Geo-experts at TU Dresden are writing a textbook on environmental monitoring drones with international colleagues

Heiko Weckbrodt

Ever since drones have become affordable for mere mortals, more and more environmental scientists have deployed these “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” (UAV): Geologists use them to calculate the risk of landslides on unstable mountainsides, hydrologists have an eye in the sky over flooded regions to estimate flow rates, mining experts use them to search for magnetic anomalies in the ground. They all tend to reinvent the wheel every time, says Dr. Pierre Karrasch from the department for Geo-informatics and Dr. Anette Eltner from the department for Photogrammetry at the TU Dresden. “Most researchers who use drones for the first time start from square one,” says Karrasch. However, they could gain valuable research time if they could take advantage of the drone expertise of experienced colleagues. That is why Eltner and Karrasch are now planning a textbook on the use of UAVs in the environmental sciences, which could become an international standard text.

The German Research Foundation [Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)] also liked the idea and is funding the drone textbook project for three years. But the two Dresden-based researchers don’t want to write the book alone during that time. They see themselves more as editors and contributors. Eltner and Karrasch already have found seven German and international colleagues who would like to work on it with them. The environmental drone textbook is expected to be published in 2021 in paper form and as a freely available digital book (open access) in English, which has become the academic lingua franca of our time. “After all, we want this book to be widely read,” stresses Karrasch.

More flexible and less expensive than an airplane

In multiple steps, the researchers will engage with important questions surrounding the use of drones. One chapter of the book will examine questions such as: Where can I fly? From what drone weight do I need a license? Who do I need to ask for permission before a flight? Another chapter will discuss technical aspects such as range, flight duration and sensor equipment, while another will provide field-specific suggestions for drone applications.

The initiators see a great need in the scientific community for a book such as this. Drones make many investigations possible that previously were only possible with difficulty and great risk, or were impossible all together. “For example, if a geographer wanted to investigate whether an area has changed due to erosion or human interventions, he or she would have had to rent a helicopter or airplane, equip it with a camera and fly over the area,” explains Eltner. “That is expensive and not very flexible. With a good drone available today from 1,000 Euros, he or she can fly over the area with no risk and a moderate speed and take measurements accurate to less than a centimeter.”

Drones aren’t afraid of volcanos

Drones also make it easier to inspect disaster zones. The reader may remember how long it took before the first Bundeswehr Tornado jets sped over Dresden after the 100-year flood in 2002 to photograph the scope of the catastrophe. In the meantime, scientists have begun to steer drones over the lava flows of erupting volcanos. That sort of information gathering used to be an incalculable risk for personnel and equipment.

Autonomous drones that can operate largely independently can open up entirely new experiments and research approaches in the future. “In principle, that is already possible,” says Eltner. “However, legal requirements state that for drones flying autonomously, there always has to be a pilot on the ground with a remote control in their hand.” If these requirements were to disappear, scientists could then have drones fly over fields and mountain regions, for example, to map them and find mineral resources or breeding sites. Some types of drones can already stay in the air for hours, land, and take off again independently – a geologist, ornithologist or agriculture specialist need only hand them over to an “artificial intelligence” for pre-analysis.

For more information online, visit https://uav4env.weebly.com

This article was published on October 16, 2018, in the 16/2018 Dresden Universitätsjournal. You can download the full issue as a PDF for free here. You can also order the UJ in print or as a PDF from doreen.liesch@tu-dresden.de. More information is available at universitaetsjournal.de.