For this assignment, you will act as a consultant for a client that seeks a solution for a specific application with an sUAS sensor platform.
The client, Terra Data Solution, already operates a larger fleet of sUAS that includes mostly the following:
DJI M200 (Links to an external site.)
Intel Falcon 8+ (Links to an external site.)
senseFly ebee (Links to an external site.)
Terra Data Solution wants to increase and customize their portfolio with additional applications. Therefore, different and additional sensors are needed. You will help them to do so with your extensive expertise and tremendous background as an sUAS sensor and applications consultant.
Choose one of the following applications and recommend a sensor for the client:
Search and Rescue (SAR) for persons in mountainous terrain during day and night
Allocation of vegetative indices for crop analysis
Soil analysis for irrigation and fertilization planning
Digital Surface Model Generation for a copper mine
Resources
For your research and consulting, you will use mostly Open Source Intelligence. Below are some examples of sensor manufacturers, but you may also look for further options worldwide.
UAS Thermal Imaging Solutions/FLIR (Links to an external site.)
MicaSense (Links to an external site.)
RiCopter with VUX-SYS/RIEGL (Links to an external site.)
Drone/UAV/Velodyne Lidar (Links to an external site.)
Precision AG Sensors/Sentera (Links to an external site.)
Real-World Research Opportunity: To gather better details, you may also contact the manufacturer via email or phone. In this case, state your task for this course and kindly ask for specific information.
Guidelines
In your report for Terra Data Solution, cover at least the following aspects and parameters:
Sensor operating range to area of interest
Availability in the United States? (aspects of shipping and arms control regulation)
Sensor data treatment: live-data transmission to the ground station, computing and processing onboard, or saving in an on-board drive for later utilization
Compatibility with one of the three platforms of Terra Data Solution
Price
Weight
Two possible sensor options (with different manufacturers)
Finally, you should include your preferred recommendation as a consulting decision.
