(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-05-15)
McNulty, Will
In this project, a UAV aerial surveying platform is built, integrated, and tested
using inexpensive and readily available sensors. The goal is to evaluate its
performance and accuracy in lidar-based mapping of terrain elevation, and to
assess its potential for replacing commercial off-the-shelf lidar surveying
platforms that are very expensive to purchase and operate. A fully integrated
field test is performed on the experimental UAV, and the results of this test show
that a standard GPS receiver does not provide adequate position accuracy to
achieve most aerial surveying tasks. Next, a simulation of Real-Time Kinematic
(RTK) GPS position accuracy is applied to the experimental data as a substitute
for the standard GPS data, and this simulation shows that an upgrade to RTK
GPS could provide sufficient accuracy for many surveying missions. Despite the
potential improvement in accuracy using RTK GPS, there are some fundamental
limitations of the low-cost experimental platform, especially with regards to the
resolution and level of detail it is able to capture during a survey. With this in
mind, the low-cost experimental platform has the potential to fill a niche for
surveying missions that don’t quite require the full fidelity of an expensive
commercial lidarsystem, but could benefit from the significant reduction in cost
and complexity. Finally, some general practical aspects for the experimental
UAV are discussed, including regulatory issues and other considerations for field
work.