Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

High Resolution Image Products Acquired from Mid-sized Uncrewed Aerial Systems: Addressing Challenges of Flying Higher, Faster, and Longer

Lexie Goldberger
ORCID logo ,
Ilan Gonzalez-Hirshfeld
,
Kristian Nelson
,
Hardeep Metha
,
Fan Mei
ORCID logo ,
Jason Tomlinson
ORCID logo ,
Beat Schmid
ORCID logo ,
Jerry D. Tagestad
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 28 June 2023 / Approved: 29 June 2023 / Online: 29 June 2023 (12:40:35 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Goldberger, L.; Gonzalez-Hirshfeld, I.; Nelson, K.; Metha, H.; Mei, F.; Tomlinson, J.; Schmid, B.; Tagestad, J. High-Resolution Image Products Acquired from Mid-Sized Uncrewed Aerial Systems for Land–Atmosphere Studies. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 3940. Goldberger, L.; Gonzalez-Hirshfeld, I.; Nelson, K.; Metha, H.; Mei, F.; Tomlinson, J.; Schmid, B.; Tagestad, J. High-Resolution Image Products Acquired from Mid-Sized Uncrewed Aerial Systems for Land–Atmosphere Studies. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 3940.

Abstract

Commercially available multispectral and thermal imagers are commonly deployed for environmental monitoring on small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS, <55 lbs). Our team assessed the challenges of deploying these imagers on a Group 3 classification UAS (weight: 55-1320 lbs, maximum altitude: 18,000 ft MSL, maximum speed: 250 kts) for the purpose of land-atmosphere interaction studies. A Micasense Altum multispectral imager was deployed on two very similar mid-sized (Group 3) UAS, a Mississippi State University (MSU) TigerShark XP and the Department of Energy (DOE) ArcticShark. This paper examines the effects of flight on imaging systems mounted on UASs flying at higher altitudes, faster speeds, and for longer duration, which near future technology will make more the norm. For these platforms we found that the acquisition rate may need to be higher to achieve a minimum 75% overlap, as required by certain post-processing algorithms. Additionally pre-flight calibration panel referencing was found to be problematic for converting flight images to reflectance, due to the changing illumination conditions during the extended duration flights. We developed an automated workflow to correct the image frames via data from an onboard hemispherical solar sensor mounted on the top of the airframe, and we assessed these data against known spectral ground targets and independent sources. Finally, this manuscript may be used as a reference for collecting similar datasets in the future. The datasets described within this manuscript may be used as a starting point for future research.

Keywords

UAS operations; land-atmosphere interactions; automated processing

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Remote Sensing

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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