Advanced UAV

Sensor technologies in unmanned aerial vehicles: types and applications

Osman Villi — 2024-06-14

Applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with various sensor system, have been steadily increasing. Initially, only sensors necessary for the safe flight of UAVs were employed. However, in recent years, sensor types with advanced environmental perception capabilities have been developed and integrated into UAVs. The development of sensor types and their reduced size has facilitated their integration into UAV systems and encouraged various scientific studies. UAVs equipped with sophisticated sensors find applications in a wide range of fields. These include precision agriculture applications such as monitoring crop health and determining soil moisture content, forest fire detection, natural disaster monitoring, search and rescue operations and meteorological measurements. This study provides insights into the types of sensors found in UAVs, followed by a review of relevant literature. Finally, future expectations and prospects are outlined.

The utilization of gimbal systems in unmanned aerial vehicles

Özge Villi — 2024-06-14

UAVs can be defined as a type of aircraft that carries payloads such as cameras, lasers, and radars, and is controlled by an onboard flight control system. UAVs are used in various application areas such as mapping, search and rescue, cargo transportation, reconnaissance, and surveillance. Considering the application areas of UAVs, it is seen that they perform many tasks involving functions such as live video recording, video transmission, object tracking, and surveillance. To fulfill the specified tasks, it requires the use of various image and video processing algorithms and video stabilization and noise reduction operations. Many control mechanisms are used in UAVs to meet these requirements. Thus, precise images can be taken and measurements can be made by minimizing distorting effects. In this article, information is first given about UAVs and their basic components. Subsequently, the importance of image stabilization techniques in camera systems is emphasized. In this context, technologies related to camera gimbal stabilization techniques used in UAVs are presented.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based cadastral mapping accuracy analysis: a case study of Sarayköy, Konya

Bilal Atak — 2024-06-14

Cadastre is the process of determining and registration the geometric and legal status of real estates. The determination of the geometric status of real estates has been carried out using various methods throughout history. These methods, mostly based on local measurements, are prone to errors such as measurement, boundary, plotting, and calculation errors. These errors negatively affect project management in all engineering projects that are based on ownership today. Different solutions are being developed in cadastral applications to eliminate these negativities. Article 22/a of the Cadastral Law is one of the applications made to correct these errors. Until 2018, the delimitation of ownership was carried out with local measurements. With the update of the Large-Scale Map and Map Information Production Regulation, it can now be done with photogrammetric methods. However, this regulation leaves the details of photogrammetric products such as the number and distribution of ground control points, image processing intensity, image matching parameters, and optimization parameters to users and commercial software. This study analyzes the effect of differences in user determination, rotation parameters, image processing intensity, and optimization parameters on accuracy performance.

Monitoring coastal erosion and sediment accumulation in the Kızılırmak Delta using UAVs and photogrammetry

Erdem Emin Maraş — 2024-06-14

Areas around the coast and delta offer significant resources and business prospects, but they are also susceptible to human activity and natural calamities. In order to tackle these concerns, it is crucial to consistently observe and analyze coastal and delta regions to comprehend the ongoing alterations and enforce essential measures to safeguard the ecosystem and the communities reliant on it. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) possess the capacity to efficiently and inexpensively cover vast areas. UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, have gained significant popularity in recent years for the purpose of monitoring and investigating coastal and delta regions. The Kızılırmak Delta in Türkiye has been adversely affected by human activity, including the construction of dams and the extraction of sand, resulting in a reduction in the delta's dimensions and biodiversity. This study employs photogrammetric techniques and UAVs to observe and analyze the alterations occurring in the Kızılırmak Delta in Türkiye. Consequently, the shorelines generated using photogrammetric techniques in the region where the spurs were built are being compared to the shorelines obtained by terrestrial approaches. Research indicates that the construction of spurs effectively halted coastal erosion in specific regions. However, in other locations, coastal regression persisted, and sediment buildup led to movement of the coastline towards the sea in certain sections. This methodology can be employed to formulate efficient strategies for safeguarding and revitalizing the Kızılırmak Delta and analogous regions.

UAV-based thermal monitoring of solar panels for different topographic conditions

Semih Sami Akay — 2024-06-14

The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used to monitor photovoltaic (PV) systems, specifically focusing on their integration with thermal imaging technology. The process involves equipping UAVs with integrated thermal cameras to capture aerial photographs, which are then used to generate thermal orthomosaic. These thermal data play a crucial role in efficiency calculations for solar panels in solar farms. The integration of UAVs with thermal imaging technology offers several advantages. It provides a rapid and cost-effective solution for monitoring solar farms where human resources may be limited. The use of thermal orthomosaic instead of multiple thermal aerial photographs streamlines the data collection process, allowing for efficient temperature and efficiency calculations. The temperatures and efficiencies of solar panels in different geographic directions in solar farms were rapidly examined using UAV. It has been calculated that temperatures vary more significantly based on direction than efficiencies. Although solar panels have regional temperature differences of approximately 1 to 8°C, panel efficiency was within 1%. Therefore, there might be directional temperature differences in solar farm, panel efficiencies were similar during winter months.