A UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)-approved operations manual for safe deployment of lightweight drones in research

Cunliffe, Andrew M.; Anderson, Karen; DeBell, Leon; Duffy, James P.

doi:10.1080/01431161.2017.1286059

Cited by 32 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…China has also opened civil airspace at thirteen sites located all over the country where researchers can use civilian UASs without permits [102]. A safe operation manual for lightweight UASs has been provided to support scientific research in the UK [103]. UAS users in many countries may not know where or how to apply for permits, and applying for permits may also be costly and time consuming.…”

Section: Uas Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surveying Wild Animals from Satellites, Manned Aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs): A Review

2019

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This article reviews studies regarding wild animal surveys based on multiple platforms, including satellites, manned aircraft, and unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), and focuses on the data used, animal detection methods, and their accuracies. We also discuss the advantages and limitations of each type of remote sensing data and highlight some new research opportunities and challenges. Submeter very-high-resolution (VHR) spaceborne imagery has potential in modeling the population dynamics of large (>0.6 m) wild animals at large spatial and temporal scales, but has difficulty discerning small (<0.6 m) animals at the species level, although high-resolution commercial satellites, such as WorldView-3 and -4, have been able to collect images with a ground resolution of up to 0.31 m in panchromatic mode. This situation will not change unless the satellite image resolution is greatly improved in the future. Manned aerial surveys have long been employed to capture the centimeter-scale images required for animal censuses over large areas. However, such aerial surveys are costly to implement in small areas and can cause significant disturbances to wild animals because of their noise. In contrast, UAS surveys are seen as a safe, convenient and less expensive alternative to ground-based and conventional manned aerial surveys, but most UASs can cover only small areas. The proposed use of UAS imagery in combination with VHR satellite imagery would produce critical population data for large wild animal species and colonies over large areas. The development of software systems for automatically producing image mosaics and recognizing wild animals will further improve survey efficiency.

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Section: Uas Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surveying Wild Animals from Satellites, Manned Aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs): A Review

2019

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“…Once the appropriate pre‐flight checks and permissions have been sought, a robust field procedure should be followed, for which Cunliffe et al. () provide advice and an operations manual for other users to use as a guide. Importantly the operational procedure outlined therein should be modified according to the specific aircraft being used and methodology being followed.…”

Section: Considerations For Safe Deploymentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For wind, we suggest carrying a handheld anemometer to check that wind conditions are within operational ranges, for example maximum permissible wind speed including gusts of 13.4 m s −1 is recommended for a 3DR Y6 hexacopter (Cunliffe et al. ).…”

Section: Weather and Local Environment Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Location, location, location: considerations when using lightweight drones in challenging environments

Duffy

Cunliffe

DeBell

et al. 2017

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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155

127

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Lightweight drones have emerged recently as a remote sensing survey tool of choice for ecologists, conservation practitioners and environmental scientists. In published work, there are plentiful details on the parameters and settings used for successful data capture, but in contrast there is a dearth of information describing the operational complexity of drone deployment. Information about the practices of flying in the field, whilst currently lacking, would be useful for others embarking on new drone-based investigations. As a group of dronepiloting scientists, we have operated lightweight drones for research in over 25 projects, in over 10 countries, and in polar, desert, coastal and tropical ecosystems, with many hundreds of hours of flying experience between us. The purpose of this paper was to document the lesser-reported methodological pitfalls of drone deployments so that other scientists can understand the spectrum of considerations that need to be accounted for prior to, and during drone survey flights. Herein, we describe the most common challenges encountered, alongside mitigation and remediation actions that increase the chances of safe and successful data capture. Challenges are grouped into the following categories: (i) pre-flight planning, (ii) flight operations, (iii) weather, (iv) redundancy, (v) data quality, (vi) batteries. We also discuss the importance of scientists undertaking ethical assessment of their drone practices, to identify and mitigate potential conflicts associated with drone use in particular areas. By sharing our experience, our intention is that the paper will assist those embarking on new drone deployments, increasing the efficacy of acquiring high-quality data from this new proximal aerial viewpoint.

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“…Further advances in technology and safety features will likely foster relaxation of some rules. For example, a sub‐2 kg weight class, introduced in Australia, USA, Canada and several European countries, has allowed relatively easy and flexible operations of small, light aircraft (Cunliffe, Anderson, DeBell, & Duffy, ). Considering recent advances in 3D mapping technology and miniaturization of optical cameras, these lightweight UAS are becoming highly efficient and powerful remote sensing data collection tools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unmanned aircraft system advances health mapping of fragile polar vegetation

et al. 2017

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Plants like mosses can be sensitive stress markers of subtle shifts in Arctic and Antarctic environmental conditions, including climate change. Traditional ground‐based monitoring of fragile polar vegetation is, however, invasive, labour intensive and physically demanding. High‐resolution multispectral satellite observations are an alternative, but even their recent highest achievable spatial resolution is still inadequate, resulting in a significant underestimation of plant health due to spectral mixing and associated reflectance impurities. To resolve these obstacles, we have developed a new method that uses low‐altitude unmanned aircraft system (UAS) hyperspectral images of sub‐decimeter spatial resolution. Machine‐learning support vector regressions (SVR) were employed to infer Antarctic moss vigour from quantitative remote sensing maps of plant canopy chlorophyll content and leaf density. The same maps were derived for comparison purposes from the WorldView‐2 high spatial resolution (2.2 m) multispectral satellite data. We found SVR algorithms to be highly efficient in estimating plant health indicators with acceptable root mean square errors (RMSE). The systematic RMSEs for chlorophyll content and leaf density were 3.5–6.0 and 1.3–2.0 times smaller, respectively, than the unsystematic errors. However, application of correctly trained SVR machines on space‐borne multispectral images considerably underestimated moss chlorophyll content, while stress indicators retrieved from UAS data were found to be comparable with independent field measurements, providing statistically significant regression coefficients of determination (median r2 = .50, pt test = .0072). This study demonstrates the superior performance of a cost‐efficient UAS mapping platform, which can be deployed even under the continuous cloud cover that often obscures optical high‐altitude airborne and satellite observations. Antarctic moss vigour maps of appropriate resolution could provide timely and spatially explicit warnings of environmental stress events, including those triggered by climate change. Since our polar vegetation health assessment method is based on physical principles of quantitative spectroscopy, it could be adapted to other short‐stature and fragmented plant communities (e.g. tundra grasslands), including alpine and desert regions. It therefore shows potential to become an operational component of any ecological monitoring sensor network.

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A UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)-approved operations manual for safe deployment of lightweight drones in research

Cited by 32 publications

References 21 publications

Surveying Wild Animals from Satellites, Manned Aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs): A Review

Surveying Wild Animals from Satellites, Manned Aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs): A Review

Location, location, location: considerations when using lightweight drones in challenging environments

Unmanned aircraft system advances health mapping of fragile polar vegetation

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