Rogallo wing with in-flight video camera
Slow-stick with digital still camera
Example Applications
Landslide monitoring & mapping: a) Oak Forest Slide, b) Red Butte Slide
Introduction
Radio-controlled aircraft or 'Unmanned Aerial Vehicles' with cameras provide a perspective on the environment that simply cannot be obtained from the ground. UAV also compliment imaging from satellite or manned aircraft because they can be deployed in a short time and on an unscheduled basis, provide the opportunity to obtain images at a wide variety of viewing directions, and can be operated at low cost. Our strategy is to deploy inexpensive but stable and robust aircraft that will protect the on-board electronics and cameras, while operating out of small clearings and dirt tracks. Rough landings are certain while carrying out geological studies, so the airframes must be easy to repair and cheap to replace. Two of the aircraft that we use are shown below. We also use a pusher-prop plane with 6' wingspan that carries an autopilot and GPS system. All aircraft carry video and / or still cameras depending upon the task at hand. Our goal is to make quantitative measurements of topography, feature geometry, and ground displacement. This means that we must process the images to remove blurring and distortion caused by motion of the aircraft and imperfections in the camera bodies and lenses. Once images are 'undistorted' further processing is required to geographically reference the images and extract features of interest. Fortunately, the past decade has seen a quantum leap in algorithms and software for processing images obtained by small digital cameras.
