Date of Award:

5-2014

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

YangQuan Chen

Committee

YangQuan Chen

Committee

Mac McKee

Committee

David Geller

Committee

Don Cripps

Committee

Jacob Gunther

Abstract

Remote sensing enables the acquisition of large amounts of data, over a small period of time, in support of many ecological applications (i.e. precision agriculture, vegetation mapping, etc.) commonly from satellite or manned aircraft platforms. This dissertation focuses on using small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) as a remote sensing platform to collect aerial imagery from commercial-grade cameras and as a platform to track radio-tagged fish. The small, low-cost nature of small UAS enable remotely sensed data to be captured at a lower cost, higher spatial and temporal resolution, and in a more timely manner than conventional platforms. However, these same attributes limit the types of cameras and sensors that can be used on small UAS and introduce challenges in calibrating the imagery and converting it into actionable information for end users. A major contribution of this dissertation addresses this issue and includes a complete description on how to calibrate imagery from commercial-grade visual, near-infrared, and thermal cameras. Another major contribution includes novel, simple methods to estimate the location of radio-tagged fish. Simulations are used to evaluate these methods and predict their performance in real-world scenarios.

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903c908862993608a7650d67f785feab

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