Oct 19, 2020
AT 409 FIELD REPORT
Unmanned
Aerial Systems Capstone I Purdue University
Fall 2020
Week 8: 10/12-10/18
Group
2
Jesse
Giampaolo, Nick Dayton, Cole Bramel
Context
AT 40900 is the first part of the Unmanned Aerial Systems Capstone for seniors enrolled in the UAS program at Purdue University. As a class, we are currently tracking the foliage at Martell Forest as it changes from the end of September through late October or early November. Groups consisting of three students each are collaborating to collect data from a minimum of three missions per week. A mission consists of two flights over the two different plots of interest (NW & NE) at Martell using a DJI Matrice 600 equipped with a Zenmuse XT2 and a Sony Alpha 6000 (Figure 1).
Figure 1: DJI Matrice 600 equipped w/
Zenmuse XT2 & Sony Alpha 6000
Week 8 Overview
This week was expected
to be a typical data collection week. As a class, we planned four missions in the event that one was
canceled due to weather. As the week progressed, however, high winds and light rain prevented multiple
outings to be postponed or canceled.
There were only two successful
flights conducted over week 8: one on Tuesday () by crew 3
and the other on
Friday (10/16) by crew 1. We had planned to fly Thursday (10/15) morning from 0930-1200. This was postponed and eventually rescheduled to Sunday (10/18)
due to high winds. The rescheduled flight on Sunday had to be
canceled altogether due to projected high winds for the duration of the day.
In the meantime, Jesse was able to gain access to the department’s truck for
future missions.
Week 8 Planned Flight: 10/15/2020
Last
week we, crew 2, established that we will be regularly flying on Thursdays from
0930-1200 (weather permitting) for the remainder of the data collection period
for this study. The scheduled flights have been on the outlook calendar since
then. Jesse posted a reminder via MS Teams on Wednesday night of this week
before we attempted to fly on Thursday morning. This post also asked for
clarification on issues encountered during the Tuesday morning flight conducted
by crew 3.
Crew
3 reported via MS Teams on Tuesday after their flight that they had encountered
some issues with the M600. The SD card for the Sony Alpha 6000 was missing.
This was later found in the case. It had just fallen below some lens wipes.
They also reported that the batteries in the M600 reached low enough voltages
during the flight that it engaged in the return to home sequence. This disrupted
their flight and prematurely ended the mission over the NE plot of Martell. The
data they collected ended up being okay due to the amount of overlap with the
NW plot flight. The more concerning issue reported was a loose propeller. This
was found to be a common issue among M600s when the prop bolts are
over-torqued. The screws can strip and even fall out during flight (Figure 2).
New bolts were ordered and according to Kaleb, the M600 was repaired and test
flown sometime before Wednesday evening.
Figure 2: Damage resulting from an
over-torqued prop bolt on an M600 Source:
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=139731
On Thursday morning at approximately 0845, Kaleb informed us that the M600 was ready to fly, but we would need Dr. Hupy’s approval that it was ready to return to service. We agreed to stand by until 1015 at which we would postpone the flight to 1600 later that day if we had not gotten the okay to fly the M600. At 0938, Dr. Hupy gave us the go-ahead, but there were on and off showers in the area and they were not predicted to leave until after 1200. See Figure 3 for the satellite radar at the time. We included this solely for illustration purposes. We consulted the METAR and TAF first as these are the approved sources for aviation weather. We decided to postpone our flight until 1600 later that day.
Later
on Thursday at 1600, Jesse and Nick met again at the lab to check out the M600
and fly. Cole was waiting at the field. It felt nice outside and there was no
rain in sight, but when we checked the METAR it indicated gusts >19 knots.
The M600 can handle winds up to 15 knots. The sun was setting at around 1900
that day. If we waited there may not have been enough light in the day to
complete our mission, so we chose to pack it up and head home for the day.
Group 1 was planning on flying Friday and group 4 was planning on Saturday. We
decided to reschedule our flight for Sunday. Dr. Hupy confirmed that someone
would be able to unlock the lab for us if we did want to fly over the weekend.
Week 8 Makeup Flight: 10/18/2020
On
Sunday before our makeup flight, the ~1100 METAR was indicating wind gusts up
to 21 kts. We decided to postpone until the next METAR was released to see if
the wind gusts would die down. At ~1200, the METAR was indicating wind gusts of
17 kts. We decided to cancel for the day due to local TAFs projecting wind
gusts around 20 knots all day. With DJI saying on their spec sheet for the M600
that the maximum wind resistance is 8 m/s which is approximately 16 kts, we
decided to not take the risk. In high winds, unexpected movements of the drone may
occur due to wind pushing the drone off course. When this happens, you may have
to actively take countermeasures to correct for this displacement and resume
the mission on track. When the drone is actively fighting the wind, it will be
using more power. This can cause a shorter flight time which may lead to an
incomplete mission and data set. Another
problem that
could take place is the added or decreased speed of the drone due to flying
with or against the drone.
Department Truck Access Procedure
This past week Jesse has been making progress towards gaining access to the department’s truck for transporting the M600 to Martell. We were previously using her sedan to transport it, but this is neither convenient nor safe because we had to take it out of the case to allow the UAV to fit. Emily Birge in the main office processes the requests to get access to the vehicles for the department. To be eligible to drive the truck, a student must meet the criteria listed within the MVR Grading Grid/Minimum Driver Qualifications for Students and Volunteers (Figure 4). If a student self-identifies they are eligible, they must fill out an RM01D form and any additional state-specific forms depending on where their license is from. At this point, the Office of Risk Management at Purdue may step in and request an official driving report which could take a week or two to clear. Jesse did not have to do this and was cleared to drive university vehicles as of Thursday 10/15 by Lisa Fortner of the Office of Risk Management. Scott Sproles is the “keeper of the truck” and Jesse will be reaching out to him shortly in regard to the procedure for reserving the truck.
Figure 4: Requirements for students to drive
university vehicles
Source: https://www.purdue.edu/business/risk_mgmt/Vehicle_Use_Info/index.html
Contact information:
Emily Birge
Administrative
Assistant 765-496-2837
ebirge@purdue.edu Lisa Fortner
Risk Management
Insurance Assistant 765-494-8104
Scott Sproles
Building
Manager/”Keeper of the truck” 765-494-6103
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