Unoccupied Aircraft Systems

Our lab currently operates four different Unoccupied Aerial Vehicle (UAVs) platforms.

Fixed-Wing UAV

We have a SenseFly eBee Ag (pictured above) and a Sensefly eBee RTK survey-grade UAV. They are fixed-wing platforms that can be equipped with a near-infrared sensor or a multispectral sensor to generate high resolution images with pixel sizes as fine as 10 cm. We can also use a photogrammetric method known as Structure from Motion (SfM) to generate 3-dimensional point cloud data from the series of 2-dimensional photos the eBees capture. The SfM point cloud performs best in areas of low height vegetation, sparsely vegetated forests (e.g. mechanically thinned or burned forests), and woodlands. Our research using the fixed-wing UAV and SfM method was published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment and can be found here.  

Octocopter UAVs

Our octocopter is equipped with a hyperspectral sensor and a lidar scanner, providing us with a state-of-the-art tool for remote sensing research. The hyperspectral sensor uses over 300 spectral bands (400-1700 nm) to image the Earth’s surface at 6 cm resolution. The lidar scanner produces a 3-dimensional image of surface and vegetation features at 35 points per square meter at 70 m of flight altitude. Together, these sensors represent the latest technology available with exceptionally high resolution, precision, and accuracy.

Our octocopter was custom engineered and designed to carry the heavy payload required for the sensors. Under optimum conditions, the octocopter can cover 30 hectares in an hour. It is capable of collecting surface data in nearly all environments but is particularly beneficial in hard to access or sensitive locations. This cuts down on time-consuming and potentially intrusive in-person field work. The octocopter also allows us to generate our own detailed images and 3D datasets.

The high resolution spectral and 3D mapping capability are applicable for a large range of science and engineering applications spanning from engineering-grade mapping of built or natural environments to detailed geologic mapping and inventory of forest biomass and carbon. The hyperspectral imagery is particularly valuable for detailed investigation related to soils, minerals, plants, water, and hydrologic cycling. The high spatial resolution dataset of hyperspectral bands and lidar points produces a large datacube. To process this large volume of data, we use NAU’s high performance computing cluster Monsoon. We recently published a research paper, in which we tested and validated the octocopter instument and images. The Remote Sensing of Environment article can be found here.

We also operate two smaller multi-rotor UAV platforms with multispectral sensors. The resulting images can also be used with SfM techniques to generate 3D datasets. 

For inquiries about contracting our UAVs and image analysis into your research projects, please contact:  Temuulen.Sankey@nau.edu

We charge a maintenance fee to help us recover costs and keep the instruments operational, when using the instrument in various collaborative projects. For externally-funded projects, NAU's established indirect cost rate of 52% is applied. 

Table 1: NAU instrument maintenance costs associated with UAV imaging in our projects and other collaborative efforts.