screening revealed various concentrations of selected phytochemicals in both plant parts. The alkaloid contents were 3.267±0.643and 3±0.6 in roots and aerial parts respectively (p>0.05). The total flavonoid content was 76.867±2.266 and 139.448±8.677 QE/100g in roots and aerial parts respectively. In the case of total saponin contents, the proportions were 0.34±0.013% and 0.4 0.010% in roots and aerial parts respectively, whereas; total tannin contents were 62.713±4.841 and154.961±5.853 mg of TAE/100g of extract in roots and aerial parts, respectively. This study will serve as a benchmark for further pharmacological studies on the said plant that may be harnessed for drug development in the future. (author)

Integrating Pavement Crack Detection and Analysis Using Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

2015-03-27

INTEGRATING PAVEMENT CRACK DETECTION AND ANALYSIS USING AUTONOMOUS UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE...protection in the United States. AFIT-ENV-MS-15-M-195 INTEGRATING PAVEMENT CRACK DETECTION AND ANALYSIS USING AUTONOMOUS UNMANNED AERIAL...APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. AFIT-ENV-MS-15-M-195 INTEGRATING PAVEMENT CRACK DETECTION AND ANALYSIS USING AUTONOMOUS

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Photogrammetry Produces ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Marinus Boon

Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of ... The technique also only requires a few control measurements and the ... The number of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) referenced in the 2013 ... model aircraft airfield east of the R25 road, just south of the M6 intersection, up until ...

Coverage for SCS Pre-1941 Aerial Photography

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — This shapefile was generated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the New Mexico State Office to show the coverage for the Pre-1941 aerial photography...

Sediment budget analysis from Landslide debris and river channel change during the extreme event - example of Typhoon Morakot at Laonong river, Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Kuo-Jen; Huang, Yu-Ting; Huang, Mei-Jen; Chiang, Yi-Lin; Yeh, En-Chao; Chao, Yu-Jui

2014-05-01

Taiwan, due to the high seismicity and high annual rainfall, numerous landslides triggered every year and severe impacts affect the island. Typhoon Morakot brought extreme and long-time rainfall for Taiwan in August 2009. It further caused huge loss of life and property in central and southern Taiwan. Laonong River is the largest tributary of Gaoping River. It's length is 137 km, and the basin area is 1373 km2. More than 2000mm rainfall brought and maximum rainfall exceeded 100mm/hr in the region by Typhoon Morakot in Aug, 2009. Its heavy rains made many landslides and debris flew into the river and further brought out accumulation and erosion on river banks of different areas. It caused severe disasters within the Laonong River drainage. In the past, the study of sediment blockage of river channel usually relies on field investigation, but due to inconvenient transportation, topographical barriers, or located in remote areas, etc. the survey is hardly to be completed sometimes. In recent years, the rapid development of remote sensing technology improves image resolution and quality significantly. Remote sensing technology can provide a wide range of image data, and provide essential and precious information. Furthermore, although the amount of sediment transportation can be estimated by using data such as rainfall, river flux, and suspended loads, the situation of large debris migration cannot be studied via those data. However, landslides, debris flow and river sediment transportation model in catchment area can be evaluated easily through analyzing the digital terrain model (DTM) . The purpose of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of river migration and to evaluate the amount of migration along Laonong River by analyzing the DEM before and after the typhoon Morakot. The DEMs are built by using the aerial images taken by digital mapping camera (DMC) and by airborne digital scanner 40 (ADS 40) before and after typhoon event. The results show that lateral

Bio-inspired computation in unmanned aerial vehicles

CERN Document Server

Duan, Haibin

2014-01-01

Bio-inspired Computation in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles focuses on the aspects of path planning, formation control, heterogeneous cooperative control and vision-based surveillance and navigation in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from the perspective of bio-inspired computation. It helps readers to gain a comprehensive understanding of control-related problems in UAVs, presenting the latest advances in bio-inspired computation. By combining bio-inspired computation and UAV control problems, key questions are explored in depth, and each piece is content-rich while remaining accessible. With abundant illustrations of simulation work, this book links theory, algorithms and implementation procedures, demonstrating the simulation results with graphics that are intuitive without sacrificing academic rigor. Further, it pays due attention to both the conceptual framework and the implementation procedures. The book offers a valuable resource for scientists, researchers and graduate students in the field of Control, Aeros...

A Two-Stream Deep Fusion Framework for High-Resolution Aerial Scene Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yunlong Yu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available One of the challenging problems in understanding high-resolution remote sensing images is aerial scene classification. A well-designed feature representation method and classifier can improve classification accuracy. In this paper, we construct a new two-stream deep architecture for aerial scene classification. First, we use two pretrained convolutional neural networks (CNNs as feature extractor to learn deep features from the original aerial image and the processed aerial image through saliency detection, respectively. Second, two feature fusion strategies are adopted to fuse the two different types of deep convolutional features extracted by the original RGB stream and the saliency stream. Finally, we use the extreme learning machine (ELM classifier for final classification with the fused features. The effectiveness of the proposed architecture is tested on four challenging datasets: UC-Merced dataset with 21 scene categories, WHU-RS dataset with 19 scene categories, AID dataset with 30 scene categories, and NWPU-RESISC45 dataset with 45 challenging scene categories. The experimental results demonstrate that our architecture gets a significant classification accuracy improvement over all state-of-the-art references.

Historic (1940 to present) changes in Lillooet River planform (BC, Canada)

Science.gov (United States)

Zei, Caterina

2017-04-01

Historic (1940 to present) changes in Lillooet River planform (BC, Canada) Zei C.*, Giardino M.*, Perotti L.*, Roberti G.***, **Ward B.C.**, Clague J.J.** *Department of Earth Sciences, Geositlab, Università degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italia; **Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada ***Université Blaise Pascal - Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans Clermont-Ferrand, France We conducted a geomorphological study of changes in the planform of Lillooet River (Coast Mountain, British Columbia, Canada) over the past 75 years. The study involved identification and interpretations of channel changes in the reach of the river between Mount Meager (the source of the landslide) and Pemberton Meadows. Lillooet River flows about 95 km southeast from its headwaters at Lillooet Glacier to Lillooet Lake near Pemberton, the largest community in the valley. Between the mouth of Meager Creek and Pemberton Meadows, the river is unregulated and has a braided planform resulting from the very high delivery of sediment due to frequent landslides and debris flows sourced on the Mount Meager volcanic complex. Below Pemberton Meadows, the river occupies a single channel confined between dikes. A rich archive of historical vertical aerial photographs exists for the study area, In addition, a high-resolution digital elevation model was produced from LiDAR data acquired in 2015. We processed each set of photos dating back to 1940 with the software Agisoft Photoscan to produce high resolution orthophotos. Analysis of these datasets, complemented with field investigation, showed that the river channel in the braided reach shifted laterally up to 550 m between 1981 and 2010; likely caused in part by five floods with peak discharges of more than 800 m^3/s and four landslides on the flanks of Mount Meager massif with volumes up to 13 x 106 m^3. Channel avulsions were probably triggered by accumulation of in-channel rafts of coarse woody debris and are

Neurodevelopmental Delay Diagnosis Rates Are Increased in a Region with Aerial Pesticide Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven D. Hicks

2017-05-01

Full Text Available A number of studies have implicated pesticides in childhood developmental delay (DD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD. The influence of the route of pesticide exposure on neurodevelopmental delay is not well defined. To study this factor, we examined ASD/DD diagnoses rates in an area near our regional medical center that employs yearly aerial pyrethroid pesticide applications to combat mosquito-borne encephalitis. The aim of this study was to determine if areas with aerial pesticide exposure had higher rates of ASD/DD diagnoses. This regional study identified higher rates of ASD/DD diagnoses in an area with aerial pesticides application. Zip codes with aerial pyrethroid exposure were 37% more likely to have higher rates of ASD/DD (adjusted RR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.06–1.78, p = 0.02. A Poisson regression model controlling for regional characteristics (poverty, pesticide use, population density, and distance to medical center, subject characteristics (race and sex, and local birth characteristics (prematurity, low birthweight, and birth rates identified a significant relationship between aerial pesticide use and ASD/DD rates. The relationship between pesticide application and human neurodevelopment deserves additional study to develop safe and effective methods of mosquito prevention, particularly as communities develop plans for Zika virus control.

Neurodevelopmental Delay Diagnosis Rates Are Increased in a Region with Aerial Pesticide Application.

Science.gov (United States)

Hicks, Steven D; Wang, Ming; Fry, Katherine; Doraiswamy, Vignesh; Wohlford, Eric M

2017-01-01

A number of studies have implicated pesticides in childhood developmental delay (DD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The influence of the route of pesticide exposure on neurodevelopmental delay is not well defined. To study this factor, we examined ASD/DD diagnoses rates in an area near our regional medical center that employs yearly aerial pyrethroid pesticide applications to combat mosquito-borne encephalitis. The aim of this study was to determine if areas with aerial pesticide exposure had higher rates of ASD/DD diagnoses. This regional study identified higher rates of ASD/DD diagnoses in an area with aerial pesticides application. Zip codes with aerial pyrethroid exposure were 37% more likely to have higher rates of ASD/DD (adjusted RR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.06-1.78, p  = 0.02). A Poisson regression model controlling for regional characteristics (poverty, pesticide use, population density, and distance to medical center), subject characteristics (race and sex), and local birth characteristics (prematurity, low birthweight, and birth rates) identified a significant relationship between aerial pesticide use and ASD/DD rates. The relationship between pesticide application and human neurodevelopment deserves additional study to develop safe and effective methods of mosquito prevention, particularly as communities develop plans for Zika virus control.

Assessing the performance of aerial image point cloud and spectral metrics in predicting boreal forest canopy cover

Science.gov (United States)

Melin, M.; Korhonen, L.; Kukkonen, M.; Packalen, P.

2017-07-01

Canopy cover (CC) is a variable used to describe the status of forests and forested habitats, but also the variable used primarily to define what counts as a forest. The estimation of CC has relied heavily on remote sensing with past studies focusing on satellite imagery as well as Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) using light detection and ranging (lidar). Of these, ALS has been proven highly accurate, because the fraction of pulses penetrating the canopy represents a direct measurement of canopy gap percentage. However, the methods of photogrammetry can be applied to produce point clouds fairly similar to airborne lidar data from aerial images. Currently there is little information about how well such point clouds measure canopy density and gaps. The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of aerial image point clouds for CC estimation and compare the results with those obtained using spectral data from aerial images and Landsat 5. First, we modeled CC for n = 1149 lidar plots using field-measured CCs and lidar data. Next, this data was split into five subsets in north-south direction (y-coordinate). Finally, four CC models (AerialSpectral, AerialPointcloud, AerialCombi (spectral + pointcloud) and Landsat) were created and they were used to predict new CC values to the lidar plots, subset by subset, using five-fold cross validation. The Landsat and AerialSpectral models performed with RMSEs of 13.8% and 12.4%, respectively. AerialPointcloud model reached an RMSE of 10.3%, which was further improved by the inclusion of spectral data; RMSE of the AerialCombi model was 9.3%. We noticed that the aerial image point clouds managed to describe only the outermost layer of the canopy and missed the details in lower canopy, which was resulted in weak characterization of the total CC variation, especially in the tails of the data.

Digital aerial sketchmapping and downlink communications: a new tool for fire managers

Science.gov (United States)

Everett Hinkley; Tom Zajkowski; Charlie Schrader-Patton

2010-01-01

Aerial sketchmapping is the geolocating of features that are seen on the ground below an aircraft and the subsequent recording of those features. Traditional aerial sketchmapping methods required hand-sketching on hardcopy maps or photos and the translation of that information to a digital file. In 1996, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service embarked...

Salinization Sources Along the Lower Jordan River Under Draught Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Holtzman, R.; Shavit, U.; Segal, M.; Vengosh, A.; Farber, E.; Gavrieli, I.

2003-12-01

The Lower Jordan River, once a flowing freshwater river, is suffering from an ongoing reduction of discharge and water quality. The river flows between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, an aerial distance of about 105 Km. The severe reduction is caused by an excessive exploitation of its sources and diversion of sewage and agricultural drainage into the river. The extreme low flows and low water quality threaten the natural existence of the river and its potential use for agriculture. In spite of its importance, little research has been done in the river. The objectives of the study were to measure the discharge and water composition along the river and to evaluate the main sources that control its flow and chemical characteristics. The hypothesis of the study was that interaction with subsurface flows significantly affects the river flow and chemical composition. The research is based on a detailed field study, which included flow rate measurements in the river and its tributaries, water sampling and analysis and mass balance calculations of water and solutes. A portable Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) was used to measure velocities and bathymetry at different locations across the river sections. Due to accessibility constraints, a floating traverse construction, which enables the ADV's deployment from one bank of the river, was developed. It was found that flow rate ranges between 500-1,100 L/s in northern (upstream) sections and 300-1,650 L/s in the south. This low discharge represents a significant reduction from historical values and is lower than recent published estimations. This research represents base flows only, as the measurements were done during a period of two consecutive draught years. Calculated mass balance of water flows in the northern sections shows that the subsurface source contributes to the river around 200-670 L/s (30-80% of the river flow). Calculations of solute balance show that the subsurface flows add 20-50% of the mass of

The long-term legacy of geomorphic and riparian vegetation feedbacks on the dammed Bill Williams River, Arizona, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Kui, Li; Stella, John C.; Shafroth, Patrick B.; House, P. Kyle; Wilcox, Andrew C.

2017-01-01

On alluvial rivers, fluvial landforms and riparian vegetation communities codevelop as a result of feedbacks between plants and abiotic processes. The influence of vegetation on river channel and floodplain geomorphology can be particularly strong on dammed rivers with altered hydrology and reduced flood disturbance. We used a 56-year series of aerial photos on the dammed Bill Williams River (Arizona, USA) to investigate how (a) different woody riparian vegetation types influence river channel planform and (b) how different fluvial landforms drive the composition of riparian plant communities over time. We mapped vegetation types and geomorphic surfaces and quantified how relations between fluvial and biotic processes covaried over time using linear mixed models. In the decades after the dam was built, woody plant cover within the river's bottomland nearly doubled, narrowing the active channel by 60% and transforming its planform from wide and braided to a single thread and more sinuous channel. Compared with native cottonwood–willow vegetation, nonnative tamarisk locally induced a twofold greater reduction in channel braiding. Vegetation expanded at different rates depending on the type of landform, with tamarisk cover on former high-flow channels increasing 17% faster than cottonwood–willow. Former low-flow channels with frequent inundation supported a greater increase in cottonwood–willow relative to tamarisk. These findings give insight into how feedbacks between abiotic and biotic processes in river channels accelerate and fortify changes triggered by dam construction, creating river systems increasingly distinct from predam ecological communities and landforms, and progressively more resistant to restoration of predam forms and processes.

Autonomous charging to enable long-endurance missions for small aerial robots

Science.gov (United States)

Mulgaonkar, Yash; Kumar, Vijay

2014-06-01

The past decade has seen an increased interest towards research involving Autonomous Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). The predominant reason for this is their agility and ability to perform tasks too difficult or dangerous for their human counterparts and to navigate into places where ground robots cannot reach. Among MAVs, rotary wing aircraft such as quadrotors have the ability to operate in confined spaces, hover at a given point in space and perch1 or land on a flat surface. This makes the quadrotor a very attractive aerial platform giving rise to a myriad of research opportunities. The potential of these aerial platforms is severely limited by the constraints on the flight time due to limited battery capacity. This in turn arises from limits on the payload of these rotorcraft. By automating the battery recharging process, creating autonomous MAVs that can recharge their on-board batteries without any human intervention and by employing a team of such agents, the overall mission time can be greatly increased. This paper describes the development, testing, and implementation of a system of autonomous charging stations for a team of Micro Aerial Vehicles. This system was used to perform fully autonomous long-term multi-agent aerial surveillance experiments with persistent station keeping. The scalability of the algorithm used in the experiments described in this paper was also tested by simulating a persistence surveillance scenario for 10 MAVs and charging stations. Finally, this system was successfully implemented to perform a 9½ hour multi-agent persistent flight test. Preliminary implementation of this charging system in experiments involving construction of cubic structures with quadrotors showed a three-fold increase in effective mission time.

Hydrodynamics and Connectivity of Channelized Floodplains: Insights from the Meandering East Fork White River, Indiana, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Czuba, J. A.; David, S. R.; Edmonds, D. A.

2017-12-01

High resolution topography reveals that meandering river floodplains in Indiana commonly have networks of channels. These floodplain channel networks are most prevalent in agricultural, low-gradient, wide floodplains. It appears that these networks are formed when floodplain channels connect oxbows to each other and the main river channel. Collectively, the channels in the floodplain create an interconnected network of pathways that convey water beginning at flows less than bankfull, and as stage increases, more of the floodplain becomes dissected by floodplain channels. In this work, we quantify the hydrodynamics and connectivity of the flow on the floodplain and in the main channel of the East Fork White River near Seymour, Indiana, USA. We constructed a two-dimensional numerical model using HECRAS of the river-floodplain system from LiDAR data and from main-channel river bathymetry to elucidate the behaviour of these floodplain channels across a range of flows. Model calibration and verification data included stage from a USGS gage, high-water marks at a high and medium flow, and an aerial photograph of inundation in the floodplain channels. The numerical model simulated flow depth and velocity, which was used to quantify connectivity of the floodplain channels, exchange between the main channel and floodplain channels, and residence time of water on the floodplain. Model simulations suggest that the floodplain channels convey roughly 50% of the total flow at what is typically considered "bankfull" flow. Overall, we present a process-based approach for analyzing complex floodplain-river systems where an individual floodplain-river system can be distilled down to a set of characteristic curves. Notably, we map the East Fork White River system to exchange-residence time space and argue that this characterization forms the basis for thinking about morphologic evolution (e.g., sediment deposition and erosion) and biogeochemistry (e.g., nitrate removal) in floodplain-river

Mapping Urban Ecosystem Services Using High Resolution Aerial Photography

Science.gov (United States)

Pilant, A. N.; Neale, A.; Wilhelm, D.

2010-12-01

Ecosystem services (ES) are the many life-sustaining benefits we receive from nature: e.g., clean air and water, food and fiber, cultural-aesthetic-recreational benefits, pollination and flood control. The ES concept is emerging as a means of integrating complex environmental and economic information to support informed environmental decision making. The US EPA is developing a web-based National Atlas of Ecosystem Services, with a component for urban ecosystems. Currently, the only wall-to-wall, national scale land cover data suitable for this analysis is the National Land Cover Data (NLCD) at 30 m spatial resolution with 5 and 10 year updates. However, aerial photography is acquired at higher spatial resolution (0.5-3 m) and more frequently (1-5 years, typically) for most urban areas. Land cover was mapped in Raleigh, NC using freely available USDA National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) with 1 m ground sample distance to test the suitability of aerial photography for urban ES analysis. Automated feature extraction techniques were used to extract five land cover classes, and an accuracy assessment was performed using standard techniques. Results will be presented that demonstrate applications to mapping ES in urban environments: greenways, corridors, fragmentation, habitat, impervious surfaces, dark and light pavement (urban heat island). Automated feature extraction results mapped over NAIP color aerial photograph. At this scale, we can look at land cover and related ecosystem services at the 2-10 m scale. Small features such as individual trees and sidewalks are visible and mappable. Classified aerial photo of Downtown Raleigh NC Red: impervious surface Dark Green: trees Light Green: grass Tan: soil

Improving settlement type classification of aerial images

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mdakane, L

2014-10-01

Full Text Available , an automated method can be used to help identify human settlements in a fixed, repeatable and timely manner. The main contribution of this work is to improve generalisation on settlement type classification of aerial imagery. Images acquired at different dates...

Using aerial photography and image analysis to measure changes in giant reed populations

Science.gov (United States)

A study was conducted along the Rio Grande in southwest Texas to evaluate color-infrared aerial photography combined with supervised image analysis to quantify changes in giant reed (Arundo donax L.) populations over a 6-year period. Aerial photographs from 2002 and 2008 of the same seven study site...

Peach Flower Monitoring Using Aerial Multispectral Imaging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryan Horton

2017-01-01

Full Text Available One of the tools for optimal crop production is regular monitoring and assessment of crops. During the growing season of fruit trees, the bloom period has increased photosynthetic rates that correlate with the fruiting process. This paper presents the development of an image processing algorithm to detect peach blossoms on trees. Aerial images of peach (Prunus persica trees were acquired from both experimental and commercial peach orchards in the southwestern part of Idaho using an off-the-shelf unmanned aerial system (UAS, equipped with a multispectral camera (near-infrared, green, blue. The image processing algorithm included contrast stretching of the three bands to enhance the image and thresholding segmentation method to detect the peach blossoms. Initial results showed that the image processing algorithm could detect peach blossoms with an average detection rate of 84.3% and demonstrated good potential as a monitoring tool for orchard management.

Improving a DSM Obtained by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Flood Modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Mourato, Sandra; Fernandez, Paulo; Pereira, Luísa; Moreira, Madalena

2017-12-01

According to the EU flood risks directive, flood hazard map must be used to assess the flood risk. These maps can be developed with hydraulic modelling tools using a Digital Surface Runoff Model (DSRM). During the last decade, important evolutions of the spatial data processing has been developed which will certainly improve the hydraulic models results. Currently, images acquired with Red/Green/Blue (RGB) camera transported by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are seen as a good alternative data sources to represent the terrain surface with a high level of resolution and precision. The question is if the digital surface model obtain with this data is adequate enough for a good representation of the hydraulics flood characteristics. For this purpose, the hydraulic model HEC-RAS was run with 4 different DSRM for an 8.5 km reach of the Lis River in Portugal. The computational performance of the 4 modelling implementations is evaluated. Two hydrometric stations water level records were used as boundary conditions of the hydraulic model. The records from a third hydrometric station were used to validate the optimal DSRM. The HEC-RAS results had the best performance during the validation step were the ones where the DSRM with integration of the two altimetry data sources.

Geochemical prospect ion results of Mariscala aerial photo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippini, J.

1989-01-01

This report shows the geochemical prospect ion results carried out within the framework of the metalical mining prospect ion in Mariscala aerial photo. Lavalleja district belong to the Mining inventory programme of Uruguay.

75 FR 52713 - Nationwide Aerial Application of Fire Retardant on National Forest System Lands

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-27

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Nationwide Aerial Application of Fire Retardant on... statement for the continued nationwide aerial application of fire retardant on National Forest System lands... Forest Service is working to restore fire-adapted ecosystems through prescribed fire, other fuel...

77 FR 35962 - Utilizing Rapidly Deployable Aerial Communications Architecture in Response to an Emergency

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-15

... Aerial Communications Architecture in Response to an Emergency AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission... deployable aerial communications architecture (DACA) in facilitating emergency response by rapidly restoring... copying during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street...

An aerial radiological survey of the Ames Laboratory and surrounding area, Ames, Iowa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maurer, R.J.

1993-04-01

An aerial radiological survey of the Ames Laboratory and surrounding area in Ames, Iowa, was conducted during the period July 15--25, 1991. The purpose of the survey was to measure and document the terrestrial radiological environment at the Ames Laboratory and the surrounding area for use in effective environmental management and emergency response planning. The aerial survey was flown at an altitude of 200 feet (61 meters) along a series of parallel lines 350 feet (107 meters) apart. The survey encompassed an area of 36 square miles (93 square kilometers) and included the city of Ames, Iowa, and the Iowa State University. The results are reported as exposure rates at 1 meter above ground level (inferred from the aerial data) in the form of a gamma radiation contour map. Typical background exposure rates were found to vary from 7 to 9 microroentgens per hour (μR/h). No anomalous radiation levels were detected at the Ames Laboratory. However, one anomalous radiation source was detected at an industrial storage yard in the city of Ames. In support of the aerial survey, ground-based exposure rate and soil sample measurements were obtained at several sites within the survey perimeter. The results of the aerial and ground-based measurements were found to agree within the expected uncertainty of ±15%

Aerial robotic data acquisition system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hofstetter, K.J.; Hayes, D.W.; Pendergast, M.M.

1995-01-01

A small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with sensors for physical and chemical measurements of remote environments, is described. A miniature helicopter airframe is used as a platform for sensor testing and development. The sensor output is integrated with the flight control system for real-time, interactive, data acquisition and analysis. Pre programmed flight missions will be flown with several sensors to demonstrate the cost-effective surveillance capabilities of this new technology. (author) 10 refs

Use of Unmanned Aerial Assault Vehicles (UAAV) as an Asymmetric Factor

OpenAIRE

Eker, Alper Alpaslan; Sallar, Eray; Turan, Yasin

2014-01-01

In the 21st century, unmanned systems (especially unmanned aerial vehicles) will play a dominant role in the operational fields. Thanks to the technological developments witnessed in many fields, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for military purposes is becoming easier. Looking at the operations carried out over the last 25 years, it can be seen that most were conducted in residential areas, where and techniques, tactics and equipment with asymmetric effects will make significant differenc...

BUILDING FAÇADE SEPARATION IN VERTICAL AERIAL IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Meixner

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Three-dimensional models of urban environments have great appeal and offer promises of interesting applications. While initially it was of interest to just have such 3D data, it increasingly becomes evident that one really would like to have interpreted urban objects. To be able to interpret buildings we have to split a visible whole building block into its different single buildings. Usually this is done using cadastral information to divide the single land parcels. The problem in this case is that sometimes the building boundaries derived from the cadastre are insufficiently accurate due to several reasons like old databases with lower accuracies or inaccuracies due to transformation between two coordinate systems. For this reason it can happen that a cadastral boundary coming from an old map is displaced by up to several meters and therefore divides two buildings incorrectly. To overcome such problems we incorporate the information from vertical aerial images. We introduce a façade separation method that is able to find individual building façades using multi view stereo. The purpose is to identify the individual façades and separate them from one another before on proceeds with the analysis of a façade's details. The source was a set of overlapping, thus "redundant" vertical aerial images taken by an UltraCam digital aerial camera. Therefore in a first step we determine the building block outlines using the building classification and use the height values from the Digital Surface Model (DSM to determine approximate "façade quadrilaterals". We also incorporate height discontinuities using the height profiles along the building outlines to enhance our façade separation. In a next step we detect repeated pattern in these "façade images" and use them to separate the façades respectively building blocks from one another. We show that this method can be successfully used to separate building façades using vertical aerial images with a

Unmanned Aerial Systems and Spectroscopy for Remote Sensing Applications in Archaeology

Science.gov (United States)

Themistocleous, K.; Agapiou, A.; Cuca, B.; Hadjimitsis, D. G.

2015-04-01

Remote sensing has open up new dimensions in archaeological research. Although there has been significant progress in increasing the resolution of space/aerial sensors and image processing, the detection of the crop (and soil marks) formations, which relate to buried archaeological remains, are difficult to detect since these marks may not be visible in the images if observed over different period or at different spatial/spectral resolution. In order to support the improvement of earth observation remote sensing technologies specifically targeting archaeological research, a better understanding of the crop/soil marks formation needs to be studied in detail. In this paper the contribution of both Unmanned Aerial Systems as well ground spectroradiometers is discussed in a variety of examples applied in the eastern Mediterranean region (Cyprus and Greece) as well in Central Europe (Hungary). In- situ spectroradiometric campaigns can be applied for the removal of atmospheric impact to simultaneous satellite overpass images. In addition, as shown in this paper, the systematic collection of ground truth data prior to the satellite/aerial acquisition can be used to detect the optimum temporal and spectral resolution for the detection of stress vegetation related to buried archaeological remains. Moreover, phenological studies of the crops from the area of interest can be simulated to the potential sensors based on their Relative Response Filters and therefore prepare better the satellite-aerial campaigns. Ground data and the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) can provide an increased insight for studying the formation of crop and soil marks. New algorithms such as vegetation indices and linear orthogonal equations for the enhancement of crop marks can be developed based on the specific spectral characteristics of the area. As well, UAS can be used for remote sensing applications in order to document, survey and model cultural heritage and archaeological sites.

Statistical techniques applied to aerial radiometric surveys (STAARS): series introduction and the principal-components-analysis method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pirkle, F.L.

1981-04-01

STAARS is a new series which is being published to disseminate information concerning statistical procedures for interpreting aerial radiometric data. The application of a particular data interpretation technique to geologic understanding for delineating regions favorable to uranium deposition is the primary concern of STAARS. Statements concerning the utility of a technique on aerial reconnaissance data as well as detailed aerial survey data will be included

AERIAL SURVEYING UAV BASED ON OPEN-SOURCE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Mészáros

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In the last years the functionality and type of UAV-systems increased fast, but unfortunately these systems are hardly available for researchers in some cases. A simple and low-cost solution was developed to build an autonomous aerial surveying airplane, which can fulfil the necessities (aerial photographs with very-high resolution of other departments at the university and very useful and practical for teaching photogrammetry.. The base was a commercial, remote controlled model airplane and an open-source GPS/IMU system (MatrixPilot was adapted to achieve the semi-automatic or automatic stabilization and navigation of the model airplane along predefined trajectory. The firmware is completely open-source and easily available on the website of the project. The first used camera system was a low-budget, low-quality video camera, which could provide only 1.2 megapixel photographs or low resolution video depending on the light conditions and the desired spatial resolution. A field measurement test was carried out with the described system: the aerial surveying of an undiscovered archaeological site, signed by a crop-mark in mountain Pilis (Hungary.

The US Air Force Aerial Spray Unit: a history of large area disease vector control operations, WWII through Katrina.

Science.gov (United States)

Breidenbaugh, Mark; Haagsma, Karl

2008-01-01

The US Air Force has had a long history of aerial applications of pesticides to fulfill a variety of missions, the most important being the protection of troops through the minimization of arthropod vectors capable of disease transmission. Beginning in World War II, aerial application of pesticides by the military has effectively controlled vector and nuisance pest populations in a variety of environments. Currently, the military aerial spray capability resides in the US Air Force Reserve (USAFR), which operates and maintains C-130 airplanes capable of a variety of missions, including ultra low volume applications for vector and nuisance pests, as well as higher volume aerial applications of herbicides and oil-spill dispersants. The USAFR aerial spray assets are the only such fixed-wing aerial spray assets within the Department of Defense. In addition to troop protection, the USAFR Aerial Spray Unit has participated in a number of humanitarian/relief missions, most recently in the response to the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which heavily damaged the Gulf Coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. This article provides historical background on the Air Force Aerial Spray Unit and describes the operations in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Natural Risks at the Bottom Side of Ameca River, in the State Limits of Jalisco and Nayarit, Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Pinedo, K. G.; Maciel, R.; Pena, L. E.; García García, E. X.; Ramos Chavez, C.

2016-12-01

At world-wide level, the population centers are exposed to natural risks and more those that are located to borders of the rivers, where hydrometeorological and geologic phenomenon are conjugated, and even increased by the action of the man. From 1911 to 2015, the disasters registered in the world due to flood by river overflowing were 2 701, with 2 545 affected 224 110, of which 60 229 747 lost their homes and 4 449 031 deads, causing therefore an economic loss of approximately $549 052 761 dollars. The case of study is the low part of the Ameca River, the one of the main rivers of the states of Jalisco and Nayarit in the west zone of Mexico. It is interesting, since it have its mouth near the tourist area (with considerable affluence at national level), with infrastructure (airport and bridges) and towns of both referred states; as well because at the pass of the years, this river have had overflows affecting municipalities, bridges and loss of mangrove swamp. In order to determine the feasible impacts to happen with the overflow of the Ameca River, the aerial photographs of area of study and satellite images were analyzed (historical and present), likewise information of the river basin physical environment generated by INEGI with special emphasis in the low part of the river basin and a campaign of work field, to delimit the zones that have shown some affectation. The objective of this investigation is to contribute to the risk analysis of the adjacent localities to the river, with the purpose of diminishing the impact in the population. As preliminary results appear maps with boundaries of paleo-channels, which mark the zone of influence during overflows of the Ameca River, the towns which can be affected and the population exposed.

Aerial and underwater carbon metabolism of a

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Clavier, J.; Chauvaud, L.; Carlier, A.; Amice, E.; van der Geest, M.; Labrosse, P.; Diagne, A.; Hily, H.

2011-01-01

Community respiration and primary production were measured in a dense intertidal Zostera noltii bed on the Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania (West Africa) under aerial and submerged conditions. Metabolism was studied in situ in dark and transparent benthic chambers. CO2 fluxes in the air were measured over

Evaluating the accuracy of vehicle tracking data obtained from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuseppe Guido

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a methodology for tracking moving vehicles that integrates Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with video processing techniques. The authors investigated the usefulness of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to capture reliable individual vehicle data by using GPS technology as a benchmark. A video processing algorithm for vehicles trajectory acquisition is introduced. The algorithm is based on OpenCV libraries. In order to assess the accuracy of the proposed video processing algorithm an instrumented vehicle was equipped with a high precision GPS. The video capture experiments were performed in two case studies. From the field, about 24,000 positioning data were acquired for the analysis. The results of these experiments highlight the versatility of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles technology combined with video processing technique in monitoring real traffic data.

The Potential of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Large Scale Mapping of Coastal Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Darwin, N; Ahmad, A; Zainon, O

2014-01-01

Many countries in the tropical region are covered with cloud for most of the time, hence, it is difficult to get clear images especially from high resolution satellite imagery. Aerial photogrammetry can be used but most of the time the cloud problem still exists. Today, this problem could be solved using a system known as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) where the aerial images can be acquired at low altitude and the system can fly under the cloud. The UAV system could be used in various applications including mapping coastal area. The UAV system is equipped with an autopilot system and automatic method known as autonomous flying that can be utilized for data acquisition. To achieve high resolution imagery, a compact digital camera of high resolution was used to acquire the aerial images at an altitude. In this study, the UAV system was employed to acquire aerial images of a coastal simulation model at low altitude. From the aerial images, photogrammetric image processing was executed to produce photogrammetric outputs such a digital elevation model (DEM), contour line and orthophoto. In this study, ground control point (GCP) and check point (CP) were established using conventional ground surveying method (i.e total station). The GCP is used for exterior orientation in photogrammetric processes and CP for accuracy assessment based on Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). From this study, it was found that the UAV system can be used for large scale mapping of coastal simulation model with accuracy at millimeter level. It is anticipated that the same system could be used for large scale mapping of real coastal area and produces good accuracy. Finally, the UAV system has great potential to be used for various applications that require accurate results or products at limited time and less man power

Aerial photogrammetry procedure optimized for micro uav

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Anai

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes the automatic aerial photogrammetry procedure optimized for Micro UAV that has ability of autonomous flight. The most important goal of our proposed method is the reducing the processing cost for fully automatic reconstruction of DSM from a large amount of image obtained from Micro UAV. For this goal, we have developed automatic corresponding point generation procedure using feature point tracking algorithm considering position and attitude information, which obtained from onboard GPS-IMU integrated on Micro UAV. In addition, we have developed the automatic exterior orientation and registration procedure from the automatic generated corresponding points on each image and position and attitude information from Micro UAV. Moreover, in order to reconstruct precise DSM, we have developed the area base matching process which considering edge information. In this paper, we describe processing flow of our automatic aerial photogrammetry. Moreover, the accuracy assessment is also described. Furthermore, some application of automatic reconstruction of DSM will be desired.

Aerial somersault performance under three visual conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Hondzinski, J M; Darling, W G

2001-07-01

Experiments were designed to examine the visual contributions to performance of back aerial double somersaults by collegiate acrobats. Somersaults were performed on a trampoline under three visual conditions: (a) NORMAL acuity; (b) REDUCED acuity (subjects wore special contacts that blocked light reflected onto the central retina); and (c) NO VISION. Videotaped skill performances were rated by two NCAA judges and digitized for kinematic analyses. Subjects' performance scores were similar in NORMAL and REDUCED conditions and lowest in the NO VISION condition. Control of body movement, indicated by time-to-contact, was most variable in the NO VISION condition. Profiles of angular head and neck velocity revealed that when subjects could see, they slowed their heads prior to touchdown in time to process optical flow information and prepare for landing. There was not always enough time to process vision associated with object identification and prepare for touchdown. It was concluded that collegiate acrobats do not need to identify objects for their best back aerial double somersault performance.

Unmanned Aerial System Aids Dry-season Stream Temperature Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, M.; Detweiler, C.; Higgins, J.; Ore, J. P.; Dralle, D.; Thompson, S. E.

2016-12-01

In freshwater ecosystems, temperature affects biogeochemistry and ecology, and is thus a primary physical determinant of habitat quality. Measuring temperatures in spatially heterogeneous water bodies poses a serious challenge to researchers due to constraints associated with currently available methods: in situ loggers record temporally continuous temperature measurements but are limited to discrete spatial locations, while distributed temperature and remote sensing provide fine-resolution spatial measurements that are restricted to only two-dimensions (i.e. streambed and surface, respectively). Using a commercially available quadcopter equipped with a 6m cable and temperature-pressure sensor system, we measured stream temperatures at two confluences at the South Fork Eel River, where cold water inputs from the tributary to the mainstem create thermal refugia for juvenile salmonids during the dry season. As a mobile sensing platform, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can facilitate quick and repeated sampling with minimal disturbance to the ecosystem, and their datasets can be interpolated to create a three-dimensional thermal map of a water body. The UAS-derived data was compared to data from in situ data loggers to evaluate whether the UAS is better able to capture fine-scale temperature dynamics at each confluence. The UAS has inherent limitations defined by battery life and flight times, as well as operational constraints related to maneuverability under wind and streamflow conditions. However, the platform is able to serve as an additional field tool for researchers to capture complex thermal structures in water bodies.

Aerial Images and Convolutional Neural Network for Cotton Bloom Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Rui; Li, Changying; Paterson, Andrew H; Jiang, Yu; Sun, Shangpeng; Robertson, Jon S

2017-01-01

Monitoring flower development can provide useful information for production management, estimating yield and selecting specific genotypes of crops. The main goal of this study was to develop a methodology to detect and count cotton flowers, or blooms, using color images acquired by an unmanned aerial system. The aerial images were collected from two test fields in 4 days. A convolutional neural network (CNN) was designed and trained to detect cotton blooms in raw images, and their 3D locations were calculated using the dense point cloud constructed from the aerial images with the structure from motion method. The quality of the dense point cloud was analyzed and plots with poor quality were excluded from data analysis. A constrained clustering algorithm was developed to register the same bloom detected from different images based on the 3D location of the bloom. The accuracy and incompleteness of the dense point cloud were analyzed because they affected the accuracy of the 3D location of the blooms and thus the accuracy of the bloom registration result. The constrained clustering algorithm was validated using simulated data, showing good efficiency and accuracy. The bloom count from the proposed method was comparable with the number counted manually with an error of -4 to 3 blooms for the field with a single plant per plot. However, more plots were underestimated in the field with multiple plants per plot due to hidden blooms that were not captured by the aerial images. The proposed methodology provides a high-throughput method to continuously monitor the flowering progress of cotton.

Gulf of Mexico Protected Species Assessment Aerial Surveys

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These data sets include a compilation of aerial line-transect surveys conducted over continental shelf waters of the Gulf of Mexico since 1992. The majority of these...

Effects of Hearing Protection Device Attenuation on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Audio Signatures

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-01

UAV ) Audio Signatures by Melissa Bezandry, Adrienne Raglin, and John Noble Approved for public release; distribution...Research Laboratory Effects of Hearing Protection Device Attenuation on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ( UAV ) Audio Signatures by Melissa Bezandry...Aerial Vehicle ( UAV ) Audio Signatures 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Melissa Bezandry

Exploring Security Vulnerabilities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodday, Nils Miro; de Oliveira Schmidt, R.; Pras, Aiko

We are currently observing a significant increase in the popularity of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), popularly also known by their generic term drones. This is not only the case for recreational UAVs, that one can acquire for a few hundred dollars, but also for more sophisticated ones, namely

Integrated navigation of aerial robot for GPS and GPS-denied environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Satoshi; Min, Hongkyu; Nonami, Kenzo; Wada, Tetsuya

2016-01-01

In this study, novel robust navigation system for aerial robot in GPS and GPS- denied environments is proposed. Generally, the aerial robot uses position and velocity information from Global Positioning System (GPS) for guidance and control. However, GPS could not be used in several environments, for example, GPS has huge error near buildings and trees, indoor, and so on. In such GPS-denied environment, Laser Detection and Ranging (LIDER) sensor based navigation system have generally been used. However, LIDER sensor also has an weakness, and it could not be used in the open outdoor environment where GPS could be used. Therefore, it is desired to develop the integrated navigation system which is seamlessly applied to GPS and GPS-denied environments. In this paper, the integrated navigation system for aerial robot using GPS and LIDER is developed. The navigation system is designed based on Extended Kalman Filter, and the effectiveness of the developed system is verified by numerical simulation and experiment. (paper)

Autonomous Monitoring Aerial Robot System for Nuclear Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Ji H.; Gu, Beom W; Thai, Van X.; Rim, C. T. [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

In this paper, autonomous monitoring aerial robot system (AMARS), which includes omnidirectional wireless charging platform, aerial robot, landing coils and a battery management board, is proposed to guarantee automatic monitoring of NPPs. The prototype of the system is fabricated, and omnidirectional charging of the system is experimentally validated with 1 C charging state. AR(Aerial Robots)s are essential for NPP accident management because human cannot access to the accident site due to the risks of unexpected explosions, collapses, and high level of radioactive contaminants. Moreover, ARs can support operators to manage normal operation of NPPs built in harsh environment of high temperature and humidity such as UAE Barakah NPP. Because these ARs usually have very low energy capacity, however, the operation time of ARs is less than 30 minutes and should be recharged regularly by human powers, which makes it impossible to monitor NPPs by ARs automatically. In this paper, the concept of AMARS has been proposed and its performance was successfully verified with a fabricated prototype. The charging state of the on board battery in AR was measured as 0.5 C with the induced voltage of 18.6 V, which is well matched to the designed induced voltage when the AR was placed on the edge of the wireless charging platform.

Documentation of the ground along the Morava river - Slapanov segment of the Druzba oil pipeline and along the Slapanov - Nove Mesto segment of the petroleum product pipeline with respect to pollution with oil hydrocarbons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kult, L.; Sara, V.

1993-12-01

Oil leaks from the Druzba pipeline between the Morava river and the Nove Mesto or Moutnice towns were examined by aerial photographing and soil sampling. The intensity of pollution was found to lie below regulatory limits. Suspect sites with respect to their pollution by oil substances were entered into maps. (J.B.). 3 tabs., 27 figs

AMS/NRCan Joint Survey Report: Aerial Campaign

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wasiolek, Piotr [National Security Technologies, LLC. (NSTec), Mercury, NV (United States); Stampahar, Jez [National Security Technologies, LLC. (NSTec), Mercury, NV (United States); Malchow, Rusty [National Security Technologies, LLC. (NSTec), Mercury, NV (United States); Stampahar, Tom [National Security Technologies, LLC. (NSTec), Mercury, NV (United States); Lukens, Mike [National Security Technologies, LLC. (NSTec), Mercury, NV (United States); Seywerd, Henry [Natural Resources Canada (Canada); Fortin, Richard [Natural Resources Canada (Canada); Harvey, Brad [Natural Resources Canada (Canada); Sinclair, Laurel [Natural Resources Canada (Canada)

2014-12-31

In January 2014 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Aerial Measuring System (AMS) and the Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) Nuclear Emergency Response project conducted a series of joint surveys at a number of locations in Nevada including the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The goal of this project was to compare the responses of the two agencies’ aerial radiation detection systems and data analysis techniques. This test included varied radioactive surface contamination levels and isotopic composition experienced at the NNSS and the differing data processing techniques utilized by the respective teams. Because both teams used the commercial aerial radiation detection systems from Radiation Solutions, Inc., the main focus of the campaign was to investigate the data acquisition techniques, data analysis, and ground-truth verification. The NRCan system consisted of four 4" × 4" × 16" NaI(Tl) scintillator crystals of which two were externally mounted in a modified commercial cargo basket certified for the Eurocopter AS350; the NNSA AMS system consisted of twelve 2" × 4" × 16" NaI(Tl) crystals in externally mounted dedicated pods. For NRCan, the joint survey provided an opportunity to characterize their system’s response to extended sources of various fission products at the NNSS. Since both systems play an important role in their respective countries’ national framework of radiological emergency response and are subject to multiple mutual cooperation agreements, it was important for each country to obtain more thorough knowledge of how they would employ these important assets and define the roles that they would each play in an actual response.

D Surface Generation from Aerial Thermal Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Khodaei, B.; Samadzadegan, F.; Dadras Javan, F.; Hasani, H.

2015-12-01

Aerial thermal imagery has been recently applied to quantitative analysis of several scenes. For the mapping purpose based on aerial thermal imagery, high accuracy photogrammetric process is necessary. However, due to low geometric resolution and low contrast of thermal imaging sensors, there are some challenges in precise 3D measurement of objects. In this paper the potential of thermal video in 3D surface generation is evaluated. In the pre-processing step, thermal camera is geometrically calibrated using a calibration grid based on emissivity differences between the background and the targets. Then, Digital Surface Model (DSM) generation from thermal video imagery is performed in four steps. Initially, frames are extracted from video, then tie points are generated by Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm. Bundle adjustment is then applied and the camera position and orientation parameters are determined. Finally, multi-resolution dense image matching algorithm is used to create 3D point cloud of the scene. Potential of the proposed method is evaluated based on thermal imaging cover an industrial area. The thermal camera has 640×480 Uncooled Focal Plane Array (UFPA) sensor, equipped with a 25 mm lens which mounted in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The obtained results show the comparable accuracy of 3D model generated based on thermal images with respect to DSM generated from visible images, however thermal based DSM is somehow smoother with lower level of texture. Comparing the generated DSM with the 9 measured GCPs in the area shows the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value is smaller than 5 decimetres in both X and Y directions and 1.6 meters for the Z direction.

AERIAL TERRAIN MAPPING USING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. N. Tahar

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This paper looks into the latest achievement in the low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV technology in their capacity to map the semi-development areas. The objectives of this study are to establish a new methodology or a new algorithm in image registration during interior orientation process and to determine the accuracy of the photogrammetric products by using UAV images. Recently, UAV technology has been used in several applications such as mapping, agriculture and surveillance. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the usage of UAV to map the semi-development areas. The performance of the low cost UAV mapping study was established on a study area with two image processing methods so that the results could be comparable. A non-metric camera was attached at the bottom of UAV and it was used to capture images at both sites after it went through several calibration steps. Calibration processes were carried out to determine focal length, principal distance, radial lens distortion, tangential lens distortion and affinity. A new method in image registration for a non-metric camera is discussed in this paper as a part of new methodology of this study. This method used the UAV Global Positioning System (GPS onboard to register the UAV image for interior orientation process. Check points were established randomly at both sites using rapid static Global Positioning System. Ground control points are used for exterior orientation process, and check point is used for accuracy assessment of photogrammetric product. All acquired images were processed in a photogrammetric software. Two methods of image registration were applied in this study, namely, GPS onboard registration and ground control point registration. Both registrations were processed by using photogrammetric software and the result is discussed. Two results were produced in this study, which are the digital orthophoto and the digital terrain model. These results were analyzed by using the root

CADASTRAL AUDIT AND ASSESSMENTS USING UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Cunningham

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Ground surveys and remote sensing are integral to establishing fair and equitable property valuations necessary for real property taxation. The International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO has embraced aerial and street-view imaging as part of its standards related to property tax assessments and audits. New technologies, including unmanned aerial systems (UAS paired with imaging sensors, will become more common as local governments work to ensure their cadastre and tax rolls are both accurate and complete. Trends in mapping technology have seen an evolution in platforms from large, expensive manned aircraft to very small, inexpensive UAS. Traditional methods of photogrammetry have also given way to new equipment and sensors: digital cameras, infrared imagers, light detection and ranging (LiDAR laser scanners, and now synthetic aperture radar (SAR. At the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF, we work extensively with unmanned aerial systems equipped with each of these newer sensors. UAF has significant experience flying unmanned systems in the US National Airspace, having begun in 1969 with scientific rockets and expanded to unmanned aircraft in 2003. Ongoing field experience allows UAF to partner effectively with outside organizations to test and develop leading-edge research in UAS and remote sensing. This presentation will discuss our research related to various sensors and payloads for mapping. We will also share our experience with UAS and optical systems for creating some of the first cadastral surveys in rural Alaska.

An aerial radiological survey of the Sandia National Laboratories and surrounding area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riedhauser, S.R.

1994-06-01

A team from the Remote Sensing Laboratory conducted an aerial radiological survey of the area surrounding the Sandia National Laboratories and Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during March and April 1993. The survey team measured the terrestrial gamma radiation at the site to determine the levels of natural and man-made radiation. This survey includes the areas covered by a previous survey in 1981. The results of the aerial survey show a background exposure rate which varies between 5 and 18 μR/h plus an approximate 6 μR/h contribution from cosmic rays. The major radioactive isotopes found in this survey were: potassium-40, thallium-208, bismuth-214, and actinium-228, which are all naturally-occurring isotopes, and cobalt-60, cesium-137, and excess amounts of thallium-208 and actinium-228, which are due to human actions in the survey area. In regions away from man-made activity, the exposure rates inferred from this survey's gamma ray measurements agree almost exactly with the exposure rates inferred from the 1981 survey. In addition to the aerial measurements, another survey team conducted in situ and soil sample radiation measurements at three sites within the survey perimeter. These ground-based measurements agree with the aerial measurements within ± 5%

Local Deep Hashing Matching of Aerial Images Based on Relative Distance and Absolute Distance Constraints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suting Chen

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Aerial images have features of high resolution, complex background, and usually require large amounts of calculation, however, most algorithms used in matching of aerial images adopt the shallow hand-crafted features expressed as floating-point descriptors (e.g., SIFT (Scale-invariant Feature Transform, SURF (Speeded Up Robust Features, which may suffer from poor matching speed and are not well represented in the literature. Here, we propose a novel Local Deep Hashing Matching (LDHM method for matching of aerial images with large size and with lower complexity or fast matching speed. The basic idea of the proposed algorithm is to utilize the deep network model in the local area of the aerial images, and study the local features, as well as the hash function of the images. Firstly, according to the course overlap rate of aerial images, the algorithm extracts the local areas for matching to avoid the processing of redundant information. Secondly, a triplet network structure is proposed to mine the deep features of the patches of the local image, and the learned features are imported to the hash layer, thus obtaining the representation of a binary hash code. Thirdly, the constraints of the positive samples to the absolute distance are added on the basis of the triplet loss, a new objective function is constructed to optimize the parameters of the network and enhance the discriminating capabilities of image patch features. Finally, the obtained deep hash code of each image patch is used for the similarity comparison of the image patches in the Hamming space to complete the matching of aerial images. The proposed LDHM algorithm evaluates the UltraCam-D dataset and a set of actual aerial images, simulation result demonstrates that it may significantly outperform the state-of-the-art algorithm in terms of the efficiency and performance.

Antioxidant property of aerial parts and root of Phyllanthus fraternus Webster, an important medicinal plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Upadhyay, Richa; Chaurasia, Jitendra Kumar; Tiwari, Kavindra Nath; Singh, Karuna

2014-01-01

In present study free radical scavenging potential of aerial parts and root of Phyllanthus fraternus was investigated. Extraction was done in water and ethanol. Total antioxidant capacity was measured by DPPH free radical scavenging method; ethanolic extract of aerial part was most potent in activity with 50% inhibition at 258 μg/mL concentration. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) was measured in terms of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) by using egg-yolk homogenates as lipid-rich media with EC₅₀ of aerial part (ethanolic) 1522 μg/mL which was found to be most active. Superoxide (SO) radical scavenging activity was measured using riboflavin-light-nitroblue tetrazolium assay. Ethanolic and aqueous extract of both aerial part and root was almost similar in superoxide radical scavenging activity. Reducing power was determined on the basis of Fe³⁺-Fe⁺ transformation in the presence of extract. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were also measured by spectroscopic method. Results showed that the ethanolic fraction of aerial part is most active towards antioxidant potential and this activity is related to its polyphenolic content and reducing potential. Thus, P. fraternus extract can be used as potent natural antioxidant.

River basin affected by rare perturbation events: the Chaiten volcanic eruption.

Science.gov (United States)

Picco, Lorenzo; Iroumé, Andrés; Oss-Cazzador, Daniele; Ulloa, Hector

2017-04-01

Natural disasters can strongly and rapidly affect a wide array of environments. Among these, volcanic eruptions can exert severe impacts on the dynamic equilibrium of riverine environment. The production and subsequent mobilization of large amounts of sediment all over the river basin, can strongly affect both hydrology and sediment and large wood transport dynamics. The aim of this research is to quantify the impact of a volcanic eruption along the Blanco River basin (Southern Chile), considering the geomorphic settings, the sediment dynamics and wood transport. Moreover, an overview on the possible management strategies to reduce the risks will be proposed. The research was carried out mainly along a 2.2 km-long reach of the fourth-order Blanco stream. Almost the entire river basin was affected by the volcanic eruption, several meters of tephra (up to 8 m) were deposited, affecting the evergreen forest and the fluvial corridor. Field surveys and remote sense analysis were carried out to investigate the effect of such extreme event. A Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) was used to detect the morphological changes by computing Difference of Dems (DoDs), while field surveys were carried out to detect the amount of in-channel wood; moreover aerial photos have been analyzed to detect the extension of the impact of volcanic eruption over the river basin. As expected, the DoDs analysis permitted to detect predominant erosional processes along the channel network. In fact, over 190569 m2 there was erosion that produced about 362999 m3 of sediment mobilized, while the deposition happened just over 58715 m2 for a total amount of 23957 m3. Looking then to the LW recruited and transported downstream, was possible to detect as along the active channel corridor a total amount of 113 m3/ha of wood was present. Moreover, analyzing aerial photographs taken before and after the volcanic eruption was possible to define as a total area of about 2.19 km2 was affected by tephra

7 CFR 1755.506 - Aerial wire services

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... ANSI/IEEE C2-1997, NESC, or local laws or ordinances, whichever are the most stringent. The National... maximum practicable sag consistent with the required ground clearance and good construction practices. In..., sufficient slack shall be provided so that each aerial service wire shall reach any binding post position as...

Acquisition: Allegations Concerning Mismanagement of the Aerial Targets Program

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Jolliffe, Richard B; Burton, Bruce A; Pearson, Dianna J; Hilliard, Thomas J; Miller, Timothy; McKay, Celeste; Silver, Kiana; Bobbio, Jaime A; Chang, Wei K

2006-01-01

.... The Hotline allegations were submitted in three letters by an anonymous complainant and addressed concerns about the lack of participation and support by the Air Force Aerial Targets Systems Program...

Applicability of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Research on Aeolian Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Algimantas, Česnulevičius; Artūras, Bautrėnas; Linas, Bevainis; Donatas, Ovodas; Kęstutis, Papšys

2018-02-01

Surface dynamics and instabilities are characteristic of aeolian formation. The method of surface comparison is regarded as the most appropriate one for evaluation of the intensity of aeolian processes and the amount of transported sand. The data for surface comparison can be collected by topographic survey measurements and using unmanned aerial vehicles. Time cost for relief microform fixation and measurement executing topographic survey are very high. The method of unmanned aircraft aerial photographs fixation also encounters difficulties because there are no stable clear objects and contours that enable to link aerial photographs, to determine the boundaries of captured territory and to ensure the accuracy of surface measurements. Creation of stationary anchor points is irrational due to intense sand accumulation and deflation in different climate seasons. In September 2015 and in April 2016 the combined methodology was applied for evaluation of intensity of aeolian processes in the Curonian Spit. Temporary signs (marks) were installed on the surface, coordinates of the marks were fixed using GPS and then flight of unmanned aircraft was conducted. The fixed coordinates of marks ensure the accuracy of measuring aerial imagery and the ability to calculate the possible corrections. This method was used to track and measure very small (micro-rank) relief forms (5-10 cm height and 10-20 cm length). Using this method morphometric indicators of micro-terraces caused by sand dunes pressure to gytia layer were measured in a non-contact way. An additional advantage of the method is the ability to accurately link the repeated measurements. The comparison of 3D terrain models showed sand deflation and accumulation areas and quantitative changes in the terrain very clearly.

Flood-inundation maps for the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Roland, Mark A.; Underwood, Stacey M.; Thomas, Craig M.; Miller, Jason F.; Pratt, Benjamin A.; Hogan, Laurie G.; Wnek, Patricia A.

2014-01-01

A series of 28 digital flood-inundation maps was developed for an approximate 25-mile reach of the Susquehanna River in the vicinity of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The study was selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) national Silver Jackets program, which supports interagency teams at the state level to coordinate and collaborate on flood-risk management. This study to produce flood-inundation maps was the result of a collaborative effort between the USACE, National Weather Service (NWS), Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), The Harrisburg Authority, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). These maps are accessible through Web-mapping applications associated with the NWS, SRBC, and USGS. The maps can be used in conjunction with the real-time stage data from the USGS streamgage 01570500, Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pa., and NWS flood-stage forecasts to help guide the general public in taking individual safety precautions and will provide local municipal officials with a tool to efficiently manage emergency flood operations and flood mitigation efforts. The maps were developed using the USACE HEC–RAS and HEC–GeoRAS programs to compute water-surface profiles and to delineate estimated flood-inundation areas for selected stream stages. The maps show estimated flood-inundation areas overlaid on high-resolution, georeferenced, aerial photographs of the study area for stream stages at 1-foot intervals between 11 feet and 37 feet (which include NWS flood categories Action, Flood, Moderate, and Major) and the June 24, 1972, peak-of-record flood event at a stage of 33.27 feet at the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pa., streamgage.

Aerial robot intelligent control method based on back-stepping

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Jian; Xue, Qian

2018-05-01

The aerial robot is characterized as strong nonlinearity, high coupling and parameter uncertainty, a self-adaptive back-stepping control method based on neural network is proposed in this paper. The uncertain part of the aerial robot model is compensated online by the neural network of Cerebellum Model Articulation Controller and robust control items are designed to overcome the uncertainty error of the system during online learning. At the same time, particle swarm algorithm is used to optimize and fix parameters so as to improve the dynamic performance, and control law is obtained by the recursion of back-stepping regression. Simulation results show that the designed control law has desired attitude tracking performance and good robustness in case of uncertainties and large errors in the model parameters.

Multi-Model Estimation Based Moving Object Detection for Aerial Video

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanning Zhang

2015-04-01

Full Text Available With the wide development of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology, moving target detection for aerial video has become a popular research topic in the computer field. Most of the existing methods are under the registration-detection framework and can only deal with simple background scenes. They tend to go wrong in the complex multi background scenarios, such as viaducts, buildings and trees. In this paper, we break through the single background constraint and perceive the complex scene accurately by automatic estimation of multiple background models. First, we segment the scene into several color blocks and estimate the dense optical flow. Then, we calculate an affine transformation model for each block with large area and merge the consistent models. Finally, we calculate subordinate degree to multi-background models pixel to pixel for all small area blocks. Moving objects are segmented by means of energy optimization method solved via Graph Cuts. The extensive experimental results on public aerial videos show that, due to multi background models estimation, analyzing each pixel’s subordinate relationship to multi models by energy minimization, our method can effectively remove buildings, trees and other false alarms and detect moving objects correctly.

Oblique Aerial Photography Tool for Building Inspection and Damage Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Murtiyoso, A.; Remondino, F.; Rupnik, E.; Nex, F.; Grussenmeyer, P.

2014-11-01

Aerial photography has a long history of being employed for mapping purposes due to some of its main advantages, including large area imaging from above and minimization of field work. Since few years multi-camera aerial systems are becoming a practical sensor technology across a growing geospatial market, as complementary to the traditional vertical views. Multi-camera aerial systems capture not only the conventional nadir views, but also tilted images at the same time. In this paper, a particular use of such imagery in the field of building inspection as well as disaster assessment is addressed. The main idea is to inspect a building from four cardinal directions by using monoplotting functionalities. The developed application allows to measure building height and distances and to digitize man-made structures, creating 3D surfaces and building models. The realized GUI is capable of identifying a building from several oblique points of views, as well as calculates the approximate height of buildings, ground distances and basic vectorization. The geometric accuracy of the results remains a function of several parameters, namely image resolution, quality of available parameters (DEM, calibration and orientation values), user expertise and measuring capability.

The Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems in Marine Mammal Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzo Fiori

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Unmanned aerial systems (UAS, commonly referred to as drones, are finding applications in several ecological research areas since remotely piloted aircraft (RPA technology has ceased to be a military prerogative. Fixed-wing RPA have been tested for line transect aerial surveys of geographically dispersed marine mammal species. Despite many advantages, their systematic use is far from a reality. Low altitude, long endurance systems are still highly priced. Regulatory bodies also impose limitations while struggling to cope with UAS rapid technological evolution. In contrast, small vertical take-off and landing (VTOL UAS have become increasingly affordable but lack the flight endurance required for long-range aerial surveys. Although this issue and civil aviation regulations prevent the use of VTOL UAS for marine mammal abundance estimation on a large scale, recent studies have highlighted other potential applications. The present note represents a general overview on the use of UAS as a survey tool for marine mammal studies. The literature pertaining to UAS marine mammal research applications is considered with special concern for advantages and limitations of the survey design. The use of lightweight VTOL UAS to collect marine mammal behavioral data is also discussed.

Unmanned aerial systems for photogrammetry and remote sensing: A review

Science.gov (United States)

Colomina, I.; Molina, P.

2014-06-01

We discuss the evolution and state-of-the-art of the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in the field of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PaRS). UAS, Remotely-Piloted Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or simply, drones are a hot topic comprising a diverse array of aspects including technology, privacy rights, safety and regulations, and even war and peace. Modern photogrammetry and remote sensing identified the potential of UAS-sourced imagery more than thirty years ago. In the last five years, these two sister disciplines have developed technology and methods that challenge the current aeronautical regulatory framework and their own traditional acquisition and processing methods. Navety and ingenuity have combined off-the-shelf, low-cost equipment with sophisticated computer vision, robotics and geomatic engineering. The results are cm-level resolution and accuracy products that can be generated even with cameras costing a few-hundred euros. In this review article, following a brief historic background and regulatory status analysis, we review the recent unmanned aircraft, sensing, navigation, orientation and general data processing developments for UAS photogrammetry and remote sensing with emphasis on the nano-micro-mini UAS segment.

Aerial energetic residue data from JBER C4 testing

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Aerially-collected energetic residues from surface detonation of C4. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Walsh, M., B. Gullett, M. Walsh, M....

NAIP Aerial Imagery (Resampled), Salton Sea - 2005 [ds425

Data.gov (United States)

California Natural Resource Agency — NAIP 2005 aerial imagery that has been resampled from 1-meter source resolution to approximately 30-meter resolution. This is a mosaic composed from several NAIP...

An aerial radiological survey of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and surrounding area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sampoll-Ramirez, G.

1994-09-01

An aerial radiological survey was conducted from August 10-16, 1993, over a 78-square-kilometer (30-square-mile) area of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and surrounding area located near Portsmouth, Ohio. The survey was performed at a nominal altitude of 46 meters (150 feet) with a line spacing of 76 meters (250 feet). A contour map of the terrestrial gamma exposure rate extrapolated to 1 meter above ground level was prepared and overlaid on a set of United States Geological Survey topographic maps of the area and an aerial photograph of the plant. The terrestrial gamma exposure rates varied from about 7 to 14 microroentgens per hour at 1 meter above the ground. Protactinium-234m was observed at six sites within the boundaries of the plant. At a seventh site, only uranium-235 was observed. No other man-made, gamma ray-emitting radioactive material was present in a detectable quantity, either on or off the plant property. Soil sample and pressurized ion chamber measurements were obtained at four locations within the survey boundaries to support the aerial data. The results of the aerial and ground-based measurements were found to agree within ± 7.5%

2010 NOAA Ortho-rectified Mosaic from Color Aerial Imagery of MISSISSIPPI RIVER - BATON ROUGE TO LAPLACE (NODC Accession 0074374)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains ortho-rectified mosaic tiles, created as a product from the NOAA Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IOCM) initiative of MISSISSIPPI RIVER -...

Aerial Photography and Imagery, Ortho-Corrected, 4 inch aerial photography (color, infrared, and color oblique) in urban areas, 1 foot in national forest, Published in 2006, 1:600 (1in=50ft) scale, Los Angeles County Government.

Data.gov (United States)

NSGIC Local Govt | GIS Inventory — Aerial Photography and Imagery, Ortho-Corrected dataset current as of 2006. 4 inch aerial photography (color, infrared, and color oblique) in urban areas, 1 foot in...

Aerial gamma ray and magnetic survey: Powder River R and D Project, Arminto Detail, Wyoming. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-05-01

The small detail area, 18 miles by 18 miles, lying near the center of the Powder River Basin, is covered entirely by sediments of the Eocene Wasatch Formation. Historically economic uranium deposits have been worked in the southeast corner of the area which includes the northern extremity of the Pumpkin Buttes district. 127 statistical uranium anomalies were generated for the study area, based on area wide statistics

An aerial radiological survey of the project Rio Blanco and surrounding area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singman, L.V.

1994-11-01

A team from the Remote Sensing Laboratory in Las Vegas, Nevada, conducted an aerial radiation survey of the area surrounding ground zero of Project Rio Blanco in the northwestern section of Colorado in June 1993. The object of the survey was to determine if there were man-made radioisotopes on or near the surface resulting from a nuclear explosion in 1972. No indications of surface contamination were found. A search for the cesium-137 radioisotope was negative. The Minimum Detectable Activity for cesium-137 is presented for several detection probabilities. The natural terrestrial exposure rates in units of Roentgens per hour were mapped and are presented in the form of a contour map over-laid on an aerial photograph. A second team made independent ground-based measurements in four places within the survey area. The average agreement of the ground-based with aerial measurements was six percent

Surfzone monitoring using rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouwer, R.L.; De Schipper, M.A.; Rynne, P.F.; Graham, F.J.; Reniers, A.J.H.M.; Macmahan, J.H.

2015-01-01

This study investigates the potential of rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor the surfzone. This paper shows that these UAVs are extremely flexible surveying platforms that can gather nearcontinuous moderate spatial resolution and high temporal resolution imagery from a fixed

Aerial Photography and Imagery, Ortho-Corrected - FDOT 2003 Orthophotography

Data.gov (United States)

NSGIC Local Govt | GIS Inventory — These aerials were flown by the Florida Department of Transportation from December 23, 2002 to February 13, 2003 NAD 83 Mosaic format Semi Orthorectified black and...

AMS/NRCan Joint Survey Report: Aerial Campaign

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wasiolek, Piotr; Stampahar, Jez; Malchow, Rusty; Stampahar, Tom; Lukens, Mike; Seywerd, Henry; Fortin, Richard; Harvey, Brad; Sinclair, Laurel

2014-01-01

In January 2014 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Aerial Measuring System (AMS) and the Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) Nuclear Emergency Response project conducted a series of joint surveys at a number of locations in Nevada including the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The goal of this project was to compare the responses of the two agencies' aerial radiation detection systems and data analysis techniques. This test included varied radioactive surface contamination levels and isotopic composition experienced at the NNSS and the differing data processing techniques utilized by the respective teams. Because both teams used the commercial aerial radiation detection systems from Radiation Solutions, Inc., the main focus of the campaign was to investigate the data acquisition techniques, data analysis, and ground-truth verification. The NRCan system consisted of four 4'' x 4'' x 16'' NaI(Tl) scintillator crystals of which two were externally mounted in a modified commercial cargo basket certified for the Eurocopter AS350; the NNSA AMS system consisted of twelve 2'' x 4'' x 16'' NaI(Tl) crystals in externally mounted dedicated pods. For NRCan, the joint survey provided an opportunity to characterize their system's response to extended sources of various fission products at the NNSS. Since both systems play an important role in their respective countries' national framework of radiological emergency response and are subject to multiple mutual cooperation agreements, it was important for each country to obtain more thorough knowledge of how they would employ these important assets and define the roles that they would each play in an actual response.

Six years of aerial and ground monitoring surveys for sudden oak death in California

Science.gov (United States)

Lisa Bell; Jeff Mai; Zachary Heath; Erik Haunreiter; Lisa M. Fischer

2008-01-01

Aerial surveys have been conducted since 2001 to map recent hardwood mortality and consequently target ground visits for detection of Phytophthora ramorum, the pathogen that causes sudden oak death (SOD). Each year the aerial and ground surveys monitored much of California?s forests at risk for SOD resulting in new maps of hardwood mortality,...

The prospects for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

OpenAIRE

Brookes, Andrew

2000-01-01

In this study Andrew Brookes argues that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is the military fashion of the moment. Since the end of the 1990s many nations have added UAVs to their military inventories, and in 1999 half a dozen nations used UAVs over Kosovo. In the light of operational experience in Kosovo, Brookes re-evaluates the potential of this vehicle, and examines the roles, capabilities and future challenges of UAV.

An aerial radiological survey of the Salmon Site and surrounding area, Lamar County, Mississippi

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kernan, W.J.

1994-05-01

An aerial radiological survey was conducted over the former Atomic Energy Commission Test Site at the Salmon Site and surrounding area between April 20 and May 1, 1992. The Salmon Site is located in Lamar County, Mississippi, approximately 20 miles southwest of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The purpose of the survey was to measure and document the gamma-ray environment of the Salmon Site and adjacent lands. A contour map showing gamma radiation exposure rates at 1 meter above ground level was constructed from the aerial data and overlaid on a rectified aerial photograph of the area. The exposure rates within the area are between 5 and 8 μR/h. The reported exposure rates include a cosmic-ray contribution estimated to be 3.7 μR/h. Radionuclide assays of soil samples and in situ measurements, taken with a pressurized ion chamber and a high-purity germanium detector, were obtained at 4 locations within the survey boundaries. These measurements were taken in support of and are in agreement with the aerial data

Historical wetlands mapping and GIS processing for the Savannah River Site Database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christel, L.M.

1994-08-01

New policies regarding the open-quotes no net lossclose quotes of wetlands have presented resource managers and GIS analysts with a challenging ecological application. Historical aerial photography provides a temporal record of conditions over time, beneficial when appraising wetland gain and loss because man-made disturbances can have both short and long term effects on wetland communities. This is particularly true when assessing existing communities for restoration and reclamation of the ecologic structure and function of the community prior to a disturbance. Remediation efforts can be optimized when definitive documentation exists of the original communities. The Geographic Information System (GIS) is a powerful tool for integrating these data sets and performing spatial and temporal analyses in support of ecological applications. On the Savannah River Site (SRS) temporal analysis of multispectral scanner data has shown where wetlands were impacted by reactor operation, such as thermal discharge into creeks and swamps, and where wetlands were removed due to the construction of facilities. The GIS database was used to determine how the distribution and composition of wetland classes have changed over time. Historic black and white aerial photography of SRS as well as color infrared aerial photography as recent as 1989was used to develop a more current land cover database. Six wetland classes were photointerpreted. The historical data layer was then used in spatial analyses to aid in deriving potential viable and cost effective management technique alternatives for remediation of wetlands influenced by past reactor operations and has provided acreage estimates of wetlands lost. Acreage values can be used to estimate the potential costs of wetland remediation. This application of temporal analysis using a GIS demonstrates the utility of documenting prior conditions before remediation actually commences and how to maximize cost effective remediation efforts

Moving object detection using dynamic motion modelling from UAV aerial images.

Science.gov (United States)

Saif, A F M Saifuddin; Prabuwono, Anton Satria; Mahayuddin, Zainal Rasyid

2014-01-01

Motion analysis based moving object detection from UAV aerial image is still an unsolved issue due to inconsideration of proper motion estimation. Existing moving object detection approaches from UAV aerial images did not deal with motion based pixel intensity measurement to detect moving object robustly. Besides current research on moving object detection from UAV aerial images mostly depends on either frame difference or segmentation approach separately. There are two main purposes for this research: firstly to develop a new motion model called DMM (dynamic motion model) and secondly to apply the proposed segmentation approach SUED (segmentation using edge based dilation) using frame difference embedded together with DMM model. The proposed DMM model provides effective search windows based on the highest pixel intensity to segment only specific area for moving object rather than searching the whole area of the frame using SUED. At each stage of the proposed scheme, experimental fusion of the DMM and SUED produces extracted moving objects faithfully. Experimental result reveals that the proposed DMM and SUED have successfully demonstrated the validity of the proposed methodology.

Detection of High-Density Crowds in Aerial Images Using Texture Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliver Meynberg

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Automatic crowd detection in aerial images is certainly a useful source of information to prevent crowd disasters in large complex scenarios of mass events. A number of publications employ regression-based methods for crowd counting and crowd density estimation. However, these methods work only when a correct manual count is available to serve as a reference. Therefore, it is the objective of this paper to detect high-density crowds in aerial images, where counting– or regression–based approaches would fail. We compare two texture–classification methodologies on a dataset of aerial image patches which are grouped into ranges of different crowd density. These methodologies are: (1 a Bag–of–words (BoW model with two alternative local features encoded as Improved Fisher Vectors and (2 features based on a Gabor filter bank. Our results show that a classifier using either BoW or Gabor features can detect crowded image regions with 97% classification accuracy. In our tests of four classes of different crowd-density ranges, BoW–based features have a 5%–12% better accuracy than Gabor.

Robust Vehicle Detection in Aerial Images Based on Cascaded Convolutional Neural Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Jiandan; Lei, Tao; Yao, Guangle

2017-11-24

Vehicle detection in aerial images is an important and challenging task. Traditionally, many target detection models based on sliding-window fashion were developed and achieved acceptable performance, but these models are time-consuming in the detection phase. Recently, with the great success of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in computer vision, many state-of-the-art detectors have been designed based on deep CNNs. However, these CNN-based detectors are inefficient when applied in aerial image data due to the fact that the existing CNN-based models struggle with small-size object detection and precise localization. To improve the detection accuracy without decreasing speed, we propose a CNN-based detection model combining two independent convolutional neural networks, where the first network is applied to generate a set of vehicle-like regions from multi-feature maps of different hierarchies and scales. Because the multi-feature maps combine the advantage of the deep and shallow convolutional layer, the first network performs well on locating the small targets in aerial image data. Then, the generated candidate regions are fed into the second network for feature extraction and decision making. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on the Vehicle Detection in Aerial Imagery (VEDAI) dataset and Munich vehicle dataset. The proposed cascaded detection model yields high performance, not only in detection accuracy but also in detection speed.

Aerial in situ survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cespirova, I.

2004-01-01

In 2001 a detailed exploration of soil contamination took place in the mountainous region Hruby Jesenik located in northeastern part of the Czech Republic. This region was selected for the higher contamination of 137 Cs after Chernobyl accident. For monitoring of an area about 100km 2 aerial monitoring system IRIS (located on board of helicopter MI-17) was used. The parameters of measurement were: flight height above ground 80 m, speed 100 km/h, distance of flight lines 250 m, intervals of spectra recording 1s. For more detailed exploration of ground contamination in this area complementary ground-based mobile group measurements were performed. (author)

Spatial consistency of Chinook salmon redd distribution within and among years in the Cowlitz River, Washington

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Klett, Katherine J.; Torgersen, Christian; Henning, Julie; Murray, Christopher J.

2013-04-28

We investigated the spawning patterns of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha on the lower Cowlitz River, Washington (USA) using a unique set of fine- and coarse-scale 35 temporal and spatial data collected during bi-weekly aerial surveys conducted in 1991-2009 (500 m to 28 km resolution) and 2008-2009 (100-500 m resolution). Redd locations were mapped from a helicopter during 2008 and 2009 with a hand-held global positioning system (GPS) synchronized with in-flight audio recordings. We examined spatial patterns of Chinook salmon redd reoccupation among and within years in relation to segment-scale geomorphic features. Chinook salmon spawned in the same sections each year with little variation among years. On a coarse scale, five years (1993, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2009) were compared for reoccupation. Redd locations were highly correlated among years resulting in a minimum correlation coefficient of 0.90 (adjusted P = 0.002). Comparisons on a fine scale (500 m) between 2008 and 2009 also revealed a high degree of consistency among redd locations (P < 0.001). On a finer temporal scale, we observed that salmon spawned in the same sections during the first and last week (2008: P < 0.02; and 2009: P < 0.001). Redds were clustered in both 2008 and 2009 (P < 0.001). Regression analysis with a generalized linear model at the 500-m scale indicated that river kilometer and channel bifurcation were positively associated with redd density, whereas sinuosity was negatively associated with redd density. Collecting data on specific redd locations with a GPS during aerial surveys was logistically feasible and cost effective and greatly enhanced the spatial precision of Chinook salmon spawning surveys.

Channel and Floodplain Change Analysis over a 100-Year Period: Lower Yuba River, California

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rolf Aalto

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Hydraulic gold mining in the Sierra Nevada, California (1853–1884 displaced ~1.1 billion m3 of sediment from upland placer gravels that were deposited along piedmont rivers below dams where floods can remobilize them. This study uses topographic and planimetric data from detailed 1906 topographic maps, 1999 photogrammetric data, and pre- and post-flood aerial photographs to document historic sediment erosion and deposition along the lower Yuba River due to individual floods at the reach scale. Differencing of 3 × 3-m topographic data indicates substantial changes in channel morphology and documents 12.6 × 106 m3 of erosion and 5.8 × 106 m3 of deposition in these reaches since 1906. Planimetric and volumetric measurements document spatial and temporal variations of channel enlargement and lateral migration. Over the last century, channels incised up to ~13 m into mining sediments, which dramatically decreased local flood frequencies and increased flood conveyance. These adjustments were punctuated by event-scale geomorphic changes that redistributed sediment and associated contaminants to downstream lowlands.

Flight trajectory recreation and playback system of aerial mission based on ossimplanet

OpenAIRE

Wu, Wu; Hu, Jiulin; Huang, Xiaofang; Chen, Huijie; Sun, Bo

2014-01-01

Recreation of flight trajectory is important among research areas. The design of a flight trajectory recreation and playback system is presented in this paper. Rather than transferring the flight data to diagram, graph and table, flight data is visualized on the 3D global of ossimPlanet. ossimPlanet is an open-source 3D global geo-spatial viewer and the system realization is based on analysis it. Users are allowed to choose their interested flight of aerial mission. The aerial ...

Feasibility of Turing-Style Tests for Autonomous Aerial Vehicle "Intelligence"

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Larry A.

2007-01-01

A new approach is suggested to define and evaluate key metrics as to autonomous aerial vehicle performance. This approach entails the conceptual definition of a "Turing Test" for UAVs. Such a "UAV Turing test" would be conducted by means of mission simulations and/or tailored flight demonstrations of vehicles under the guidance of their autonomous system software. These autonomous vehicle mission simulations and flight demonstrations would also have to be benchmarked against missions "flown" with pilots/human-operators in the loop. In turn, scoring criteria for such testing could be based upon both quantitative mission success metrics (unique to each mission) and by turning to analog "handling quality" metrics similar to the well-known Cooper-Harper pilot ratings used for manned aircraft. Autonomous aerial vehicles would be considered to have successfully passed this "UAV Turing Test" if the aggregate mission success metrics and handling qualities for the autonomous aerial vehicle matched or exceeded the equivalent metrics for missions conducted with pilots/human-operators in the loop. Alternatively, an independent, knowledgeable observer could provide the "UAV Turing Test" ratings of whether a vehicle is autonomous or "piloted." This observer ideally would, in the more sophisticated mission simulations, also have the enhanced capability of being able to override the scripted mission scenario and instigate failure modes and change of flight profile/plans. If a majority of mission tasks are rated as "piloted" by the observer, when in reality the vehicle/simulation is fully- or semi- autonomously controlled, then the vehicle/simulation "passes" the "UAV Turing Test." In this regards, this second "UAV Turing Test" approach is more consistent with Turing s original "imitation game" proposal. The overall feasibility, and important considerations and limitations, of such an approach for judging/evaluating autonomous aerial vehicle "intelligence" will be discussed from a

Integration of aerial oblique imagery and terrestrial imagery for optimized 3D modeling in urban areas

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Bo; Xie, Linfu; Hu, Han; Zhu, Qing; Yau, Eric

2018-05-01

Photorealistic three-dimensional (3D) models are fundamental to the spatial data infrastructure of a digital city, and have numerous potential applications in areas such as urban planning, urban management, urban monitoring, and urban environmental studies. Recent developments in aerial oblique photogrammetry based on aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer promising techniques for 3D modeling. However, 3D models generated from aerial oblique imagery in urban areas with densely distributed high-rise buildings may show geometric defects and blurred textures, especially on building façades, due to problems such as occlusion and large camera tilt angles. Meanwhile, mobile mapping systems (MMSs) can capture terrestrial images of close-range objects from a complementary view on the ground at a high level of detail, but do not offer full coverage. The integration of aerial oblique imagery with terrestrial imagery offers promising opportunities to optimize 3D modeling in urban areas. This paper presents a novel method of integrating these two image types through automatic feature matching and combined bundle adjustment between them, and based on the integrated results to optimize the geometry and texture of the 3D models generated from aerial oblique imagery. Experimental analyses were conducted on two datasets of aerial and terrestrial images collected in Dortmund, Germany and in Hong Kong. The results indicate that the proposed approach effectively integrates images from the two platforms and thereby improves 3D modeling in urban areas.

Gulf of Mexico Marine Mammal Assessment Aerial Surveys - NRDA

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aerial surveys were conducted during the spring-summer of 2010 and seasonally during 2011-2012 to assess the abundance and spatial distribution of marine mammals and...

Project Birdseye Aerial Photograph Collection: Digital and Analog Materials

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This collection consists of both analog and digital aerial photographs from Arctic areas in and around Baffin Bay, the Labrador Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Beaufort...

Uruguay mining inventory. Geochemical prospecting results of the Amarillo aerial map

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeegers, H.; Spangenberg, J.

1981-01-01

This report is about the results of the geochemical prospection carried out on the Amarillo aerial map, it placed in the area 24 of Uruguay (G11 section).This prospection was carried out by Geologic Institute team of Uruguay (IGU) with the technical assistance of BRGM. The Amarillo aerial map covers parts of Isla Cristalina. This is the window of the insular precrambrian shelf and it is surounded by geological formation as paleozoic and other more reecently formations too. The precambrian formation are represented by three big whole groups: metamorphic serial; groups of intrusing granites; and metamorphic rocks

Forensic aerial photography: projected 3-D exhibits facilitating rapid environmental justice

Science.gov (United States)

Pope, Robert A.

2009-02-01

Forensic stereoscopic analysis of historical aerial photography is successfully identifying the causes of environmental degradation, including erosion and unlawful releases of hazardous wastes into the environment. The photogrammetric evidence can successfully pinpoint the specific locations of undocumented hazardous waste landfills and other types of unlawful releases of chemicals and wastes into the environment, providing location data for targeted investigation, characterization, and subsequent remediation. The findings of these studies are being effectively communicated in a simple, memorable, and compelling way by projecting the three-dimensional (3-D) sequences of historical aerial photography utilizing polarized 3-D presentation methods.

A Review of the Characteristics of Modern Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hristov Georgi Valentinov

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The main aim of this article is to present the modern unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs and the possibilities for real-time remote monitoring of flight parameters and payload data. In the introduction section of the paper we briefly present the characteristics of the UAVs and which are their major application areas. Later, the main parameters and the various data types for remote control and monitoring of the unmanned aerial vehicles are presented and discussed. The paper continues with the methods and the technologies for transmission of these parameters and then presents a general hardware model for data transmission and a software model of a communication system suitable for UAVs.

Autonomous aerial sensors for wind power meteorology - A pre-project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giebel, G. (ed.); Schmidt Paulsen, U.; Bange, J.; la Cour-Harbo, A.; Reuder, J.; Mayer, S.; van der Kroonenberg, A.; Moelgaard, J.

2012-01-15

Autonomous Aerial Sensors, i.e. meteorological sensors mounted on Unmanned Aerial Systems UAS, can characterise the atmospheric flow in and around wind farms. We instrumented three planes, a helicopter and a lighter-than-air LTA system to fly one week together in a well-instrumented wind farm, partly with nano-synchronised sensors (time stamped with about 100 ns global accuracy). Between bankruptcy of a partner, denied overflight rights at the main test location, denied Civil Aviation Authorities permits at the alternative location, stolen planes, and crashed UAS we managed to collect data at a wind farm in Lolland and on an atmospheric campaign in France. Planning of an offshore campaign using the developed techniques is underway. (Author)

Intelligent Autonomous Aerial Vehicles in the National Airspace, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and, in particular, intelligent, autonomous aircraft operating in the National Airspace (NAS) have the potential to significantly...

Automatic digital surface model (DSM) generation from aerial imagery data

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Nan; Cao, Shixiang; He, Hongyan; Xing, Kun; Yue, Chunyu

2018-04-01

Aerial sensors are widely used to acquire imagery for photogrammetric and remote sensing application. In general, the images have large overlapped region, which provide a lot of redundant geometry and radiation information for matching. This paper presents a POS supported dense matching procedure for automatic DSM generation from aerial imagery data. The method uses a coarse-to-fine hierarchical strategy with an effective combination of several image matching algorithms: image radiation pre-processing, image pyramid generation, feature point extraction and grid point generation, multi-image geometrically constraint cross-correlation (MIG3C), global relaxation optimization, multi-image geometrically constrained least squares matching (MIGCLSM), TIN generation and point cloud filtering. The image radiation pre-processing is used in order to reduce the effects of the inherent radiometric problems and optimize the images. The presented approach essentially consists of 3 components: feature point extraction and matching procedure, grid point matching procedure and relational matching procedure. The MIGCLSM method is used to achieve potentially sub-pixel accuracy matches and identify some inaccurate and possibly false matches. The feasibility of the method has been tested on different aerial scale images with different landcover types. The accuracy evaluation is based on the comparison between the automatic extracted DSMs derived from the precise exterior orientation parameters (EOPs) and the POS.

Mechanisms of vegetation removal by floods on bars of a heavily managed gravel bed river (The Isere River, France)

Science.gov (United States)

Jourdain, Camille; Belleudy, Philippe; Tal, Michal; Malavoi, Jean-René

2016-04-01

In natural alpine gravel bed rivers, floods and their associated bedload transport maintain channels active and free of mature woody vegetation. In managed rivers, where flood regime and sediment supply have been modified by hydroelectric infrastructures and sediment mining, river beds tend to stabilize. As a result, in the recent past, mature vegetation has established on gravel bars of many gravel bed rivers worldwide. This established vegetation increases the risk of flooding by decreasing flow velocity and increasing water levels. In addition, the associated reduction in availability of pioneer habitats characteristic of these environments typically degrades biodiversity. Managing hydrology in a way that would limit vegetation establishment on bars presents an interesting management option. In this context, our study aims at understanding the impacts of floods of varying magnitude on vegetation removal, and identifying and quantifying the underlying mechanisms. Our study site is the Isère River, a heavily managed gravel bed river flowing in the western part of the French Alps. We studied the impact of floods on sediment transport and vegetation survival at the bar scale through field monitoring from 2014 to 2015, focusing on young salicaceous vegetation (chains, and topographic surveys. Hourly water discharge was obtained from the national gauging network. The hydraulics of monitored floods was characterized using a combination of field measurements and 2D hydraulic modeling: water levels were measured with pressure sensors and Large Scale Particle Velocimetry was used to measure flow velocities. These data were used to calibrate 2D hydrodynamic model using TELEMAC2D. At the reach scale, removal of mature vegetation was assed using a series of historical aerial photographs between 2001 and 2015. Our monitoring period covered a series of floods with recurrence intervals of 2 to 4 times per year, as well as one large flood with a 10 year return period. Only the

Optimum Route Planning and Scheduling for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sonmezocak, Erkan; Kurt, Senol

2008-01-01

.... The route planning of UAVs is the most critical and challenging problem of wartime. This thesis will develop three algorithms to solve a model that produces executable routings in order to dispatch three Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV...

Channel change and bed-material transport in the Umpqua River basin, Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Wallick, J. Rose; O'Connor, Jim E.; Anderson, Scott; Keith, Mackenzie K.; Cannon, Charles; Risley, John C.

2011-01-01

The Umpqua River drains 12,103 square kilometers of western Oregon; with headwaters in the Cascade Range, the river flows through portions of the Klamath Mountains and Oregon Coast Range before entering the Pacific Ocean. Above the head of tide, the Umpqua River, along with its major tributaries, the North and South Umpqua Rivers, flows on a mixed bedrock and alluvium bed, alternating between bedrock rapids and intermittent, shallow gravel bars composed of gravel to cobble-sized clasts. These bars have been a source of commercial aggregate since the mid-twentieth century. Below the head of tide, the Umpqua River contains large bars composed of mud and sand. Motivated by ongoing permitting and aquatic habitat concerns related to in-stream gravel mining on the fluvial reaches, this study evaluated spatial and temporal trends in channel change and bed-material transport for 350 kilometers of river channel along the Umpqua, North Umpqua, and South Umpqua Rivers. The assessment produced (1) detailed mapping of the active channel, using aerial photographs and repeat surveys, and (2) a quantitative estimation of bed-material flux that drew upon detailed measurements of particle size and lithology, equations of transport capacity, and a sediment yield analysis. Bed-material transport capacity estimates at 45 sites throughout the South Umpqua and main stem Umpqua Rivers for the period 1951-2008 result in wide-ranging transport capacity estimates, reflecting the difficulty of applying equations of bed-material transport to a supply-limited river. Median transport capacity values calculated from surface-based equations of bedload transport for each of the study reaches provide indications of maximum possible transport rates and range from 8,000 to 27,000 metric tons per year (tons/yr) for the South Umpqua River and 20,000 to 82,000 metric tons/yr for the main stem Umpqua River upstream of the head of tide; the North Umpqua River probably contributes little bed material. A

Rays in the northern Gulf of Mexico: Aerial Survey and Satellite Telemetry 2008-2012 (NCEI Accession 0129495)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The dataset contains distribution and abundance data for rays in the Gulf of Mexico collected through aerial surveys and satellite telemetry. Aerial survey data...

Mapping bare soil in South West Wales, UK, using high resolution colour infra-red aerial photography for water quality and flood risk management applications

Science.gov (United States)

Sykes, Helena; Neale, Simon; Coe, Sarah

2016-04-01

Natural Resources Wales is a UK government body responsible for environmental regulation, among other areas. River walks in Water Framework Directive (WFD) priority catchments in South West Wales, UK, identified soil entering water courses due to poaching and bank erosion, leading to deterioration in the water quality and jeopardising the water quality meeting legal minimum standards. Bare soil has also been shown to cause quicker and higher hydrograph peaks in rural catchments than if those areas were vegetated, which can lead to flooding of domestic properties during peak storm flows. The aim was to target farm visits by operational staff to advise on practices likely to improve water quality and to identify areas where soft engineering solutions such as revegetation could alleviate flood risk in rural areas. High resolution colour-infrared aerial photography, 25cm in the three colour bands and 50cm in the near infrared band, was used to map bare soil in seven catchments using supervised classification of a five band stack including the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Mapping was combined with agricultural land use and field boundary data to filter out arable fields, which are supposed to bare soil for part of their cycle, and was very successful when compared to ground truthing, with the exception of silage fields which contained sparse, no or unproductive vegetation at the time the imagery was acquired leading to spectral similarity to bare soil. A raindrop trace model was used to show the path sediment from bare soil areas would take when moving through the catchment to a watercourse, with hedgerows inserted as barriers following our observations from ground truthing. The findings have been used to help farmers gain funding for improvements such as fencing to keep animals away from vulnerable river banks. These efficient and automated methods can be rolled out to more catchments in Wales and updated using aerial imagery acquired more recently to

BUILDING DETECTION USING AERIAL IMAGES AND DIGITAL SURFACE MODELS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Mu

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper a method for building detection in aerial images based on variational inference of logistic regression is proposed. It consists of three steps. In order to characterize the appearances of buildings in aerial images, an effective bag-of-Words (BoW method is applied for feature extraction in the first step. In the second step, a classifier of logistic regression is learned using these local features. The logistic regression can be trained using different methods. In this paper we adopt a fully Bayesian treatment for learning the classifier, which has a number of obvious advantages over other learning methods. Due to the presence of hyper prior in the probabilistic model of logistic regression, approximate inference methods have to be applied for prediction. In order to speed up the inference, a variational inference method based on mean field instead of stochastic approximation such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo is applied. After the prediction, a probabilistic map is obtained. In the third step, a fully connected conditional random field model is formulated and the probabilistic map is used as the data term in the model. A mean field inference is utilized in order to obtain a binary building mask. A benchmark data set consisting of aerial images and digital surfaced model (DSM released by ISPRS for 2D semantic labeling is used for performance evaluation. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Toward autonomous avian-inspired grasping for micro aerial vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, Justin; Loianno, Giuseppe; Polin, Joseph; Kumar, Vijay; Sreenath, Koushil

2014-01-01

Micro aerial vehicles, particularly quadrotors, have been used in a wide range of applications. However, the literature on aerial manipulation and grasping is limited and the work is based on quasi-static models. In this paper, we draw inspiration from agile, fast-moving birds such as raptors, that are able to capture moving prey on the ground or in water, and develop similar capabilities for quadrotors. We address dynamic grasping, an approach to prehensile grasping in which the dynamics of the robot and its gripper are significant and must be explicitly modeled and controlled for successful execution. Dynamic grasping is relevant for fast pick-and-place operations, transportation and delivery of objects, and placing or retrieving sensors. We show how this capability can be realized (a) using a motion capture system and (b) without external sensors relying only on onboard sensors. In both cases we describe the dynamic model, and trajectory planning and control algorithms. In particular, we present a methodology for flying and grasping a cylindrical object using feedback from a monocular camera and an inertial measurement unit onboard the aerial robot. This is accomplished by mapping the dynamics of the quadrotor to a level virtual image plane, which in turn enables dynamically-feasible trajectory planning for image features in the image space, and a vision-based controller with guaranteed convergence properties. We also present experimental results obtained with a quadrotor equipped with an articulated gripper to illustrate both approaches. (papers)

Toward autonomous avian-inspired grasping for micro aerial vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Justin; Loianno, Giuseppe; Polin, Joseph; Sreenath, Koushil; Kumar, Vijay

2014-06-01

Micro aerial vehicles, particularly quadrotors, have been used in a wide range of applications. However, the literature on aerial manipulation and grasping is limited and the work is based on quasi-static models. In this paper, we draw inspiration from agile, fast-moving birds such as raptors, that are able to capture moving prey on the ground or in water, and develop similar capabilities for quadrotors. We address dynamic grasping, an approach to prehensile grasping in which the dynamics of the robot and its gripper are significant and must be explicitly modeled and controlled for successful execution. Dynamic grasping is relevant for fast pick-and-place operations, transportation and delivery of objects, and placing or retrieving sensors. We show how this capability can be realized (a) using a motion capture system and (b) without external sensors relying only on onboard sensors. In both cases we describe the dynamic model, and trajectory planning and control algorithms. In particular, we present a methodology for flying and grasping a cylindrical object using feedback from a monocular camera and an inertial measurement unit onboard the aerial robot. This is accomplished by mapping the dynamics of the quadrotor to a level virtual image plane, which in turn enables dynamically-feasible trajectory planning for image features in the image space, and a vision-based controller with guaranteed convergence properties. We also present experimental results obtained with a quadrotor equipped with an articulated gripper to illustrate both approaches.

Rectification of aerial images using piecewise linear transformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liew, L H; Lee, B Y; Wang, Y C; Cheah, W S

2014-01-01

Aerial images are widely used in various activities by providing visual records. This type of remotely sensed image is helpful in generating digital maps, managing ecology, monitoring crop growth and region surveying. Such images could provide insight into areas of interest that have lower altitude, particularly in regions where optical satellite imaging is prevented due to cloudiness. Aerial images captured using a non-metric cameras contain real details of the images as well as unexpected distortions. Distortions would affect the actual length, direction and shape of objects in the images. There are many sources that could cause distortions such as lens, earth curvature, topographic relief and the attitude of the aircraft that is used to carry the camera. These distortions occur differently, collectively and irregularly in the entire image. Image rectification is an essential image pre-processing step to eliminate or at least reduce the effect of distortions. In this paper, a non-parametric approach with piecewise linear transformation is investigated in rectifying distorted aerial images. The non-parametric approach requires a set of corresponding control points obtained from a reference image and a distorted image. The corresponding control points are then applied with piecewise linear transformation as geometric transformation. Piecewise linear transformation divides the image into regions by triangulation. Different linear transformations are employed separately to triangular regions instead of using a single transformation as the rectification model for the entire image. The result of rectification is evaluated using total root mean square error (RMSE). Experiments show that piecewise linear transformation could assist in improving the limitation of using global transformation to rectify images

Delineating wetland catchments and modeling hydrologic connectivity using lidar data and aerial imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Q. Wu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In traditional watershed delineation and topographic modeling, surface depressions are generally treated as spurious features and simply removed from a digital elevation model (DEM to enforce flow continuity of water across the topographic surface to the watershed outlets. In reality, however, many depressions in the DEM are actual wetland landscape features with seasonal to permanent inundation patterning characterized by nested hierarchical structures and dynamic filling–spilling–merging surface-water hydrological processes. Differentiating and appropriately processing such ecohydrologically meaningful features remains a major technical terrain-processing challenge, particularly as high-resolution spatial data are increasingly used to support modeling and geographic analysis needs. The objectives of this study were to delineate hierarchical wetland catchments and model their hydrologic connectivity using high-resolution lidar data and aerial imagery. The graph-theory-based contour tree method was used to delineate the hierarchical wetland catchments and characterize their geometric and topological properties. Potential hydrologic connectivity between wetlands and streams were simulated using the least-cost-path algorithm. The resulting flow network delineated potential flow paths connecting wetland depressions to each other or to the river network on scales finer than those available through the National Hydrography Dataset. The results demonstrated that our proposed framework is promising for improving overland flow simulation and hydrologic connectivity analysis.

Ground control station software design for micro aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Walendziuk, Wojciech; Oldziej, Daniel; Binczyk, Dawid Przemyslaw; Slowik, Maciej

2017-08-01

This article describes the process of designing the equipment part and the software of a ground control station used for configuring and operating micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). All the works were conducted on a quadrocopter model being a commonly accessible commercial construction. This article contains a characteristics of the research object, the basics of operating the micro aerial vehicles (MAV) and presents components of the ground control station model. It also describes the communication standards for the purpose of building a model of the station. Further part of the work concerns the software of the product - the GIMSO application (Generally Interactive Station for Mobile Objects), which enables the user to manage the actions and communication and control processes from the UAV. The process of creating the software and the field tests of a station model are also presented in the article.

Behaviour of coconut mites preceding take-off to passive aerial dispersal.

Science.gov (United States)

Melo, J W S; Lima, D B; Sabelis, M W; Pallini, A; Gondim, M G C

2014-12-01

For more than three decades the coconut mite Aceria guerreronis Keifer is one of the most important pests of coconut palms and has recently spread to many coconut production areas worldwide. Colonization of coconut palms is thought to arise from mites dispersing aerially after take-off from other plants within the same plantation or other plantations. The underlying dispersal behaviour of the mite at take-off, in the airborne state and after landing is largely unknown and this is essential to understand how they spread from tree to tree. In this article we studied whether take-off to aerial dispersal of coconut mites is preceded by characteristic behaviour, whether there is a correlation between the body position preceding aerial dispersal and the direction of the wind, and whether the substrate (outer surface of coconut bracts or epidermis) and the wind speed matter to the decision to take-off. We found that take-off can sometimes be preceded by a raised body stance, but more frequently take-off occurs while the mite is walking or resting on its substrate. Coconut mites that become airborne assumed a body stance that had no relation to the wind direction. Take-off was suppressed on a substrate providing food to coconut mites, but occurred significantly more frequently on the outer surface of coconut bracts than on the surface of the fruit. For both substrates, take-off frequency increased with wind speed. We conclude that coconut mites have at least some degree of control over take-off for aerial dispersal and that there is as yet no reason to infer that a raised body stance is necessary to become airborne.

Evolution of a meander in a constricted reach of a dryland alluvial channel: Little Colorado River, Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Block, D.

2013-12-01

Lateral migration of river meander systems is complex, particularly in drylands where fluvial processes are discontinuous. Analysis of aerial photography and GPS tracking of cutbank erosion can further empirical knowledge of meander development. Moreover, discharge records link landscape response to hydroclimatic variability. In the semiarid Little Colorado River valley, extreme erosive episodes typically result from snowmelt flow, or lately, rain-on-snow events. The 90-km reach of the Little Colorado River (LCR), from Winslow to Leupp, Arizona, meanders within a 5-km-wide valley. Near Winslow, however, the LCR is disconnected from its floodplain by a 12-km-long levee. The levee restricts the floodplain to only 450 m wide in one location. In this severely constricted river stretch, a flood event in January 2008 relocated a meander bend. Bend development followed a common sequence of migration phases long noted in the literature, but at a very rapid pace. During the flood event one meander limb migrated ~200 m, following the general northwesterly flow direction of the river. Movement vectors of meander inflection points, apex, and apical line characterize changes in bend morphology. Before the 2008 flood event the apical line of the meander bend had azimuth 50°; after the 2008 flood event the apical line of the meander bend had azimuth 345°. Since that event, the meander bend has migrated an additional ~200 m through a combination of translation, extension, and rotation. The data provide information on geomorphic response to bimodal precipitation patterns in a human-perturbed channel reach.

Optimal event handling by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Roo, Martijn; Frasca, Paolo; Carloni, Raffaella

This paper proposes a control architecture for a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles that is responsible for handling the events that take place in a given area. The architecture guarantees that each event is handled by the required number of vehicles in the shortest time, while the rest of the fleet

Aerial infrared monitoring for nuclear fuel cycle facilities in Ukraine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stankevich, S.A.; Dudar, T.V.; Kovalenko, G.D.; Kartashov, V.V.

2015-01-01

The scientific research overall objective is rapid express detection and preliminary identification of pre-accidental conditions at nuclear fuel cycle facilities. We consider development of a miniature unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with high-precision infrared spectroradiometer able to detect remotely internal warming up of hazardous facilities by its thermal infrared radiation. The possibility of remote monitoring using unmanned aerial vehicle is considered at the example of the dry spent fuel storage facility of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Infrared remote monitoring is supposed to present additional information on the monitored facilities based on different physical principles rather than those currently in use. Models and specifications towards up-to-date samples of infrared surveying equipment and its small-sized unmanned vehicles are presented in the paper.

Using historical aerial photography and softcopy photogrammetry for waste unit mapping in L Lake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christel, L.M.

1997-10-01

L Lake was developed as a cooling water reservoir for the L Reactor at the Savannah River Site. The construction of the lake, which began in the fall of 1984, altered the structure and function of Steel Creek. Completed in the fall of 1985, L Lake has a capacity of 31 million cubic meters and a normal pool of 58 meters. When L Reactor operations ceased in 1988, the water level in the lake still had to be maintained. Site managers are currently trying to determine the feasibility of draining or drawing down the lake in order to save tax dollars. In order to understand the full repercussions of such an undertaking, it was necessary to compile a comprehensive inventory of what the lake bottom looked like prior to filling. Aerial photographs, acquired nine days before the filling of the lake began, were scanned and used for softcopy photogrammetry processing. A one-meter digital elevation model was generated and a digital orthophoto mosaic was created as the base map for the project. Seven categories of features, including the large waste units used to contain the contaminated soil removed from the dam site, were screen digitized and used to generate accurate maps. Other map features include vegetation waste piles, where contaminated vegetation from the flood plain was contained, and ash piles, which are sites where vegetation debris was burned and then covered with clean soil. For all seven categories, the area of disturbance totaled just over 63 hectares. When the screen digitizing was completed, the elevation at the centroid of each disturbance was determined. When the information is used in the Savannah River Site Geographical Information System, it can be used to visualize the various L Lake draw-down scenarios suggested by site managers and hopefully, to support evaluations of the cost effectiveness for each proposed activity

Interpretation of aerial photographs of Ratnagiri Bay - a case study

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Wagle, B.G.

Aerial photocharacteristics like tonal difference, texture, shape, size, form, pattern, vegetation, soil characteristics and associated features were used to identify fluvial, marine and aeolian features such as tidal flats, mesas, wave...

Channel Width Change as a Potential Sediment Source, Minnesota River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Lauer, J. W.; Echterling, C.; Lenhart, C. F.; Rausch, R.; Belmont, P.

2017-12-01

Turbidity and suspended sediment are important management considerations along the Minnesota River. The system has experience large and relatively consistent increases in both discharge and channel width over the past century. Here we consider the potential role of channel cross section enlargement as a sediment source. Reach-average channel width was digitized from aerial images dated between 1937 and 2015 along multiple sub-reaches of the Minnesota River and its major tributaries. Many of the sub-reaches include several actively migrating bends. The analysis shows relatively consistent increases in width over time, with average increase rates of 0.4 percent per year. Extrapolation to the river network using a regional relationship for cross-sectional area vs. drainage area indicates that large tributaries and main-stem reaches account for most of the bankfull cross-sectional volume in the basin. Larger tributaries and the main stem thus appear more important for widening related sediment production than small tributaries. On a basin-wide basis, widening could be responsible for a gross supply of more sediment than has been gaged at several main-stem sites, indicating that there may be important sinks for both sand and silt/clay size material distributed throughout the system. Sediment storage is probably largest along the lowest-slope reaches of the main stem. While channel width appears to have adjusted relatively quickly in response to discharge and other hydraulic modifications, net storage of sediment in floodplains probably occurs sufficiently slowly that depth adjustment will lag width adjustment significantly. Detailed analysis of the lower Minnesota River using a river segmenting approach allows for a more detailed assessment of reach-scale processes. Away from channel cutoffs, elongation of the channel at eroding bends is consistent with rates observed on other actively migrating rivers. However, the sinuosity increase has been more than compensated by

Empirical research on drugs - La recherche empirique dans le domaine des drogues - La ricerca empirica in materia di droga

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piselli A.

2009-08-01

Full Text Available The article deals with some methodological topics related to researches on drug phenomena. The main consideration pertains to that kind of “crime without victim” that is largely hidden (dark figure. The solutions adopted to approach these and other problems include the rigorous logical and semantic definition of the objects and the use of specific analysis criteria taken from other disciplines, like demography and urban topography. Official statistics figures must be corrected by specific criteria; on the one hand by the statistical projection of the outcome data, and on the other hand by the case studies. Cet article aborde le sujet des méthodes de recherche qui doivent être utilisées par les études empiriques des phénomènes liés à la drogue. À ce propos il faut avant tout étudier ce phénomène en tant que « crime sans victime » qui alimente le chiffre noir. Les solutions adoptées pour essayer de résoudre ce problème particulier et d’autres problèmes typiques incluent la rigureuse définition logique et sémantique des termes objet d’étude et l’utilisation de critères d’analyse empruntés à d’autres disciplines, notamment à la démographie et à la topographie urbaine. Les données provenantes des statistiques officielles doivent être corrigées de la façon suivante : d’un côté par la projection statistique des résultats et, de l’autre côté, par l’étude de cas.L’articolo discute alcuni elementi di metodo da tenere presenti nell’ambito dello studio dei fenomeni connessi alla droga. Prioritaria al riguardo è la considerazione di tale fenomeno criminale come “reato senza vittima” e la preponderante presenza della cifra oscura. Le soluzioni adottate per bilanciare questi e altri problemi tipici includono la rigorosa definizione logico/semantica dei termini oggetto di studio e il ricorso a criteri di analisi mutuati da altre discipline, su tutti la demografia e la topografia urbana. Di