Low cost ultra miniature UAVs (unmanned
aerial vehicle) sometimes called MAVs (miniature aerial vehicle) are hand
launched and belly landed and have a
range of about 50 miles. They can fly at an altitude of a few feet
to 1000 feet. They can be either battery or liquid fuel powered
(aerosol can). On board is a microcontroller, 4 mega-pixel
digital camera, GPS receiver, and 5
GHz 802.11a wireless LAN Interface capable of transmitting 104 megabits
per second. The wireless LAN
Interface is used for video transmission, streaming real-time telemetry and
remote control. Remote control can
be preformed in real-time by a person operating a laptop with remote control
software comprised of a video window and a 3d topo map showing the real-time GPS
position of the UAV and standard aeronautical controls (graphically
simulated sticks, indicators and
gauges) The laptop computer
is connected to an 802.11a access point with an attached pitch and rotation
controlled directional high gain parabolic antenna positioned at a pre-selected
strategic high ground line of site vantage point. The UAV control program running on the
laptop can be configured to automatically execute a standard systematic grid
search pattern or an out and back modified
grid/radial pattern planed around the range characteristics of the
UAV. During the execution of the
search pattern the laptop records a series of overlapping snapshots stamped with
GPS coordinate, UAV spatial orientation, date/time, and other pertinent
information. A pixel-pattern
discrimination program reviews the snapshots (Photoshop on steroids). The program allows the user to
graphically select targets from a database of object photos and parametric
deviation criteria. The object
database contains key information on each photographed object in the
database. The pixel pattern
selection algorithm is adaptive and can adjust itself based on various
prevailing conditions such as atmospheric, meteorological, light, shadow, time
of day, spatial orientation. It
selects suspects. Suspect targets
are manually reviewed at high resolution.
A larger, more sophisticated UAV with a steerable zoom camera can be
dispatched to the GPS coordinates for a closer look at an interesting
target. At that point, if things
look good I think it would be ok to hop in the old dune buggy (local land use
laws permitting) and have a look.
This method could be refined and
improved with practice to perhaps find meteorites in lower contrast higher noise
areas.
Dan
Vail