AirTheo “Autonomous solution to your surveying needs” Alex Zahn Brandon Kunkel Madison Fisher

Alex Zahn Aerospace Engineering Class of 2017 Our Team’s Mission: To take the risk out of land surveying and provide better information at a cheaper cost Alex Zahn Aerospace Engineering Class of 2017 Brandon Kunkel Aerospace Engineering Class of 2017 Madison Fisher Information Technology (Cyber Security) Class of 2020

DHL Report Summary Lessons Learned How does this help AirTheo? Logistics businesses play to strengths/weaknesses of UAVS – Urban First and Last Mile UAVs have difficulties in wind due to lightweight How does this help AirTheo? The UAV should be able to take all of its data within 20 minutes or less. Might need strategic flight planning for large land areas AirTheo may need to be on the larger side for stability in harsher weather conditions

Land Surveying with Air Theo What’s Needed? AirTheo Quad Sensor package: IMUs, gyro, GPS mirror for laser calibration Imaging Package: 2 x cameras, 2 x 3-Axis gimbals Radio Transmission Calibration modules: laser, gimbals, light sensor/CCD Ground Station: Laptop/Tablet Spare Parts and Batteries

Air Theo Operation Process Arrive to survey site location Unpack UAV(s) and plug in sensors, batteries, etc. Turn on Ground Station, set # of AirTheos, choose survey area, and program develops flight path based on current topographical data. Options for manual flight path editing Set UAV(s) on ground between calibration modules close to program specified distance Initiate calibration Once calibration is OK’d by ground station, initiate surveying UAV(s) take off and survey the area, recording pictures and beaming data to ground station for processing UAV(s) return to home once done

Air Operations – Transporting AirTheo Drone Case Ground Station Case AirTheo UAV Spare Parts (ex. propellers, hardware, etc.) Calibration Module Cal. Module Tripod Cal. Module Tripod Cal. Module Batteries Tools for Maintenance Calibration Module Batteries Ground Station Computer Air Theo System is compact and easy to carry One carrying case per drone, batteries, and spare parts One case for calibration modules, tools, and ground station computer After powering on drones, ground station computer pings drone(s) with encrypted security protocol Upon response from the drone(s), the flight planning process is ready to begin

Air Operations – Flight Planning UAV 1 UAV 2 START Google Maps API integrated into software package Designate area of interest (BLUE) Program calculates the optimal flight path (Orange) based on number of drones and Google Maps topography

Air Operations – Setting up AirTheo CAL CAL Calibration modules are placed at a distance apart, which is specified in flight planning software (useful for scaling calibration for larger plots of land) AirTheo is placed between two calibration modules for distance measurement calibration Calibration executed from within software on ground station computer

Air Operations – Calibrating AirTheo First, calibration modules use laser system to find the distance to each other and GPS to determine location in relation to the surveying area Next, AirTheo UAV hovers and moves between calibration modules to correlate UAV movement accurately to within ¼” After calibration, surveying is ready to begin! CAL ¼” is standard uncertainty in surveying measurements

Air Operations – Launching AirTheo After calibration is completed, the user is prompted to begin surveying on the ground station software The user can still make changes to the flight plan prior to launch When told, the UAVs start the land survey! The UAVs slowly take off vertically until 50 feet in the air (SAFETY FIRST) 50 feet CAL CAL

Air Operations – AirTheo Data Acquisition The UAVs send their position, altitude, speed back to the ground station in real time, and the data overlaid on the flight path The UAV takes pictures using two cameras and the ground station uses photogrammetric algorithms to develop an accurate 3D point cloud of the surveyed area The images can also be used to color the point cloud

Air Operations – AirTheo Ground Station Output 1. There is a lot of potential for post processing the data acquired from the survey, for example: Colored point cloud Contour Map Vectorized Map 2. Possibilities of CAD file creation. Customer discovery suggested this was wanted. 3.

Important Factors for Successful Integration in NAS Will not congest local airspace Minimized potential for injury and harm Operates within FAA boundaries for UAVs Extra certification and permits needed for operation in high risk areas (i.e. cities)

How does AirTheo Integrate into NAS? Congestion AirTheo will have short mission durations AirTheo will typically be used in areas with few people, and special care will be used in more dense areas Minimize risk of injury Flight planning software plans around risk areas, reducing/eliminating exposure to risky situations

Integration in National Airspace Designed to only operates within Class G airspace AirTheo will never need to fly more than 200 ft AGL FAA certifications and waivers will be sought out for special circumstances http://pop.h-cdn.co/assets/cm/15/05/640x400/54cb1ae086a66_-_drone-airspace-01-0913-de.jpg

What’s Next? Customer discovery and outreach Product prototyping Continue reaching out to new potential customers Product prototyping Research and development of key technologies Pricing of parts Proof of concept

Links Photogrammetry (Slide 12) Photogrammetry and DEMDTM Modelling http://vietnam.asiaflycam.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/11/Photogrammetry-and-DEMDTM-modelling-Services.jpg Wikipedia Rapid 3D mapping https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7b/Rapid3dmapping.jpg Topographical Maps (Slide 13) http://static-dc.autodesk.net/content/dam/autodesk/www/products/autodesk-autocad-map-3d/images/screenshots/surfaces-point-cloud-tools-large-1035x500.jpg https://screenshots.en.sftcdn.net/en/scrn/69660000/69660945/scr_1368536210-700x471.png http://digimap.blogs.edina.ac.uk/files/2014/11/map3d_final_visualisation.png