Safety Assessment for Light Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

The aim of this paper is the presentation of a novel methodology for risk assessment applied to different RPAS with a MTOM lower than 25 kg, also including lighter-than-air configurations. This methodology concerns with ground impacts and does not cover the aspects of mid-air collisions. The results of this analysis provide a comprehensive insight for mission feasibility and operational implications in a set of realistic application cases. Practical solutions are proposed for risk mitigation of RPAS operations enforcing a concept of general validity, also compliant with forthcoming common EU regulations, applicable at continental level

Mission Planning for the Estimation of the Field Coverage of Unmanned Aerial Systems in Monitoring Mission in Precision Farming

In the recent years, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have been largely employed in civil applications, such as aerial photography and topographic mapping, environmental monitoring, search and rescue, prevent of fires and disasters, environmental research and general photography and videos. Nevertheless, according to (AUVSI, 2013), agriculture is the main application where UAS will be employed in the near future. Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are flexible, easy to use and relative low-cost; thus, they can be employed in monitoring activities in precision farming, ensuring a prompt reaction to plant disease, lack of plants nutrients and environmental changes that are the main focus for farm efficiency and productivity. Recent development in high-resolution remote sensing and image processing technology has yield to small- size sensors compatible with small UAV payload weight. Each kind of sensor needs a certain flight pattern over the fields. However, a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) used for specialized operations or experimental activities has to be compliant with National Civil Aviation Authority regulations. On 2015, the Italian Aviation Authority (ENAC) published the second edition of the regulatory issue for this kind of aircrafts. The aim of this paper is the management analysis of RPAS for their use in survey missions for precision faming, taking into account the Italian regulatory prescription and two different kind of commercial sensors. UAVs are considered similarly to any other farm machine, describing the operative workflow and analysing the elementary time procedures associated to the different ways of planning a flight mission of the UAS on the field to be monitored. Actual rates of works, Effective Field Capacity (EFC) and Field Efficiency (FE), field coverage and survey cost are finally provided. The analysis includes also in-field pre-flight calibration procedures

A Tracked Mobile Robotic Lab for Monitoring the Plants Volume and Health

9noPrecision agriculture has been increasingly recognized for its potential ability to improve agricultural productivity, reduce production cost, and minimize damage to the environment. In this work, the current stage of our research in developing a mobile platform equipped with different sensors for orchard monitoring and sensing is presented. In particular, the mobile platform is conceived to monitor and assess both the geometric and volumetric conditions as well as the health state of the canopy. To do so, different sensors have been integrated and efficient data-processing algorithms implemented for a reliable crop monitoring. Experimental tests have been performed allowing to obtain both a precise volume reconstruction of several plants and an NDVI mapping suitable for vegetation state evaluations.openopenopenBietresato, M; Carabin, G; D’Auria, D; Gallo, R; Gasparetto, A.; Ristorto, G; Mazzetto, F; Vidoni, R; Scalera, L.Bietresato, M; Carabin, G; D’Auria, D; Gallo, R; Gasparetto, Alessandro; Ristorto, G; Mazzetto, F; Vidoni, R; Scalera, Lorenz

Operational Issues and Assessment of Risk for Light UAVs

ENAC, the Italian Civil Aviation Authority, has published the regulation for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) with a Maximum Take-Off Mass (MTOM) of less than 150 kg. The aim of this paper is the application of Italian regulatory prescriptions for risk assessment to a family of RPAS. The results of this analysis, performed in collaboration with ENAC, are compared with other available methods, providing a comprehensive insight for mission feasibility and operational implications in a set of realistic application cases. Practical solutions are proposed for risk mitigation of RPAS specialized operations

Tuning of a Terrain Following Remotely Piloted Aircraft System for Crop Monitoring in Precision Agriculture

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) are very promising in environmental monitoring and they has a very high technological level to apply them in reconnaissance mission with an high level of automation in order to reduce the workload of the operators. In the next 10 years, over 75% of existing RPAS will be used for crop monitoring in precision farming, where prompt management reactions to plant disease, lack of plants nutrients and environmental changes are the focal point to farm efficiency and productivity. In order to optimize the RPAS monitoring activities in terms of time (process automation) and in term of costs (economic sustainability), planning the reconnaissance operations is crucial: every single procedure to accomplish the survey mission must be examined and evaluated. Furthermore, we have to consider the Italian Regulation on RPAS that introduces restrictions on RPAS operations. Different kind of sensors can be used for crop monitoring and each sensor has a specific mission profile. Active sensors require a very low flight (within 2 meters above the ground) and a commercial RPAS cannot achieve this performance. Passive sensors require a very high overlap (over 70%) of the images. In this work, we show the calibration test performed to achieve the very low level flight, the validation of the performances, the repeatability of the flight path and the validation of sensors measurements. In this analysis, we consider a commercial active sensor

Monitoring Performances and Cost Estimation of Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems in Precision Farming

Unmanned Aerial Systems are very promising in monitoring applications. Their flexibility, ease of operation and relative low-cost construction make them the best candidates for monitoring activity in precision farming, where prompt management reactions to plant disease, lack of plants nutrients and environmental changes are the focal point to farm efficiency and productivity. In this paper, we show the results of an analysis of monitoring performances and cost estimation of multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems applied to crop monitoring tasks in paddy fields. The analysis takes into account the Italian regulatory prescriptions and the investigation of two different kind of commercial sensors

Monitoring Performances and Cost Estimation of Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems in Precision Farming

Unmanned Aerial Systems are very promising in monitoring applications. Their flexibility, ease of operation and relative low-cost construction make them the best candidates for monitoring activity in precision farming, where prompt management reactions to plant disease, lack of plants nutrients and environmental changes are the focal point to farm efficiency and productivity. In this paper, we show the results of an analysis of monitoring performances and cost estimation of multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems applied to crop monitoring tasks in paddy fields. The analysis takes into account the Italian regulatory prescriptions and the investigation of two different kind of commercial sensors