Setting up mapping missions with drones

Published in

ARPS

4 min readJul 2, 2017

A good planning is the key of success, and nowhere is this truer than in a mission made for/by a drone. In this article we will follow the steps to deploy a mission with one of the best ARPS in the market to deploy mapping missions; Geodrone + Ipsilum Aerial Solution (GIAS). Geodrone is a platform made by Conyca and IAS is the (not only) Ground Station developed by SRM Consulting.

First of all let me explain why I consider this platform is one of the best:

One objective reason is because this project has been bought by the Spanish Ministry of Defense. After several field test this platform has proven to be the most stable by its nearest competitors. In a field test made in the Military Air Base of Zaragoza (December 2016) GIAS was able to fly and to execute a mapping mission in an extreme wind conditions (gusty winds of more than 40 km/h), while its nearest competitor, was not even able to take off.

The success of this platform is because of the combination of several factors which I will summarize in the following list:

In house assembling: All the components have been assembled by the GIAS team, designing new mechanical components by the use of 3D printers and CNC machines.
Design of an exclusive take off system: Which allow to take off the drone with the maximum guaranties of success.
Design of an exclusive camera stabilization system adapted for the fix wing platform (As far as I know this is the only fix wing system that have this system). This will allow to reduce optical deformations.
Development of a Ground Station Hardware/software, which deploys a wifi network on the field, allowing to connect several users, with different roles, at the same time.
Integration in a Virtual Private Network, which allows the command and control of the system from the headquarters.
More than two years testing and improving the system.

In the following sections I will explain how to deploy a mapping mission. The steps are:

Setting up the take of system.
Planning the mission.
Pre-flight checks.
Monitoring the mission.
Download pictures and flight log

Setting Up the take off system

We made a full deployment mission last Monday, (June 26) in Seseña aerodorme (Toledo, Spain). Bellow I describe the full process.

Open the geodrone case and connect the telemetry antenna, mount the sensor (camera), check and plugin the batteries and finally assembly the wings .

Connecting the telemetry antenna and mounting the camera

Checking and plugin the battery. The voltage of each cell should round 4.20 V (the maximum capacity)

2. Check the wind direction and intensity. Although we have flown with gusting winds of more than 50 km/h, it is not recommended to fly with surface winds of more than 30 km/h. Other important consideration is to take off in the same direction of the wind, avoiding cross wind in the take off process.

2. Prepare the take off system: which consist of a 30 meters of elastic cord , firmly fixed to the floor and attached to the base of the drone (the tensiometer should mark 18 kg), as we can see in the following pictures.