Unoccupied Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or "drones")
Small unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs), also known as "drones", are becoming increasingly popular with volcanologists. This is expected, since volcanic terrain is difficult and often dangerous, and UAVs provide a way to collect data from the air without needing to go into the volcano, walk on rough terrain or get too close to hot lavas. Our group uses images collected by a UAV to construct high-resolution maps and topographic models of lava flows, using a method called Structure from Motion (SfM). We are also looking for ways to collect thermal and gas emission data from light, low-cost UAVs.
Training
During the 2017 IAVCEI General Assembly meeting, Mike James (Lancaster), Christopher Hamilton (Arizona) and I led a workshop about using UAVs in Volcanology. The workshop included a hands-on exercise about creating digital topography models from photographs collected by a UAV using Agisoft Photoscan (now called MetaShape).
Click to download the workshop materials.
Note: Running the exercise requires a working copy of Agisoft Photoscan Pro, available on the Agisoft website. A free demo version is available.
