scholarly journals Short-Range Transportation Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) during Disasters in Japan

Drones ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Koki Yakushiji ◽  
Hiroshi Fujita ◽  
Mikio Murata ◽  
Naoki Hiroi ◽  
Yuuichi Hamabe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Blood Product ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
Medical Assistance ◽  
Medical Supplies ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Life Saving

Larger types of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are beginning to be used in the United States and Europe for commercial transportation. Additionally, some blood product transport systems have been commercialized in Rwanda and other countries and used in pandemic operations for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in infected areas. Conversely, implementing goods transportation for commercial purposes in Japan has been difficult, especially in urban areas, due to national legislation. This study examined UAV-assisted transportation in Japan, a natural disaster hotspot, with a focus on the potential uses of UAVs in situations where traffic blockages make ground transportation impossible. UAVs were used to transport 17 kg of medical supplies belonging to a disaster medical assistance team (DMAT), along with 100 emergency meals. We also transported insulin under controlled-temperature conditions, as well as many other emergency supplies. Using UAVs to transport emergency supplies could be an effective approach when dealing with disasters. This paper summarizes the effectiveness of this approach for medical care and disaster response activities. We present a method for using drones to bridge the gap between medical and firefighting personnel, such as DMAT personnel, who are engaged in life-saving activities at the time of a disaster, and those who are unable to transport necessary goods by land using terrestrial vehicles due to traffic interruptions.

Revealing Safety Risks of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Construction

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110171
Author(s):  
Mostafa Namian ◽  
Mohammad Khalid ◽  
George Wang ◽  
Yelda Turkan
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Safety Risks ◽  
Potential Safety ◽  
Post Hoc

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have gained their prevalent recognition in construction because of their exceptional advantages. Despite the increasing use of UAVs in the industry and their remarkable benefits, there are serious potential safety risks associated that have been overlooked. Construction is one of the most hazardous industries in the United States. In addition to the ordinary hazards normally present in dynamic construction workplaces, UAVs can expose workers to a wider range of never-before-seen safety risks that must be recognized and controlled. The industry is not equipped with safety measures to prevent potential accidents, because of scarce research on drone-associated hazards and risks. The aim of this research was to (1) identify the UAV-associated hazards in construction that may expose personnel and property to potential harms, and (2) study the relative impact of each hazard and the associated safety risks. In Phase I, the researchers conducted an extensive literature review and consulted with a construction UAV expert. In Phase II, the researchers obtained data from 54 construction experts validating and evaluating the identified hazards and risks. The results revealed that adopting UAVs can expose construction projects to a variety of hazards that the industry is not familiar with. “Collision with properties,”“collision with humans,” and “distraction” were identified as the top three safety risks. Moreover, the study introduces effective strategies, such as having qualified crew members, proper drone model selection, and drone maintenance, to mitigate the safety risks. Finally, a post-hoc case study was investigated and presented in this article.

US armed UAV precedent will hinder global rules-making

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Policy Reform ◽  
The United States ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
International Norms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Intelligence Sharing ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Wide Range

Subject Post-Obama armed UAV policy. Significance As President Barack Obama prepares to leave office in January 2017, his administration has called for the United States to lead development of a set of international norms to govern the use of armed UAVs ('unmanned aerial vehicles' or 'drones'). The international proliferation and military use of armed UAVs by nations outside the circle of trusted US allies have highlighted the urgency of formulating clearly articulated international rules to govern an otherwise vaguely defined arena of international behaviour dominated by US precedent. Impacts Congressional aversion to supporting ground interventions abroad will enable the next president further to delay UAV policy reform. A wide range of countries frustrated with restrictions from Washington may turn to China as a key supplier of armed UAVs. Failed US efforts to reform the covert drone programme may complicate intelligence-sharing with European allies.

scholarly journals Choice of unmanned aerial vehicles for identification of mosquito breeding sites

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franciely Velozo Aragão ◽  
Fernanda Cavicchioli Zola ◽  
Luis Henrique Nogueira Marinho ◽  
Daiane Maria De Genaro Chiroli ◽  
Aldo Braghini Junior ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
World Health ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Manual Search ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
The World ◽  
Mosquito Breeding ◽  
Health Organization

The disordered urban growth that may favour the emergence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito in cities is a problem of increasing magnitude in middle- and high-income countries in the tropical part of the world. Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) considers the control and elimination of Ae. aegypti a world-wide high priority as it is the main vector of many rapidly spreading viral diseases, dengue in particular. A major difficulty in controlling the proliferation of this vector is associated with identification of the breeding sites. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be an efficient alternative to manual search because of high mobility and the ability to overcome physical obstacles, particularly in urban areas where it can offer close-up images of potential breeding sites that are difficult to reach. The objective of this study was to find a way to select the most suitable UAV for the identification of Ae. aegypti habitats by providing images of potential mosquito breeding sites. This can be accomplished by a Multiple-Criteria Decision Method (MCDM) based on an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for the evaluation of weights of the criteria used for characterizing UAVs. The alternatives were analyzed and ranked using the Fuzzy Set Theory (FST) merged with the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The methodology is explained and discussed with respect to identification and selection of the most appropriate UAV for aerial mapping of Aedes breeding sites.

scholarly journals Presenting an Effective Method to Detect and Track the Broken Path in VANET Using UAVs

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Zohreh Bakhtiari ◽  
Rozita Jamili Oskouei ◽  
Mona Soleymani ◽  
Akhtar Hussain Jalbani
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Geographic Routing ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
And Performance

The routing process in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) is a challenging task in urban areas which is due to the high mobility of vehicles, repetitive defects of the communication path, and the various barriers that may affect the reliability of data transmission and routing. Accordingly, the connectivity in vehicular communications has received the researchers’ attention, so different geographic routing protocols have been proposed in this respect. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are useful for overcoming routing constraints. Cloud computing has also been defined as a new infrastructure for VANET which is made up of a significant number of computing nodes including stable data centers as well as a set of mobile computing devices embedded on vehicles. The aim of this research is to simulate a VANET in an urban area using cloud computing infrastructure and applying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) so that the negative influence of barriers in packet delivery and routing is avoided. To evaluate, the proposed method is compared with the basic protocol ClouDiV. Ns-2 simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms with different densities and variable times in terms of efficiency and performance.

scholarly journals Design and Development of a Multi-Application Hexacopter

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (VII) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Satish Chaudhary
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Optimized Design ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
The Third ◽  
Medical Supplies ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
The People ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Rotary Wing ◽  
Second Use

The technology of the fixed wing and the rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles have been emerging and the applications have been focused widely to numerous regions. This paper focuses on some applications where we have tested our multicopter and in future the further improvement shall incorporate. Our main focus was to build an aerial Covid warrior considering mainly three different and useful applications particularly for remote village areas where many facilities are not always available. First application is the delivery of the medical supplies to the people in need. Second, use of the onboard speaker, which can relay valuable information during emergency or the valuable health related awareness remotely by respective department. And the third application is use of the sanitizer spray arrangement for the larger area disinfection. The prototype has been tested in a typical village area in different conditions and has provided required performance due to optimized design. This paper is to facilitate other users to explore the capabilities of the multicopters for any situations like we suggested with this project considering this pandemic.

scholarly journals Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to analyze the urban environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efthimios Bakogiannis ◽  
Charalampos Kyriakidis ◽  
Vasileios Zafeiris
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Building Structures ◽  
Geospatial Information ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Time Required ◽  
The Cost

Over the last decades, the evolution of technology has helped us to facilitate various types of works in areas related to land and property management as well as spatial planning. The exploitation of new tools and methods has prompted the international interest in the recording and modeling of geospatial information in more than two dimensions depicted in traditional projects, until then. This has contributed to address a series of issues related to intense urbanization, as well as challenges in identifying complex ownership and building structures. A relatively recent such method is the mapping of buildings and wider spatial units by using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that has contributed to the production of 3D models by using the appropriate software. This technology finds resonant in recent years in Greece. However, it has not been applied to the mapping of large spatial units such as urban areas. This research paper performs a wide area mapping using UAV. Its purpose is to investigate to what extent the UAVs can do it successfully. For this reason, a brief evaluation is attempted, taking into account the accuracy of the data as well as the cost and time required in relation to traditional techniques. The result justifies the specific technique that appears to produce good quality metering and quality data while helping to save resources.

scholarly journals Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Flood Extent Mapping Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Data

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmamaw Gebrehiwot ◽  
Leila Hashemi-Beni ◽  
Gary Thompson ◽  
Parisa Kordjamshidi ◽  
Thomas Langan
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Image Classification ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Confusion Matrix ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Hazardous Area ◽  
Flooded Areas

Flooding is one of the leading threats of natural disasters to human life and property, especially in densely populated urban areas. Rapid and precise extraction of the flooded areas is key to supporting emergency-response planning and providing damage assessment in both spatial and temporal measurements. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) technology has recently been recognized as an efficient photogrammetry data acquisition platform to quickly deliver high-resolution imagery because of its cost-effectiveness, ability to fly at lower altitudes, and ability to enter a hazardous area. Different image classification methods including SVM (Support Vector Machine) have been used for flood extent mapping. In recent years, there has been a significant improvement in remote sensing image classification using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). CNNs have demonstrated excellent performance on various tasks including image classification, feature extraction, and segmentation. CNNs can learn features automatically from large datasets through the organization of multi-layers of neurons and have the ability to implement nonlinear decision functions. This study investigates the potential of CNN approaches to extract flooded areas from UAV imagery. A VGG-based fully convolutional network (FCN-16s) was used in this research. The model was fine-tuned and a k-fold cross-validation was applied to estimate the performance of the model on the new UAV imagery dataset. This approach allowed FCN-16s to be trained on the datasets that contained only one hundred training samples, and resulted in a highly accurate classification. Confusion matrix was calculated to estimate the accuracy of the proposed method. The image segmentation results obtained from FCN-16s were compared from the results obtained from FCN-8s, FCN-32s and SVMs. Experimental results showed that the FCNs could extract flooded areas precisely from UAV images compared to the traditional classifiers such as SVMs. The classification accuracy achieved by FCN-16s, FCN-8s, FCN-32s, and SVM for the water class was 97.52%, 97.8%, 94.20% and 89%, respectively.

scholarly journals The Use of Drones in Emergency Medicine: Practical and Legal Aspects

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Konert ◽  
Jacek Smereka ◽  
Lukasz Szarpak
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Medicine ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Air Transport ◽  
Agricultural Activities ◽  
Automated External Defibrillators ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Aerial Vehicles

Unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, can play a significant role in military and civil emergency medicine. The aim of the study was to present the real possibilities of using them in rescue operations and to provide examples from all over the world. Unmanned aerial vehicles can be applied to transport goods on demand, provide blood in urban areas, save sinking people, analyse the scale of damages, monitor large human gatherings, perform exploration activities, deliver blood samples and other analysis material, provide automated external defibrillators, support rescue operations and air transport, and perform agricultural activities. One must, however, be aware of the existing regulations regarding drone flights as an appearance of an unreported unmanned aircraft in the controlled space is identified worldwide as affecting aviation safety.

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