UNMANNED AERAL VEHCLES

BeneficalUsageFieldsofAerialVehicles
ElifzlemYlmaz
010120521
BerilVarol
010130545
FacultyofCivilEngineering
CangndzCanpolat
110120268
FacultyofAeronauticsandAstronautics

English201CRN:10136
EsbienvanHeerdennsal

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December5,2014

Beneficial Usage Fields of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Thesis: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles can be used in scientific research, security systems
and civilian purpose.
I. Scientific research
A. Remote sensing
1. Electromagnetic radiation
2. Sensor components
3. Satellites
a. NASA science requirement
b. Meteorological Satellites Surveillance
4. Archaeology
a. Radar image
- Maya civilization
b. Google Earth
2. Map production via model aircraft
- Photogrammetry
3. Natural disasters
a. NOAA
b. National Hurricane Center
c. Forestry fire alert and surveillance UAV
II. In security systems
A. Military
1. Air force
a. Characteristics of aircraft types
b. U.S. Air force UAVs
2. Marine
a. Naval unmanned aerial systems

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b. U.S. Navy UAVs
3. Army
a. Battlefield UAV
b. U.S. Army UAVs
4. Comparison
- UAV versus manned aircraft
B. Public safety
1. Search and rescue
2. Conservation
III. In public purposes
A. Detection systems
1. Resource detection
2. People and vehicle detection
3. Search and rescue
B. Filmography
1. Movie making
2. Sports photography
a. Olympics

b. Golf

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Flyinghasalwaysbeenanambitionforpeople.Thecuriosityforseeingthe

worldinabirdseyeview,ledpeopletodiscoverthesecretsofflying.Hence,they
wereinspiredbytheanatomyofthebirds.Thefirstsuccessfulflightwasdoneby
WrightBrotherswithagliderin1903.Untilthemiddleof20thcentury,flying
vehiclesweredependedonhumanoperatorsandinthefollowingyears,the
technologicaldeveloplentsandincreasingneedsoftheaerialoperations,scientistsand
engineersresultedintheinventionoftheUnmannedAerialVehicles(UAV).The
UAVsaremachineswhichdonotrequireapilotandcontrolledremotelybyan
operatororacomputerprogram.ThefuctionsofUAVshaveprovedtheirimportance
formanydifferentareas.Theycanbeattachedwithdifferentdevicesandsystems
suchasinfraredcameras,weapons.Also,theycancarrypayloads,chemical
substancesandsoon.TheUAVsaresmallvehiclessincethereisnohumaninit,so
theexpensesoftheproductionandoperationsofUAVsaresignificantlylowerthan
theotherkindsofairvehicles.Becauseoftheseadventages,UAVshavegained
interestofglobalaerialindustry.Forexample,in2002,anUAVcalledCASEPart
101wasdraftedforciviloperations.(CASA,2013)Foralltheiradventages,the
UAVshavemanyusegeareas.TheUAVscanbeusedinscientificresearch,security
systemsandforcivillianpurposes.

Thefirstusageareaofunmannedaerialvehiclessuchasballoons,airship,

modelhelicopterandfixedwingaircraftisinscientificresearch.Therefore,
discoveriesaremadeviatheminhighriskstatesandinaccessibleregionswithout
endangeringahumanlifeforthedevelopmentofthecivilization.Tostartwith,

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remotesensingmeansthatfeaturesoftheeartharedeterminedusingaircraftswithout
physicalscientificconnection.Electromagneticradiationisalsosignificantforremote
sensingbecauseitformsthebasisoftheremotesensing.Besides,increasing
temperaturehigherthan273Ccauseselectromagneticenergytoradiate(Konencny,
2003,p.15).Further,therearetwopartsinremotesensingwhicharepassivesystems
andactivesystems.Passivesystemssuchascamerasregistermovementofthe
radiationintheworldbuttheirownenergyaresentoutandregisteredtherebounded
energyfromthesurfaceoftheearthinthesecondsystemslikethisradarimaging
systems(Weng,2010,p.2).Furthermore,bymeansofaerialvehiclewithautomatic
pilot,manyscientistsresearchinplacesdifficulttoreachsuchasactivevolcanoes
andspace.Inaddition,theresultingdataisturnedthephotographybyusingsensor
components.Konencnyexplainsthattheyconsistoftwosections:opticalimagining
thathasmanydisadvantageslikeusingcameraisunpractical.Digitalimagingisused
byirradiatedelementsuchasphotodiodesoitisuseful(2003,pp.2324,35).These
sensorplatforms,whicharetheaircraft,collecttheinformationofearth;therefore,the
abstractdataisturnedtheconcretedatasuchasphotographsbythem.Besides,ifan
unmannedaerialvehicleisflownforresearch,theweatherhastobeclear.Inaddition
tothese,alotofaircraftscanbecontrolledbysatellitessotheybothworkin
cooperationandtheycanalsoworkalone.Konecnymeansthatsatellitestransport
remotesensingmachinesinordertopictureaboutweather.Toillustrate,thefirst
satelliteissentSputnikin1957inUSSRbeforeTiros1whichisthefirstsatellitein
USwasusedforremotesensing(2003,p.65).Additionally,astudyplanabout
satellitesin6categoriessuchastheaccomplishedcapacitiesofEOSTerraandAqua
havebeenbeingdevelopedbyNASAsince1998(Qu,Gao,Kafatas,Murphy&

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Salomason,2006,p.192).Moreover,manycountrieshavetheirownsatellitesystems.
Forinstance,Chinahasthefirstproductiongeostationarymeteorologicalsatellite
systemsthatconsistoffivesatellitessuchasFY2AandFY2B(Qu,Gao,Kafatas,
Murphy&Salomason,2006,p.406).Also,theworkingprincipleofasatelliteis
similartounmannedaerialvehiclesprinciple.Furthermore,satellitesandaircraft
connecttoeachother.Forexample,theysendinformationthatisaccumulatedto
satellites.Then,satellitesdispatchinformationtoresearchcenter.Consequently,alot
ofdataisreachedinshortatimesothemoretheyreceivefurtherinformation;the
morescientificstudiesaredone.

Moreover,surveillanceisexpressedthatorganismsorinanimateobjectsare

observedbyusingspecificmethodsinordertoachieveknowledgeaboutthem.This
surveillanceisfirststepsofscientificresearch.Firstofall,archeologyisadiscipline
thatincludesexcavations,surveyingandtheircongregationtolearnmoreabout
history.Infact,thedisciplinecandoalotofresearchbyusingunmannedaerial
vehicles.Todemonstrate,WisemanandElBazpointoutthatradarimagesare
utilizedfornavigationinrecognizedplace,forsurveillanceoftheculturalheritage,
forpaleosceneryrestorationandecosysteminvestigationandforarcheologicalsearch
inarealsurveytodetermineculturalandinherentpropertiesandsites(2007,p.11).
Additionally,in1972radarimageswithopticalaerialphotographywereutilizedin
ordertoinvestigatethewetlandsanddiscoverahugenetworkoffarmingand
drainagecanals,proofofdetailedwetlandcultivationbyMayacivilizationbyAdams
andtheirarchaeologiststeam(Wiseman&ElBaz,2007,p.18).Moreover,Google
Earth,whichisthemostwellknownonlinesystemsandcontainssatelliteimagery
andaerialphotographsthatcanbeusedforinarchaeology(Parcak,2009,p.45).For

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thisreason,aerialphotographsandsatelliteimageriescontributetothearchaeological
researchsoscientistscanfindthehistoricalartifactswithouttravelexpense.Also,
geomaticsengineersproducemaps,whichareasignificantpartofpeopleslives,with
modelaircraft.Actually,thiskindofstudyhasbeendoneinTurkey.Forexample,
UAVwithnonmetriccamerasisusedtoimagesproductionofusabilitysoasto
producemapsinTurkey(Karaks,2012,p.13).Furthermore,oneofthemethodsof
mappingproductionisphotogrammetry.UAVphotogrammetry,automaticorsemi
automatic,isdefinedasaphotogrammetricmensurationstageincludingvideo,
thermalorinfraredcamera(Eisenbei ,2009,p.2).Accordingly,obtaineddata
suchasphotosarecombinedtoproducemaps.Subsequently,whileamapisbeing
createdbycartographer,theydonotlosetheirtimeandnotneedtoworkintheareaof
research.Besides,thisbranchofscienceisdevelopingwithtechnology.Inaddition,a
lotofcountrieshaveresearchcenteraboutnaturaldisasters.Furthermore,they
providedailyinformationaboutoceanicandatmospherictothepublic.Forinstance,
NationalOceanicandAtmosphericAdministration(NOAA)worksonnatural
phenomenasuchasweatherconditionswithunmannedaerialvehicles.Thepurposeof
NOAAistoobserveweather,oceansandcoast,toforecastchangeinclimate,toshare
knowledgeaboutthem,toprotectandtoconductthenaturalresourcessuchascoastal
andmarineecosystems(AbouttheNOAA,n.d.,para4).Likewise,peopleare
defendedfromtropicalweatherthreatsbyNationalHurricaneCenter.Briefly,they
researchaboutthingthatcanaffecthumansandnature(AbouttheNHC,2014,para
1).Also,theUAVisusedforprotectingthenature.Forexample,NASAandUS
ForestServicestartedcontemplatingtherequestofUAVtoprovidefiremitigation
working(Wing,Burnett&Sessions,2014,p.28).Asaresult,therearemany

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contributionsofUAVtoscientificresearchwithalimitedbudgetandasmallnumber
ofpeople.

Secondly, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are used in the air forces of the

military. The specifications of the aircrafts change according to their mission. To

begin with, long-endurance aircrafts are designed and being used for long-range
surveillance. They are devised to carry complicated and generally heavy payloads but
these aircrafts also have some disadventages as well. Austin stated that these kind of
aircrafts can be convenient but they need large load of fuel so that they can fly over
long distances and remain on terminal for a significant time. As the payload gets
heavier, the aircrafts mass will incerase with the fuel, the engines and the aircraft
itself will be heavier than the payload. Also, the aircraft will need bigger wings to
support the total mass. To accomplish an optimum result, the aerodynamic drag must
be kept as low as possible. In addition to that, latest technology and a reliable powerplant should be used to minimise the negative effects (2010, pp. 45-47).
The second type of the aircraft is tactical aircraft. These aircrafts are part of systems
particularly organizing for the duties of exploration, artillery fire control, mine
detection and destruction and so on. The last type is battlefield aircraft. They have the
closest range, flies in low altitudes and is used for military, paramilitary and civillian
purposes. They are used over enemy territory. For this reason, Austin further states,
battlefield aircraft have to remain indestructible to the enemy. These aircrafts flies in
turbulant air but still it has to be stable. As they are too heavy to be hand-launched,
they required to be entirely mobile (2010, p. 59). Besause of being highly useful and
safe, the UAVs are used around the world. The USA is one of the countries that have
an interest in UAVs. For example, Holder asserts, United States Air Force (USAF) has
used UAVs for several reconnaissance purposes such as the Kosova campaign. Also,

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as the production and usage of fewer-priced, unmanned vehicles is increasing, USAF
joined forces with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to take
advantage of future developments (2001, p. 20). Secondly, UAVs are taking a
fundemental role in marines. The increasing interest in naval UAVs establishing the
importance of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) at sea. The UAVs
can be managed cheaply and comfortably while providing multiple facilities. Because
of its favorable sides, the worldss navies have begun to use unmanned options. For
instance, in 2013, The Royal Navy stated that they used a pilotless plane called as
ScanEagle for collecting data and exploring the operation areas at day and night. It
surely started to take a fundemental role in Royal Navys ISR capability (Royal Navy,
2013, para. 1, 3). It can be seen that the usage of UAVs in navies contribute some
good opportunities for the marine forces. U.S. is one of the countries that takes
adventages from UAVs, also in navies. The U.S. Navy used navy UAVs in lots of
operations. To illustrate, in Operation Desert Storm, an UAV launched from ship
decks and did a remarkable job in intelligence collecting (Holder, 2001, p.26) . A
further field of usage of UAVs is in the army. The system consists of a ground
control station and the vehicles carry a range of close observation payloads. The
vehicles observe the area and send data to ground control station. The U.S. Army uses
long endurance UAV systems since UAV usage in army is more adjustable than air or
sea-launched versions because the logistics is rather more easy. (Holder, 2001, p. 32)
All in all, it can safely be said that, UAVs importance in military can not be ignored.
As they provide safety, comfort, and lots of other beneficial facilities, they are and
they will be continue to be used in the countries military. Even if the technology is
highly advanged, the UAVs can not overcome the human brain because the interaction
between humans is too comlex for a computer based system. There was, and there

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always will be a human factor in all missions. Nevertheless, UAVs are a great
advantage when the airspace is too risky for a person, when there are political risks,
when the area has some life threatening substances or when the task is too hard for
human capabilities. (Nolan, 1997, p.40) Therefore, the UAVs take an important role
in the military and they will take place in the future as well.
Apart from the usage fields of UAVs in the military, they are also very
functional in search and rescue operations and in conservation. To start with, the
UAVs are taking a considerable role in search and rescue (SAR) operations. There
may be a situation where timing is crucial and any delay could cause tragic
aftereffects. As Waharte and Trigoni stated, because of being rapid, fast and more
capable of doing hard commands than a human, the SAR operations can be supported
by UAVs. The UAVs help those operations by collecting evidence from the territory
and transmit the data back to the rescue team or a remote ground station. UAVs have
been taking a fundemental role in SAR operations since they can be easily prepared,
controlled and they can reach the destination very fast. For example, after the
Hurricane Katrina in 2006, two UAVs helped the rescue team by surveying the ruined
area and searhing for the trapped survivors (2010, p.1). Furthermore, the UAV system
basically works by locating the targets position based on the geodetic coordinate
system, going to the given coordinates, collecting data from there, and returning the
information (Hammerseth, 2013, p.77, 81). With the properties of being highly useful
and time saving in dangerous places while not risking any life, actually helping to
save more lives, it is obvious that UAVs are certainly beneficial in the search and
rescue operations. Furthermore, also in concervation efforts, UAVs can be a vital
component, especially for observing protected areas, inaccessible regions and such.
The UAVs used in conservation operations are rather simple and they can be cheaper

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than other military UAVs. They are very light so they can be easily hand-launched.
The system can have a high resolution camera on it, thus detailed photographs can be
taken. Even if the area is unreachable, these drones can show the explorer a birds eye
view of the field. Koh stated in an interwiew that, with UAVs, that it is possible to
get detailed information, an overview of the landscape without going there on foot
where it can be dangerous for people. By using the drones camera, one can
comfortably monitor the marine reserves, rain forests, the wild life and the species
that are hard to find (Gammon, 2014, para. 2, 7-8). Moreover, drones are also used to
detect wildlife crimes fastly so that they can help preventing them. Additionaly, with
UAVs, scientists can make near real-time land cover maps by putting the photos
together while using cartographic methods, and they can produce 3D models, hence
they will know the real distances, area and properties of the landspace although they
are not there physically. For all these reasons, unmanned aerial systems have been
performing an important role in protecting the world both in military and public. With
the increasing technological developments, there is no doubt that they will be an
essential element of security systems.
The last usage are of drones is public purposes because they are portable and
they decrease the cost of any application. First of all, searching and detection
applications are commonly benefit from UAVs. One of these detection applications is
substructure and resource detection. When provided with high technology, drones are
able to detect the objects and structures beneath the surface of the ground. Dick
Zhang, chief excutive of Identified Technologies, claims that drones are being used
for infrastructure detections and also gas leaking pipe lines detections (quoted in
Khan, 2014, para. 8). This technology can be used for the detection of toxic gasses in
order to protect human healthand support the future developments of the

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infrastructures. Also, civil engineers and structure companies can use these drones in
order to build safe and reliable constructions. In addition, UAVs can be used for
detection of vehicles and people. Previous researches has shown that succesful
exploration ratio drones is 80% on vehicles and 70% on drivers (Gaszczak & Breckon
& Han, 2011). Such high succes rates indicate that the drone are the perfect machines
for governments to inspect and properly control the vehicle traffic. Furthermore,
vehicle and human detection may allow drivers to use proper roadwaysby checking
traffic, and even comunicate with other drivers and cooparate for the balance of the
traffic. The last detection appications which benefit from drones are the search and
rescue operations. In the critical conditions, where saving a human life is a matter of
time, drones are one of the most required equipments for search and rescue
operations. For example, UAVs are making the useful search and rescue vehichles for
their agility and flight ability in natural disasters. In 2006, in the search and rescue
operations after Hurricane Katrina, the harm of the field and the victims were
investigatedusingtwodrones(Waharte&Trigoni,2010).Usingdronesinthese
operationsallowsrescueteamstosearchtheareasthatcannotbereachedbyfootor
withanygroundvehicles.Besidesthat,monitoringthedamagedarefromairprovides
abetterangleofviewandhighersuccespossibilityofsavinghumanlife.Asaresult,
UAVsarefairlyusefulfordetectingbothhumanandobjects,oncetheyareextended
withhightechnologicaldevicesandsoftwares.Anditsclearthattheywillbeusedin
thefuturemorecommonlyasgovernmentsandcompaniesareconvincedthatdrones
arethedevicesofthenextgenerations.
Otherthanthedetectionapplications,filmographyisanothersectorwhich
benefitsfromtheUAVs.Tobeginwith,UAVscanbeusedinmediasectorinorderto

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capturebetterimages.Shootingthescenesfromafreecameraandairangleincreases
thequalityandtheactionofthescene.Forexample,dronesallowmovieproductorsto
shootsceneswithhigherqualityandefficiency.Also,usingthedronesduringthe
productiondecreasestherequiredjobforshotingandbringsaconveniencetothe
moviemaking.Insteadofusinghighcosthelicoptersandmorepersonnels,production
companiespreferusingdronestoreducetheexpensesofthemovies(LosAngeles
Herald,4June2014,SevenMovieMakersSeekPermissiontouseDronesfor
Shooting,para.8).Thatistosay,moviesthatareshotwithdronesaremore
satisfyingforbothmoviemakersandviewersbecauseoftheimprovedqualityand
decreasedexpenses.Besidesthat,usingdronesforshootingcandecreaseaccidents
andinjuriesovertheheavyfilmmakingcamerasandequipment.Furthermore,sports
photographyisanothermediasectorthatcanultilizefromdrones.Placingdrones
aroundthesportsareaforhavingasightontheentireareaprovidestheperfectwiev
onthepitchandtheabilitytocaptureeverypossibleimportantmomentsduringthe
game.Recently,airsurveillancedeviceswereusedin2014winterolympicsinSochi
fortheirflexibilityandimageswereshoteffectively(Feltman,2014,para.13).The
qualityoftheactionpicturesisthekeyofthesportsphotographyanddronesarethe
bestdeviceswhichcankeepupwiththetempo.Especially,whenthegameisplayed
inhugeareaslikegolfcourtsormarathonraces,monitoringthewholecompetitionis
almostimpossiblewithgroundequipments.Eventhoughtheshootingcanbedone
usingthegroundcameras,thecostoftheproccesisnotworththisapplication.Insuch
cases,dronesarethemostrequiredequipmentstosuccesfullyshootthegamefrom
everypossibleanglewithafairprice.Moorestatesthat,usingdronesforimageand
videoshootingduringthegolfgamesishighlyusefulandthecostisonlyaround

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$1500$1800perhour(UnitedStatesGolfAssociation,2014).Therefore,dronesare
themostefficientandeconomicaldevicesforenormoussportsareas.Toconclude,the
advantagesofUAVsareundeniableformediasectorduetotheirbenefitsandlow
prices.Usingdronesinthemediasectorisspreadingamongtheproductionsandits
clearthatthedronesaregoingtodominatetheshootingprocessovertheexpensive
andbulkygroundequipment.
In conclusion, a lot of people, from individuals to goverments, benefit from
UAVs in science, military and civil applications. Because of the advantages of UAVs,
they are gaining interest day by day. The importance of UAVs comes from their role
in aviational operations. To highlight the value of aviation, Mustafa Kemal Atatrk,
the founder and the first president of Republic of Turkey, said: The future is in the
sky. Goverments and scientists should spend more time and money in order to
improve the UAVs, as they are the machines of the modern world. Once they are
funded and developed, they surely will provide the requirements of the future world at
its finest.

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