GPS World

Tag: West Virginia

  • Seen & Heard: Invasive species vs. UAVs and protecting farms with GIS

    Seen & Heard: Invasive species vs. UAVs and protecting farms with GIS

    “Seen & Heard” is a monthly feature of GPS World magazine, traveling the world to capture interesting and unusual news stories involving the GNSS/PNT industry.

    I Wonder What’s Under There?

    Image: Lokibaho/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Image: Lokibaho/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    Researchers at the University of Connecticut have conducted one of the largest understory species mapping projects using satellite data and have published the results of the study in the Remote Sensing of Environment journal. In this study, the researchers proposed an automated dense Sentinel-2 time series-based approach for understory plant communities and created maps of four understory classes that include native shrubs of greenbrier and mountain laurel, invasive shrubs of barberry, and the assemblage of mixed invasives at 10 m resolution in Connecticut’s deciduous forests. The researchers developed a strategy that distinguished plant species with an accuracy of 93% and determined that 53% of Connecticut’s understory is now comprised of invasive plant species such as barberry, bittersweet, winged euonymus (burning bush), and multi-flora rose.

    Invasive Species VS. UAVs

    Image: Donn Bartram
    Image: Donn Bartram

    Researchers at West Virginia University are using UAVs to develop tools to detect, map, treat and monitor invasive plant species with a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Multiflora rose is an invasive shrub that threatens native plants in more than 40 states, including West Virginia and Pennsylvania. This project aims to equip UAVs with sensors to collect environmental data in a designated area of southwestern Pennsylvania over multiple seasons. The research team will use that data, combined with machine learning technology, to develop software that can identify multiflora rose and, eventually, other invasive species.

    Protecting Farms with GIS

    For farmers, every centimeter counts. ComNav’s AG360 Pro autosteering system controls pass-to-pass accuracy within 2.5 cm. (Photo: Daniel Balakov/E+/Getty Images)
    Image: Daniel Balakov/E+/Getty Images

    American Farmland Trust (AFT) is partnering with government agencies and advocacy groups in South Carolina to deploy GIS mapping tools to predict areas at the highest risk of development in the state. Palmetto 2040: Visioning Alternative Futures, Launching Solutions is a geospatial modeling and policy analysis tool designed to identify and model future outcomes. This mapping tool will project what land in South Carolina is at highest risk of development by 2040. The analysis will consider both rapid population growth and climate change impact on settlement patterns and agriculture, according to AFT.

    USV Take Hurricanes

    Image: SailDrone
    Image: SailDrone

    Saildrone is deploying 12 uncrewed surface vehicles (USV) into the tropical Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico this summer, supporting research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to advance hurricane forecasting. Ten USVs will be deployed from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Charleston, South Carolina; to operate in areas with a high probability of intercepting a storm, as indicated by historical data. Two vehicles will remain on land, ready for quick deployment in the event of an approaching hurricane. NOAA will use the data collected by the USVs to improve hurricane forecast models.

  • UAVs and machine learning fight invasive species in WV/PA

    UAVs and machine learning fight invasive species in WV/PA

    Image: Donn Bartram
    Image: Donn Bartram

    Researchers at the West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design are using UAVs to develop tools to detect, map, treat and monitor invasive plant species with a $175,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

    Multiflora rose is an invasive shrub that threatens native plants in more than 40 states, including West Virginia and Pennsylvania. This project aims to equip UAVs with sensors to collect environmental data in a designated area of southwestern Pennsylvania over multiple seasons. The research team will use that data, combined with machine learning technology, to develop software that can identify multiflora rose and, eventually, other invasive species. The software could then be used for targeted delivery of herbicides via UAVs.

    WVU is collaborating with two partners to help facilitate the project, including CNX — a natural gas company headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania that is offering the use of reclaimed mine land — and Resource Environmental Solutions — an ecological restoration company that is providing technical assistance with herbicide selection and deployment.

    This project builds upon ongoing UAV-based research conducted by the National Resource Analysis Center (NRAC) with the U.S. Office of Surface Mine Reclamation and Enforcement. The current study focuses on autumn olive, which is one of the most common invasive brush species in West Virginia.

    Most of the data collection and analysis focused on multiflora rose will begin in the 2024 spring growing season, but NRAC’s team of researchers is already using autumn olive data to see what information can be gathered about multiflora rose.

  • Taking stock in West Virginia: UAVs save WVDOT time and money

    Taking stock in West Virginia: UAVs save WVDOT time and money

    Image: Skyward/WVDOT
    Image: Skyward/WVDOT

    The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) turned to UAVs to save time and money. Incorporating drones has saved WVDOT more than $340,000 in a single month.

    In 2017, WVDOT began formally looking into launching a drone program. WVDOT concluded that drones could be ideal for stockpile surveys — using them had the potential to speed up the process, reduce risk, and increase accuracy.

    Jesse Bennett, statewide survey unit leader at WVDOT, flew several test missions to validate the use case. He quickly realized drones had huge potential to transform this time-consuming and risky task.

    The agency began with a team of nine Federal Aviation Administration-certified drone pilots and 12 drones. WVDOT also began using Skyward’s Drone Management Platform to manage their flights, pilots and equipment. Skyward offered a single, digital platform to coordinate complex missions and obtain airspace permissions.

    “I saw the need for something like Skyward from the very beginning, when I was the first and only pilot,” Bennett said. “I was manually making entries in flight logs and maintenance logs, and I was using about seven or eight different apps and websites just to plan and fly a mission.”

    Using Skyward as a single place to keep track of every aspect of the drone program enabled Bennett to quickly resolve an investigation after someone mistakenly assumed he didn’t have authorization to fly in an area and reported him to the FAA.The software helped him demonstrate that crews were obeying FAA regulations and WVDOT’s own rules.

    Starting in spring 2019, WVDOT began deploying drone crews for stockpile inspections at scale. WVDOT has 177 sites across the state that contain stockpiled materials. Each year, the stockpiles must be physically surveyed to calculate the volume of material. From 42 surveyors laboring for 15 workdays, the same workload took seven UAS pilots only nine workdays to complete the project.