Unmanned Aircraft Systems to Support Environmental Applications within USACE Civil Works
Abstract
The combination of static infrastructure with dynamic and diverse landscapes creates management challenges for navigation, storm damage reduction, and ecosystem health that are exacerbated during natural disasters. To accomplish the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) flood risk management (FRM) mission, accurate and updated identification of environmental, physical, and infrastructure features is required. The USACE has identified a number of Research and Development (R and D) opportunities to help reduce disaster risks, including cost-efficient technology, such as Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) technology for accurate, detailed, and timely two-dimensional and three-dimensional monitoring of coastal and riverine landscapes. To that end, the USACE Flood and Coastal Systems R and D Program has initiated an effort focused on identifying and developing defendable and consistent UAS-based methodologies and data products to help address FRM goals. Specifically, this report focuses on identifying the role of UAS technology to support environmental missions and applications related to FRM. While it does not address operational classification, guidance, and policies, which have been established and published, the report does include a technical review with district feedback of USACE-related environmental needs, and it assesses the role of UAS-based data product research and development.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1061251
Entities
People
- Glenn M. Suir
- Katherine Brodie
- Molly Reif
- Sam Jackson
- Shea Hammond
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center