Photo: iStock.com/NiseriN via the Federal Aviation Administration
In cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is establishing restrictions on drone flights up to 400 feet within the lateral boundaries of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) facilities.
The temporary flight restrictions — specific to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) — apply to three NGA facilities in or near St. Louis:
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) West
NGA Next West
NGA Arnold
In June, the FAA responded to federal agency requests and restricted drone operations over penitentiaries and Coast Guard bases.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is using its existing authority under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations § 99.7 — “Special Security Instructions” — to address concerns about drone operations over national security-sensitive facilities.
The changes, which are highlighted by FAA NOTAM FDC 8/7350, are pending until they become effective on Aug. 30.
Only a few exceptions permit drone flights within these restrictions, and they must be coordinated with the individual facility and/or the FAA.
Operators who violate the flight restrictions may be subject to enforcement action, including potential civil penalties and criminal charges.
To ensure the public is aware of restricted locations, the FAA website also provides an interactive map, downloadable geospatial data and other important details. The restrictions also are depicted in the FAA’s B4UFLY mobile app. Broader information regarding flying drones in the National Airspace System, including frequently asked questions, is available on the FAA’s UAS website.
The FAA continues to consider additional requests by eligible federal security agencies for UAS-specific flight restrictions using the agency’s § 99.7 authority as they are received. Additional changes to these restrictions will be announced by the FAA as appropriate.
Using lasers in conjunction with GPS can collect richer data, faster, and streamline survey and mapping projects across many disciplines that draw on mapping and geospatial information systems.
To learn more about the exact processes involved in Integrating a professional measurement and mapping laser to your GIS toolbox, both saving time and enabling collection of additional attribute data attend GPS World’s free webinar on Thursday, Aug. 16: LaserGIS: Your Gateway to Collect More GIS Data in Less Time.
The webinar will be available for download 24 hours after broadcast time, for those unable to attend live.
The applicable fields for this enabling technology include surveying, construction, ecosystem management, watershed analysis, geological mapping, environmental impact assessments and more.
Photo: Laser Technology Inc.
A natural resources ecosystem manager said, “I map areas that are either impossible to occupy or simply can’t be disturbed, so using laser-based reflectorless measurement technology is ideal for wildlife habitat research. When performing soil surveys, I can easily calculate the grade of a slope by using the missing line routine. I even used the Laser Technology TruPulse once to track the progress of a wildfire. This technology is a must-have for our crews because it’s highly portable and produces reliable data.”
A land conservation specialist performing watershed analysis added, “Stream channel surveying tools have come a long way since I graduated college. I’m now able to mark a stream’s course, calculate the gradient and measure the width of the riparian zone, all with a simple point-and-shoot TruPulse laser. For wetland delineation projects, being able to shoot directly to the bank saves a huge amount of time and keeps me and my crew as dry as possible.”
A geologist performing mapping as part of his work routine said, “I need to accurately track geological structures in mines and outcrops, and would really struggle with collecting measurements if it wasn’t for my TruPulse 360. With the laser, I can get a measurement to any type of surface and don’t have to stand in dangerous areas, so I can be extremely productive and safe. When I have to verify the volume of our biomass stockpile, I just integrate my laser with MapSmart and get reliable calculations in minutes, right in the field.”
Finally, an archaeologist performing an environmental impact assessment stated, “Conserving archaeology sites is just as important as researching and analyzing them. Integrating the TruPulse with GPS allows me to make better planning decisions with all types of resource considerations without compromising data integrity or delicate areas. The TruPulse’s onboard solutions for height and 3D missing line make my job so much easier and far more productive than conventional measurement tools.”
A link to the live event will be sent to you two hours before the event. Your personalized event URL will be automatically generated by the ON24 system. To ensure receipt of the email, please whitelist this email address by adding it to your contacts: [email protected].
This presentation will begin on at 1 p.m. EDT / 10 a.m. PST on Thursday, August 16, 2018.
Audience members may arrive 15 minutes prior to live time. If you have any questions, please contact event producer Danielle Pest at [email protected].
UgCS, a provider of mission planning software for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and public safety and disaster response UAS expert Airborne Response have developed a comprehensive search capability for drones that will allow remote pilots to more effectively conduct search-and-rescue operations using the UgCS platform.
The software enhancements will provide users with customizable search patterns such as the “expanding square” and “creeping line” that can be easily deployed in emergency and non-emergency situations.
Based on the flight altitude input by the operator, the UgCS software will automatically calculate key variables such as the course heading and track spacing necessary to provide the prescribed coverage area for a search target.
Tom “Oaty” Oatmeyer is an air rescue expert with 28 years of experience piloting helicopters for both the U.S. Air Force and the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue department. As an aircraft commander, Oatmeyer is credited with saving more than 150 lives during emergency and disaster response operations.
Oatmeyer worked directly with the UgCS development team to bring the new features to fruition.
“As first responders, we are trained to develop an emergency search plan using time-tested and proven tactics,” said Oatmeyer, chief pilot, Airborne Response. “The new enhancements to the UgCS mission planning software will allow remote pilots at every skill level to quickly plan and implement a professional search mission with a UAS.”
Airborne Response and UgCS will be hosting a joint web conference on Thursday, Aug. 16, at 2 p.m. ET to officially unveil the new search features of the UgCS mission planning software. Register here.
Also, Airborne Response and UgCS have reached an agreement for Airborne Response to offer the UgCS mission planning software and associated training to public safety and emergency response professionals throughout the U.S.
“When lives are on the line, every second counts,” Oatmeyer said. “UgCS now represents another valuable link in the UAS technology chain to enhance the public safety mission.”
“The new UgCS search feature is designed to make searching for a target with a drone as simple and reliable as possible,” said Janis Kuze, sales director at SPH Engineering. “We look forward to continue working with the Airborne Response team to further enhance the software capabilities and implement additional search pattern features.”
Fairweather crew lower a launch into Puget Sound, Washington, for Hydrographic Systems Readiness Review testing. (Photo: NOAA)
U.S. researchers have completed the first high-resolution, comprehensive mapping of one of the fastest moving underwater tectonic faults in the world, located in southeastern Alaska.
The mapping information will help communities in coastal Alaska and Canada better understand and prepare for the risks from earthquakes and tsunamis that can occur when faults suddenly move.
Since 2015, scientists have been gathering data on the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system, a 746-mile long strike-slip fault line that extends from offshore of Vancouver Island, Canada, to the Fairweather Range of southeast Alaska.
Team members are from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and their partners.
The most recent survey came from NOAA ship Fairweather, with USGS scientists aboard from April through July, when it collected multi-beam bathymetric data in an area along the U.S. and Canadian international border in water depths ranging from 500 to more than 7,000 feet deep.
Researchers aboard NOAA Ship Fairweather collected multibeam bathymetric data in an area along the U.S. and Canadian international border in water depths ranging from 500 to more than 7,000 feet deep from April through July. (Image: USGS)
“Providing scientific information to help protect vulnerable communities is one of our most important missions,” said W. Russell Callender, assistant NOAA administrator for the National Ocean Service. “Working with USGS and our state and academic partners, allows us to speed the development of information that can help communities better anticipate and prepare for risks from tsunamis and earthquakes.
“This project has been a great collaboration on an important scientific issue with significant implications for public safety,” said David Applegate, USGS associate director for natural hazards. “We will apply what we learn from this mapping mission to hazard assessments for Alaska’s coastal communities. Partnering with NOAA reflects the importance of addressing earthquake and associated tsunami hazards to both our missions, and it enables the USGS to bring our geologic expertise to bear on offshore fault structures that have significant onshore implications.”
Fault line activity poses a hazard to the growing populations of Juneau, Sitka and other communities throughout southeastern Alaska, as well as more than a million annual tourists and the seafloor infrastructure critical for Alaska’s communications and offshore energy industries.
With a slip rate of more than 2 inches per year, this fault may be one of the fastest-moving strike-slip faults in the world. (For comparison, the San Andreas fault in central California slips about an inch to an inch-and-a-half each year.)
Movement between the tectonic plates at the fault line has generated six earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater within the last century. One of those earthquakes, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake near Lituya Bay, Alaska, in 1958 triggered a landslide that sent water 1,720 feet up an adjacent mountainside, one of the highest recorded run-ups of a tsunami — a rapidly rising turbulent surge of water often choked with debris.
A NOAA survey ship uses its multibeam echo sounder to conduct hydrographic surveys. (Image: NOAA)
A series of large-magnitude earthquakes and associated aftershocks in 2012 and 2013 spurred research cruises in 2015, in the first systematic effort to study the offshore Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system in U.S. territory in more than three decades.
A similar effort led by the Geological Survey of Canada has been underway along the portion of the fault located in Canadian territory.
The 2018 Fairweather survey built on five previous USGS-led marine geophysical and geological surveys between 2015 and 2017 in southeastern Alaska aboard a number of research vessels, as well as two cruises led by researchers from the Geological Survey of Canada, Sitka Sound Science Center and USGS.
During these surveys, researchers used an array of instruments to collect data on seafloor depth and texture, to profile sedimentary layers beneath the seafloor, and to derive sediment ages.
NOAA Ship Fairweather underway in Alaska. (Photo: NOAA)
NOAA nautical charts will be updated with the Queen Charlotte Fault data within a year once the data goes through a standard quality control process — although the fault area is too deep for any obstructions to pose a threat to marine traffic.
This research is part of a larger two-year effort between the NOAA Integrated Coastal and Ocean Mapping Program and USGS to map large portions of the Cascadia continental margin in federal waters offshore of Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington.
Under the grant, TCarta will enhance and automate multiple techniques for deriving seafloor depth measurements from optical satellite imagery.
The Project Trident research seeks to transform existing satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) techniques by using machine learning and computer vision technology to enable accurate depth retrieval in variable water conditions.
If successful, these enhanced bathymetric techniques will improve operations related to oil and gas exploration and production, coastal infrastructure engineering, environmental monitoring and geointelligence activities, the company said.
“Our goal with Project Trident is to expand the geographic scope of SDB in shallow coastal areas,” said Kyle Goodrich, TCarta president. “SDB technology currently derives water depths only in calm, clear waters, which limits its applicability.”
Beta testers sought
TCarta is seeking beta testers for participation in Project Trident research. If you are interested, contact Project Trident Principal Investigator Kyle Goodrich at [email protected] or complete the online Project Trident survey.
TCarta won the grant for Project Trident in partnership with jOmegak of San Carlos, California, and DigitalGlobe of Westminster, Colorado, in Phase 1 of the NSF Small Business Innovation Research program.
The one-year research project will be carried out at the TCarta facility in Denver.
In 2014, TCarta successfully commercialized a proprietary technique for digitally extracting water depth measurements down to 20 meters from high-resolution DigitalGlobe WorldView satellite imagery.
The SDB products became popular with organizations operating in shallow coastal waters because the technology is more cost-effective and timely than traditional airborne and ship-borne bathymetric methods — with no adverse effects on the environment, the company added.
“In the current SDB process, we use manual stereo photogrammetry methods to measure seafloor ground control points in digital satellite imagery, but this is extremely time consuming,” said Goodrich. “We are developing an automated photogrammetric process to extract a greater number of ground truth points from high-resolution WorldView imagery.”
Project Trident aims to integrate wave kinematics, a technique patented by jOmegak to calculate water depths in shallow waters by analyzing the patterns and speed of waves detected in satellite imagery. Wave kinematics has been applied successfully using Sentinel-2 and WorldView satellite imagery.
“Thanks to the NSF grant, we are taking a giant leap forward on TCarta satellite-derived bathymetry methodologies and aim to exponentially accelerate them with the latest in machine learning and computer vision technologies,” said Goodrich.
NDCOE’s mission is to save lives and reduce air hazards from drone incursions by empowering a shared safety vision with the the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) integration of drones into the commercial air traffic system.
Located in Las Vegas, with facilities donated by technology infrastructure company Switch, NDCOE will provide safety incursion research data, drone technology best practices and educational materials.
The new center will conduct public workshops that promote and protect the public’s safety and privacy in an open and ethical manner.
Over the last decade, UAS, more commonly referred to as drones, have experienced an unprecedented boom within aviation. Coinciding with the increase in popularity, incidents involving drones in tourist areas, as well as risks to larger manned aircraft are on the rise and present high-liability risks to property owners.
Safe and successful UAS operations rely on quality training, end user education and maximizing public safety processes. To protect and educate residents and visitors, the center seeks to protect against drone users who pose a public safety hazard due to inexperience or malicious drone operations. Such hazards include drones hitting people or that have the potential to cause an airline disaster, and drone operations that violate safety, privacy or drone laws near high-traffic public places, at airports, near military bases or near critical infrastructure.
NDCOE will also advance drone surveillance, detect and avoid (remote sensing), wildland firefighting, gas-leak detection, and time-sensitive medical delivery technologies for life-saving medical equipment and organs.
“In addition to fostering major advances in UAS technology with testing partners like the FAA, NASA and Switch, Nevada is also home to the most registered drone users in the nation in Las Vegas,” said Paul Anderson, executive director of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development. “This dynamic makes such a program as the Nevada Drone Center of Excellence for Public Safety a natural step as drones increasingly become a bigger part of our daily lives.”
In a recent state-wide Nevada Drone Industry survey by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and NIAS, the NDCOE received support to open the first center of its kind in the U.S. In the survey, almost 80% of respondents were concerned about a recreational drone hitting an airline and causing an airline disaster, and almost 90% were concerned about aerial drones illegally penetrating FAA airspace without authorization at outdoor events such as sports stadium, concert or at large events.
“We are taking an aggressive approach toward solving the complex UAS Industry challenge of mitigating drone incursions into the National Airspace System — one of the toughest FAA challenges today,” said Chris Walach, senior director, NIAS and the FAA-designated Nevada UAS Test Site. “What we are doing in Nevada will be of immense value to the DOT, FAA, DHS, DOJ, commercial airlines, visitor venues, and the UAS Industry. This new center will help advance infrastructure protections, drone detection innovations, enhance air safety, and expand air commerce in Nevada.”
NIAS and the FAA-designated Nevada Unmanned Aviation Test Site lead the growth of the Nevada UAS industry through business teaming relationships, collaborating with primary research institutions on UAS research and development, and enhancing the Nevada UAS Industry knowledge base to attract new and permanent business and create jobs in the State of Nevada.
A LinkedIn post from the company suggests theater-goers “Keep an eye on the scene where Tom Cruise flies a helicopter through a narrow canyon to catch our Compact GNSS Antenna in action!”
Above is a behind-the-scenes video that shows how Airbus helped Cruise, an actor known for doing many of his own stunts, learn to fly a helicopter and navigate a treacherous dive sequence (with the aid of the NovAtel receiver).
The National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board (PNT Board) will take part in a public teleconference on spectrum issues on Aug. 6.
The meeting will be held via teleconference and WebEx. The teleconference will take place Monday, August 6, from, 12-4 p.m. Eastern Time.
This meeting will be open to the public telephonically and by WebEx. Any interested person can call the toll-free (in the U.S.) conference-call number at 1–844–467–4685 or the local toll number at 1–720–259–7012 using passcode: 106724 to participate in the meeting by telephone.
The WebEx link is https://nasa.webex.com/, the meeting number is 995 034 805, and the password is uuU7bDX* (case sensitive).
This meeting was agreed to at the 21st session of the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board, held May 16–17 in Baltimore. The public can follow the discussions by dial-in or the web link provided.
The agenda includes the following topics:
Finalize and approve the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board topics paper
Finalize and approve the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board Memorandum on Spectrum Issues to the National Space-Based PNT Executive Committee, Carol J. Hamilton, acting advisory committee management officer, NASA.
A link to the live event will be sent to you two hours before the event. Your personalized event URL will be automatically generated by the ON24 system. To ensure receipt of the email, please whitelist this email address by adding it to your contacts: [email protected].
This presentation will begin on at 1 p.m. EST / 10 a.m. PST on Thursday, July 26, 2018.
Audience members may arrive 15 minutes prior to live time. If you have any questions, please contact event producer Grace Rybak at [email protected].
Streamlined application and 30-minute response improve unlocking process.
DJI’s Matrice 200 drone. (Photo: DJI)
Drone maker DJI is introducing improvements to its geofencing system. Professional drone pilots with authorization to fly in sensitive locations can now use a streamlined application process to receive unlocking codes within 30 minutes.
DJI’s geofencing system uses GPS and other navigational satellite signals to automatically help prevent drones from flying near sensitive locations such as airports, nuclear power plants and prisons. These improvements are carefully designed to help expand the beneficial uses of drones in sensitive areas that have been restricted in DJI’s geofencing system.
While those areas will remain restricted to more casual drone pilots, DJI now staffs its global authorization team around the clock in order to process applications and provide unlocking codes quickly.
Professional drone pilots can apply to unlock restricted zones at www.dji.com/flysafe/custom-unlock. This portal page allows pilots to easily enter information about their aircraft and controller, as well as authorization documents supplied by the controlling authorities in areas where they wish to fly.
Enterprise users can for the first time include multiple aircraft in a single unlocking request.
“DJI now processes most requests within 30 minutes, though requests involving unusual circumstances or requiring additional documentation may need additional time,” said Michael Perry, managing director of North America at DJI. “By making it easier for authorized pilots to put drones to work in sensitive areas, DJI is once again showing why professional drone operators choose our aerial platforms for the most important tasks.”
“DJI first implemented geofencing in 2013, and it is now established as an important tool to help our customers make thoughtful flight decisions, while also addressing legitimate concerns about safety and security by helping prevent unauthorized flights in the most sensitive locations,” said Brendan Schulman, vice president of policy & legal affairs at DJI. “These improvements illustrate DJI’s ongoing commitment as the industry leader to continually improving the safety features we implemented years ago, while enabling beneficial applications for our technology.”
For more information about how enterprises are using DJI products to work safer, faster and more efficiently, visit enterprise.dji.com.
The newly released version 6 of the Virtual Surveyor drone surveying software offers a faster, more efficient workflow and better overall user experience in a more stable platform, according to the software maker.
Version 6 offers new capabilities, an improved licensing system and an extended free application.
“Surveyors who have used the Virtual Surveyor package in the past will be amazed at how easily they can manipulate data and how quickly the software renders results of even the most complex topographies,” said Tom Op ‘t Eyndt, managing director of Virtual Surveyor nv in Belgium.
Virtual Surveyor leverages the expertise and interpretation skill of a land surveyor and combines it with the computing power of the computer, the company said.The software generates an interactive onscreen environment through orthophotos and digital surface models, generated from the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), where the surveyor selects survey points and breaklines to define the topography.
Image: Virtual Surveyor
Virtual Surveyor enables land surveyors to complement traditional fieldwork with UAV imagery to generate highly accurate topographic products up to five times faster than otherwise possible. It bridges the gap between UAV photogrammetric processing software and engineering computer-aided design (CAD) packages.
“The focus of Version 6 development has been to streamline the workflow — from the importing of drone data to exporting topo information into CAD — to make the surveyor more productive,” Op ‘t Eyndt said.
Key enhancements in Virtual Surveyor 6 include the following:
Easier editing – The new editing functions allows users to quickly select, delete or move individual point and lines placed by the computer during the automated creation of elevation points. The associated Undo/Redo function allows reversing all edit operations.
Better CAD integration – The addition of Descriptor functionality means that point descriptions remain with the point during export to CAD, working the same way as the land surveyor collects data in the field.
3D geometry retained – All points, lines and other data imported into the software, either from a UAV or field surveyed data, retain elevation values and integrate seamlessly into the merged scene. This allows a surveyor, for example, to collect point values from a ditch bottom that may be obscured by vegetation in the drone image and have the bottom points accurately represented in the topography.
Improved drawing tools – Users can now densify (drape) lines and boundaries to map current surface conditions. Individual vertices are now adjustable in all directions and exact X, Y and Z locations can be specified as well. Sub-surface modeling is now possible with these new improvements. Created features can then be exported to CAD for profile or alignment creation.
Extended free plan – Referred to as the Valley version, the free Virtual Surveyor suite has added functionality, including the ability to import photogrammetric data.
Improved licensing – We better honor our principle: “The license follows the user”. With an improved licensing system based on a Virtual Surveyor Identity (email) the user will be able to work where he or she wants.
“The enhanced user experience will continue to appeal to professional land surveyors, who are our core client base,” said Op ‘t Eyndt. “And the seamless integration with CAD and advanced drawing tools will make Virtual Surveyor more attractive to design engineers.”
Virtual Surveyor is available in a free 14-day trial.
