My Remote Sensing Summer

My background is in enterprise software, product management, and tech startups. My passion has always been leveraging data, visualizations, and automation to drive decisions...and all things aviation.

Over the past few months, I discovered how well remote sensing and geospatial data align with my interests and technical background.

So, I spent most of the summer expanding my knowledge in these areas.

Civil Air Patrol

I've been watching the UAS and GIS industries for a while. However, involvement with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, has triggered my recent deep dive into remote sensing technologies and the solutions they provide. As an Emergency Services Training Officer, I'm responsible for ensuring my fellow CAP volunteers have the training and resources they need to meet the needs of our customers, primarily FEMA and other local emergency services agencies, so I've been working through a number of mission qualifications.

Airborne Photographer

One of my first CAP qualifications earlier this year was Airborne Photographer. I've loved photography since I was a kid, so I was a quick study. Typical deliverables include pre and post-disaster aerial imaging of bridges, damns, other critical infrastructure, and coastal erosion taken from the back seat of an airplane at 1000'. These images are typically used for damage assessments of a structure or small area but can expand into larger areas such as flood or fire damage.

FEMA Disaster Damage Assessment

As a CAP photographer, the next logical step was understanding how our customers use the images we capture.

CAP GIS team, FEMA , and Esri are working together to build tools for rapid crowd-sourcing of disaster damage assessments. The faster emergency management agencies can evaluate the scope and severity of disaster damages, the faster they can get funding and recovery resources allocated in the right place. However, getting enough resources on the ground immediately after a disaster can be challenging depending on the location and severity of the damage.

Using images provided by CAP and other providers, trained damage assessors can classify structures and critical infrastructure from anywhere.

Recent missions, including assessing flood damage in Kentucky, leveraged CAP members around the globe using ArcGIS online to classify structural and infrastructure damage levels.

Once I got the taste of ArcGIS I had start experimenting with other datasets to learn more about the power of geospatial data visualizations. Big data visualizations at it's best. I'm addicted.

Higher-Resolution Orthomosaic Images

The handheld images we capture are excellent for assessing a single structure or small area. Geotagged oblique angle images from Airborne Photographers can be plotted on a map for context and zoomed in to show a high level of detail like water lines, cracks, defects, and other concerns.?

Larger impact areas from floods and fire disasters can lead to hundreds of individual images that need to be evaluated. Varying altitudes, focal lengths, angles, and perspectives can make it tough to interpret quickly.

Satellite maps like Google Earth have spoiled us all. Being able to zoom down to our car parked in our driveway is the standard we expect for aerial imaging. These images leverage many high-resolution photos "stitched" together to create an orthomosaic image. The orthomosaic images are geotagged and generally accurate enough to provide correct perspectives and even ground reference measurements.

Capturing photos for generating orthomosaic images can be challenging to do by hand. The computer vision engines that do the complex work of "stitching" requires overlapping images and consistent image capture focal length, distance, and exposure.

To keep up with the latest technologies, I attended CAP's annual National Emergency Services Academy (NESA) in Indiana for Ortho Mapping training.? WaldoAir Corp. provides cameras and software to plan, fly, and capture high-resolution images for 2D orthomosaic images and 3D models. CAP has been using WaldoAir systems for the past 2 years to capture hurricane, tornado, flood, and wildfire disasters. Until now, they have been limited to major disasters but CAP is working on a broader deployment throughout the US.

It's a similar concept used by drone mapping pilots who plan and fly automated routes to capture overlapping images. The biggest differences are the ability to cover a larger area and fly much faster. Oh, and the humans are in the plane.

CAP leverages WaldoAir's?XCAM Ultra 50?system. With dual 50MP cameras, it captures high-resolution images strapped to a strut of a Cessna 172s or 182s. The cameras are software and GPS controlled to ensure they capture enough photos to meet the overlap and resolution requirements. Qualified flight planners use WaldoAir software to generate the flight route based on image resolution requirements and aircrew/aircraft endurance. The aircrew needs to fly the planned patterns and altitude in order to capture consistent images.? A typical mission would be flown around 3000' AGL and provide 10cm ground resolution which provides plenty of detail to assess potential structural damage.

A fun side note, my Ortho Mapping peers decided that my callsign should be "Pirate" based on the Dread Pirate Roberts. Unfortunately, I haven't read the book or seen the movie, so I'm unsure how to take it.?I have read American Kingpin, with another DPR reference, and highly recommend it.

UAS Mission Pilot

I learned so much at NESA that I decided to hit NERESA next for sUAS training. It's CAP's Northeast Region Emergency Services Academy.

I've been flying drones for a while and have my Part 107 certificate. I wanted to better understand how sUAS assets can assist in our emergency services missions. I completed training in CAP qualifications for sUAS Technician/Observer, sUAS Mission Pilot, and Instructor.

Interesting fact, I heard that CAP has the largest fleets of both UAS and Cessnas worldwide.?

Our primary mission drone is the Skydio X2D with RGB and thermal cameras. Since the controls and concepts are similar and it's much cheaper, our everyday trainer is the Skydio 2.?Mission pilots can provide ground team support by scouting more expansive areas faster, looking for hazards, and performing low-level airborne searches that are impossible with manned aircraft.?Like airborne photographers, we also provide inspection or pre and post-disaster imaging with photos, orthomosaic, and high-resolution 3D models using DroneDeploy .

What's Next

UAS Instructor?- since the Massachusetts Wing is short on UAS resources, I'll be assisting in training the next round of qualified technicians and pilots.

Mapping and Photogrammetry Expertise?- Since working with computer vision technologies a few years ago, I've been addicted to the advancements in the photogrammetry space. So I'm watching vendors and industry influencers closely to keep up. I'm also expanding my expertise in DroneDeploy , Pix4D , and open-source WebODM with imaging I'm capturing from Skydio 2 and DJI Phantom 4 Pro.

Counter-UAS?- I was recently assigned to the duty of Massachusetts Wing Homeland Security Officer. Part of this role will include building relationships with our customers to see how CAP might be able to assist with counter-UAS programs and additional types of airborne and ground imaging.

GIS Tools?- Big data, visualizations, and data-driven decisions... Yes, please! I took a good intro course on Coursera a few months ago and currently considering this?GIS Specialization?next.?ESRI has an awesome library of self-learning content and MOOCs, most for free so I'll start there.

Career Alignment?- As you can probably tell, I'm having a blast and enjoy being able to contribute as a Civil Air Patrol volunteer. Suppose I can work towards integrating my volunteer passions and experience with a career; that would be pretty sweet and even more fulfilling.

How You Can Help

Have tips on what I should tackle next to assist with a career pivot or do you know people I should connect with, let's talk.

Want to learn more about Civil Air Patrol?

Reach out so we can talk, or find a local squadron.