Mission Preparation

Mission preparation comprises the following:

1. Defining an area of interest (AOI) which represents the entire area of image acquisition (e.g. an island or a city), you can use Google Earth for this, see here. Export the AOI  as a KML file (for reporting purposes).
2. Identifying and inspecting suitable landing sites within the AOI ranking these according to suitability (e.g. size, distance from airports/no fly zones, etc) and the coverage afforded per flight and then selecting the site(s) that will be used.
3. Avoid sites close to radio/cell towers these may interfere with communication. Remember to keep away from assemblies of people (e.g. schools, stadiums). For VTOL UAVs landing sites with windbreaks, whether natural (hills, berms, treelines, etc) or manmade (signboards, buildings, fences) that block usual, prevailing winds are preferred. Windbreaks should have a minimum of height of 5 meters. You can create a 1m gridded model to determine dead spots. For VTOL UAVs a concrete take off/landing surface is ideal. If the surface is grass/scrubby use machete to cut back growth. Lay a tarpaulin flat on the take off point (tarpaulin should be at least 3m by 3m).
4. Importing the AOI into the mission planning software you are using (software is UAV vendor specific so refer to your Vendor’s user manual for more details).
5. Downloading terrain information for terrain following. Depending on the mission planning software you can download SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) digital terrain model. This is a free to use dataset representing a digital surface model covering 80% of the globe and can be downloaded using the USGS Earth Explorer.
6. Downloading and installing weather and flight tracking apps (Windy and FlightRadar24).
7. Finding out where nearest available geodetic control point is located and whether there is nearby Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS). Contact the local geodetic agency for support.
8. Preparing flight plans within the AOI using your mission planning software (consult the vendor’s user manual for details) and based on an approved flying altitude. Verify flight pattern and overlap. For built up areas the minimum forward lap is 80%, side lap is 70%, for flat areas the minimum forward lap is 60%, side lap is 30%. Ensure there is sufficient overlap between adjacent flight plans.
9. Exporting the flights plan as KML files (for reporting purposes).
10. Assembling/briefing the team, checking the equipment, ensuring all LiPo batteries are fully charged.