Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Operations Workshop: Environmental Science Applications

September 24-25, 2015, Oregon State University, Peavy Hall

The UAS Operations Workshop for Environmental Science Applications offers concise and practical information on UAS regulations, platforms, sensors, and software. Day 1 of the workshop presents an overview of potential UAS environmental science applications, regulatory considerations in the US, platforms, sensors, and operational planning. Day 2 of the course will involve technical detail on how to collect and process remotely sensed imagery from a UAS. This will include participants working with imagery from a UAS flight conducted on Day 1 so that participants gain practical experience with UAS remote sensing applications in an applied exercise. The Day 2 activities involve registration, mosacing, and analysis in multi-spectral bands of imagery captured by a UAS. This workshop is intended as a practical guide for those that want to learn how to integrate UAS capabilities into their research needs.

Day 1 (September 24)

9:00 to 9:45 UAS applications and the regulatory flight environment in the US.
9:45 to 10:45 An overview of UAS platforms.
10:45 to 11:00 Coffee break and UAS equipment display.
11:00 to 11:45 UAS operations I: Ground control, georeferencing and calibration.
11:45 to 12:30 UAS Sensors I: Sensor selection considerations – Examining tradeoffs and limitation.
12:30 to 1:30 Lunch
1:30 to 2:00 UAS Operations II: Safety and pre-flight checks.
2:00 to 2:30 UAS operations III: Flight planning with Mission Planner.
2:45 to 6:00 UAS Operations IV: UAS Flight Operation – data collection for practicum

DAY 2 (September 25)

9:00 to 10:15 UAS image processing I: Considerations and software.
10:15 to 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 to 11:15 UAS sensors II: LiDAR, Hyper-spectral, multi-spectral, thermal and electro-optical.
11:15 to 12:30 UAS image processing II: Practicum in orthomosaic and elevation model creation in Photoscan.
12:30 to 1:30 Lunch
1:30 to 2:45 UAS image processing II: Practicum in orthomosaic and elevation model creation in Photoscan.
2:30 to 2:45 UAS Applications: Overview of applications examined by AIS lab
2:45 to 3:00 Coffee break
3:00 to 5:00 UAS image processing III: Quantitative analysis with UAS multispectral imagery.
The workshop is taught by Michael Wing and Jon Burnett. Dr. Wing is an associate professor at Oregon State University and the director of the Aerial Information System (AIS) Lab (http://ais.forestry.oregonstate.edu/). Jon Burnett is a PhD student and associate director of the AIS Lab. The AIS Lab is one of the leading UAS research flight institutions in the US with regards to remote sensing applications for environmental science.
Cost: $600. Please make checks available to “Oregon State University.” Send checks and full contact information for participants including email to:
Michael Wing
Peavy Hall 280, OSU
Corvallis, OR 97331

Workshop questions can be directed to Michael Wing: Michael.Wing@OregonState.edu, 541.737.4009.