Investigating Practical Impacts of Using Single-Antenna and Dual-Antenna GNSS/INS Sensors in UAS-Lidar Applications

Data collected from a moving lidar sensor can produce an accurate digital representation of the physical environment that is scanned, provided the time-dependent positions and orientations of the lidar sensor can be determined. The most widely used approach to determining these positions and orientations is to collect data with a GNSS/INS sensor. The use of dual-antenna GNSS/INS sensors within commercial UAS-lidar systems is uncommon due to the higher cost and more complex installation of the GNSS antennas. This study investigates the impacts of using a single-antenna and dual-antenna GNSS/INS MEMS-based sensor on the positional precision of a UAS-lidar generated point cloud, with an emphasis on the different heading determination techniques employed by each type of GNSS/INS sensor. Specifically, the impacts that sensor velocity and acceleration (single-antenna), and a GNSS compass (dual-antenna) have on heading precision are investigated. Results indicate that at the slower flying speeds often used by UAS (≤5 m/s), a dual-antenna GNSS/INS sensor can improve heading precision by up to a factor of five relative to a single-antenna GNSS/INS sensor, and that a point of diminishing returns for the improvement of heading precision exists at a flying speed of approximately 15 m/s for single-antenna GNSS/INS sensors. Additionally, a simple estimator for the expected heading precision of a single-antenna GNSS/INS sensor based on flying speed is presented. Utilizing UAS-lidar mapping systems with dual-antenna GNSS/INS sensors provides reliable, robust, and higher precision heading estimates, resulting in point clouds with higher accuracy and precision.

ON THE VISUALIZATION OF POSITIONAL PRECISION

Tasks such as image registration or pose estimation require the determination of transformations based on uncertain observations. Hence, the position of any geometric object transformed according to this estimate is also uncertain, at least in terms of precision. Often the knowledge of uncertainty changes the judgment of individuals. Thus, the visualization of this information is crucial whenever a human decision-maker is involved. In the absence of error-free reference data, we consider the estimated precision as the probably most important quantity characterizing the uncertainty. This contribution focuses on the visualization of positional precision as provided by estimated covariance matrices. Basic design principles such as coloration and contouring in 2D and 3D are presented and discussed in the context of practical applications, e.g., the superimposition of distance information as seen nowadays in sports broadcasts. As a novel contribution, we propose quartic plane curves to represent the confidence regions of the loci of conic sections.

Testing Multi-Frequency Low-Cost GNSS Receivers for Geodetic Monitoring Purposes

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology is widely used for geodetic monitoring purposes. However, in cases where a higher risk of receiver damage is expected, geodetic GNSS receivers may be considered too expensive to be used. As an alternative, low-cost GNSS receivers that are cheap, light, and prove to be of adequate quality over short baselines, are considered. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the positional precision of a multi-frequency low-cost instrument, namely, ZED-F9P with u-blox ANN-MB-00 antenna, and to investigate its potential for displacement detection. We determined the positional precision within static survey, and the displacement detection within dynamic survey. In both cases, two baselines were set, with the same rover point equipped with a low-cost GNSS instrument. The base point of the first baseline was observed with a geodetic GNSS instrument, whereas the second baseline was observed with a low-cost GNSS instrument. The results from static survey for both baselines showed comparable results for horizontal components; the precision was on a level of 2 mm or better. For the height component, the results show a better performance of low-cost instruments. This may be a consequence of unknown antenna calibration parameters for low-cost GNSS antenna, while statistically significant coordinates of rover points were obtained from both baselines. The difference was again more significant in the height component. For the displacement detection, a device was used that imposes controlled movements with sub-millimeter accuracy. Results, obtained on a basis of 30-min sessions, show that low-cost GNSS instruments can detect displacements from 10 mm upwards with a high level of reliability. On the other hand, low-cost instruments performed slightly worse as far as accuracy is concerned.

The old and the new: evaluating performance of acoustic telemetry systems in tracking migrating Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolt and European eel (Anguilla anguilla) around hydropower facilities

Acoustic telemetry represents the state-of-the-art technology for monitoring behaviour of aquatic organisms in the wild. Yet, the performance of different systems is rarely evaluated across species and environments. In this study, we evaluate two different acoustic telemetry systems, a commonly used analogue pulse-position-modulation-based system (VEMCO PPM) and a newly developed high-residency digital binary phase shift key-based system (VEMCO HR2), in ability to track downstream migrating Atlantic salmon smolt (Salmo salar) and European eel (Anguilla anguilla) around hydropower facilities. High-precision GPS were used to evaluate precision and accuracy of hyperbolically positioned data derived from each system. The PPM-based system had higher detection range than HR2 and generated more positions per transmission for eels migrating close to bottom than for surface-oriented salmon smolts. HR2 generated tenfold more positions per time unit than PPM, were less sensitive to noise, achieved submetre positional precision, and were considerably more accurate than PPM-derived positions after filtering. HR2 was deemed more capable than PPM in fine-scale positioning at moderate distances at hydropower facilities.

Characterization of the precision premium in astrometry

ABSTRACT The precision premium, a concept in astrometry that was first presented by Pascu in 1994, initially means that the relative positional measurement of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter will be more accurate when their separations are small. Correspondingly, many observations have been obtained of these Galilean satellites since it was introduced. However, the exact range of separations at which the precision premium takes effect is not clear yet, nor the variation of the precision with separation. In this article, observations of open cluster M35 are used to study the precision premium and the newest star catalogue Gaia DR2 is used in data reduction. Our results show that the precision premium applies at less than 100 arcsec for two specific objects and the relative positional precision can be well fitted by a sigmoidal function. Observations of Uranian satellites are also reduced as an example of the precision premium.

Positional Precision Analysis of Orthomosaics Derived from Drone Captured Aerial Imagery

The advancement of drones has revolutionized the production of aerial imagery. Using a drone with its associated flight control and image processing applications, a high resolution orthorectified mosaic from multiple individual aerial images can be produced within just a few hours. However, the positional precision and accuracy of any orthomosaic produced should not be overlooked. In this project, we flew a DJI Phantom drone once a month over a seven-month period over Oak Grove Cemetery in Nacogdoches, Texas, USA resulting in seven orthomosaics of the same location. We identified 30 ground control points (GCPs) based on permanent features in the cemetery and recorded the geographic coordinates of each GCP on each of the seven orthomosaics. Analyzing the cluster of each GCP containing seven coincident positions depicts the positional precision of the orthomosaics. Our analysis is an attempt to answer the fundamental question, “Are we obtaining the same geographic coordinates for the same feature found on every aerial image mosaic captured by a drone over time?” The results showed that the positional precision was higher at the center of the orthomosaic compared to the edge areas. In addition, the positional precision was lower parallel to the direction of the drone flight.

Noncoding RNA-nucleated heterochromatin spreading is intrinsically labile and requires accessory elements for epigenetic stability

The heterochromatin spreading reaction is a central contributor to the formation of gene-repressive structures, which are re-established with high positional precision, or fidelity, following replication. How the spreading reaction contributes to this fidelity is not clear. To resolve the origins of stable inheritance of repression, we probed the intrinsic character of spreading events in fission yeast using a system that quantitatively describes the spreading reaction in live single cells. We show that spreading triggered by noncoding RNA-nucleated elements is stochastic, multimodal, and fluctuates dynamically across time. This lack of stability correlates with high histone turnover. At the mating type locus, this unstable behavior is restrained by an accessory cis-acting element REIII, which represses histone turnover. Further, REIII safeguards epigenetic memory against environmental perturbations. Our results suggest that the most prevalent type of spreading, driven by noncoding RNA-nucleators, is epigenetically unstable and requires collaboration with accessory elements to achieve high fidelity.

Gentle, fast and effective crystal soaking by acoustic dispensing

The steady expansion in the capacity of modern beamlines for high-throughput data collection, enabled by increasing X-ray brightness, capacity of robotics and detector speeds, has pushed the bottleneck upstream towards sample preparation. Even in ligand-binding studies using crystal soaking, the experiment best able to exploit beamline capacity, a primary limitation is the need for gentle and nontrivial soaking regimens such as stepwise concentration increases, even for robust and well characterized crystals. Here, the use of acoustic droplet ejection for the soaking of protein crystals with small molecules is described, and it is shown that it is both gentle on crystals and allows very high throughput, with 1000 unique soaks easily performed in under 10 min. In addition to having very low compound consumption (tens of nanolitres per sample), the positional precision of acoustic droplet ejection enables the targeted placement of the compound/solvent away from crystals and towards drop edges, allowing gradual diffusion of solvent across the drop. This ensures both an improvement in the reproducibility of X-ray diffraction and increased solvent tolerance of the crystals, thus enabling higher effective compound-soaking concentrations. The technique is detailed here with examples from the protein target JMJD2D, a histone lysine demethylase with roles in cancer and the focus of active structure-based drug-design efforts.

Machining Precision Research for Two WEDM Processes

Plenty of round holes or especial holes distributed in measuring device and mold component with higher positional requirement, in general, are formed in WEDM technology. In the process of WEDM operation, whole holes with high requirement should be finished in one time, which can avoid of positional error and enhance the positional precision effectively. Investigate into the geometrical tolerance and present in an improved process. This process can both suitable for WEDM-HS and WEDM-LS.