Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

93 Pages·2017·2.46 MB·English

by  Cengiz Koparan

Clemson University
TigerPrints
All Theses Theses
8-2016
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-Assisted Water
Sampling
Cengiz Koparan
Clemson University, [email protected]
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Recommended Citation
Koparan, Cengiz, "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-Assisted Water Sampling" (2016).All Theses. 2461.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2461
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UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV)-ASSISTED WATER SAMPLING
A Thesis
Presented to
the Graduate School of
Clemson University
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science
Plant and Environmental Sciences
by
Cengiz Koparan
August 2016
Accepted by:
Dr. A. Bulent Koc, Committee Chair
Dr. Charles V Privette, III
Dr. Calvin B. Sawyer
Dr. Julia Sharp
ABSTRACT
Water quality assessment programs require the collection of water samples for
physical, chemical, and bacteriological analysis. Lack of personnel, accessibility of water
bodies, and time constraints for water sampling, especially after natural disasters and
emergencies, are some of the challenges of water sampling. To overcome these
challenges, a water collection mechanism was developed and mounted on a multirotor
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for autonomous water sampling from water bodies. The
payload capacity and endurance of the UAV (hexacopter) were verified using an indoor
test station. The hexacopter was equipped with floating foam, and the electronic
components were coated against water damage in case of landing on water due to
emergencies or water sampling. The system was able to collect water samples 48 times
out of 73 autonomous flight missions from a pond. The unsuccessful missions were
mainly due to the malfunctions of the servo motor used in water sampler’s triggering
mechanism. The servo motor for the mechanism was replaced to prevent the future
malfunctions. UAV-assisted autonomous water sampling is a promising method for
collection of water from water bodies. The system would be useful for collection of water
samples from large lakes or difficult to access water sources. The details of the developed
water sampling mechanism and the multirotor UAV, and experiment results are reported
in this thesis.
ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. A. Bulent Koc for giving me the opportunity of being in
the graduate school and his limitless help, guidance, and support. I would also like to
extend my appreciation to my committee members; Dr. Charles Privette, Dr. Calvin
Sawyer, and Dr. Julia Sharp for their feedback, direction and assistance. I also would like
to thank Dan David and David Foltz for answering my questions related to thesis
formatting and editing. I thank Kevin Gibson for his help during data collection.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1
Importance of Water Quality Monitoring ........................................................................... 1
Limitations of Water Sampling ........................................................................................... 4
Possibility of a UAV for Water Sampling .......................................................................... 5
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................... 7
Fundamental Reasons for the Water Quality Research ...................................................... 7
Current Water Quality Monitoring Methods ...................................................................... 9
Precautions Regarding Compliance with FAA Regulations ............................................. 11
Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 13
3. MATERIALS AND METHODS .............................................................................. 14
Development of a UAV .................................................................................................... 14
Hexacopter Components ................................................................................................... 15
Flight Performance Station ............................................................................................... 17
iv
Table of Contents (Continued)
Page
Dynamic Analysis of the Hexacopter ............................................................................... 19
Water Sampler Subsystem ................................................................................................ 23
Water Sampler Performance Tests.................................................................................... 28
Experiment Location ......................................................................................................... 30
Autonomous Flight Missions for Water Sampling ........................................................... 31
Measurement Procedures of Water Quality Indices ......................................................... 33
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................. 36
Payload Capacity of the UAV........................................................................................... 36
Theoretical Endurance of the UAV .................................................................................. 38
Experimental Results of Water Sampler Performance ..................................................... 39
Estimation of Water Sampling Depth ............................................................................... 40
Chloride Accuracy Check ................................................................................................. 43
Performance of Water Sampler During Autonomous Water Sampling ............................ 44
Consistency Between Manual and UAV-Assisted Sampling ........................................... 48
5. CONCLUSIONS....................................................................................................... 52
6. FUTURE WORK ...................................................................................................... 53
APPENDICES .................................................................................................................. 55
Appendix A. LabVIEW® Programs used for load cell calibration and load measurement.
........................................................................................................................................... 56
Appendix B. Microcontroller programing code for automatic messenger release. .......... 57
v
Table of Contents (Continued)
Page
Appendix C. Autonomous flight mission path and water sampling commands. .............. 58
Appendix D. Field notebook of water sampling and on-site analysis .............................. 59
Appendix E. SAS output for sampling depth analysis ...................................................... 60
Appendix F. Pre-flight check list before autonomous water sampling. ............................ 62
Appendix G. Autonomous water sampling locations and boundaries of sampling site. .. 64
Appendix H. SAS Output for water sampling consistency analysis. ................................ 65
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
Table 1. Components of the hexacopter with their specifications. ................................... 16
Table 2. Load cell calibration data. ................................................................................... 18
Table 3. Total weight of the hexacopter with payload. ..................................................... 37
Table 4. Average thrust and endurance at different throttle levels. .................................. 38
Table 5. Number of successful and failed sampling flights during the initial tests. ......... 40
Table 6. Autonomous flight information for altitude range experiments. ........................ 42
Table 7. Least Squares Means results from SAS®. .......................................................... 43
Table 8. Chloride accuracy check and percent recovery. ................................................. 44
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
Figure 1. Locations of impaired waterbodies listed in EPA 303(d) list in South Carolina
(Wilson 2015). .................................................................................................................... 8
Figure 2. Close-up images of the water sampling system: a) hexacopter, b) ultrasound
range sensor, c) microcontroller, d) servo motor, e) water sampler, f) messenger, g)
floating attachments, and h) hexacopter with all of the attachments. ............................... 15
Figure 3. Flight performance test station for indoor experiments with load cell, signal
conditioner and data acquisition board. ............................................................................ 17
Figure 4. Load cell calibration graph. ............................................................................... 19
Figure 5. Kinematic scheme of the hexacopter. ................................................................ 20
Figure 6. 3D design from SolidWorks (left) and the 3D printed water sampler (right). .. 24
Figure 7. Location of the Lamaster Pond at Clemson University campus. ...................... 30
Figure 8. Schematic showing the operation of the UAV-assisted water sampling. .......... 32
Figure 9. UAV indoor flight performance test results. ..................................................... 37
Figure 10. Change of thrust with endurance of the UAV at 50% throttle level. .............. 38
Figure 11. UAV with water sampler hovering at water sampling altitude during an
autonomous flight (left) and autonomous flight path for aerial water sampling (right). .. 41
Figure 12. Barometer altitude measurements during 18 seconds of water sampling from
the first autonomous flight. ............................................................................................... 42
Figure 13. Chloride accuracy chart. .................................................................................. 44
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List of Figures (Continued)
Page
Figure 14. Aerial image which was taken at 120 m altitude represents the sampling
points. ................................................................................................................................ 46
Figure 15. Water constituent measurements from hand sampling and UAV-assisted
sampling. The points represent the average of three replicate measurements for
temperature (a), pH (b), DO (c), EC (d), and Chloride (e). .............................................. 47
Figure 16. Interaction plots between hand and UAV-assisted water constituent
measurements for temperature (a), pH (b), DO (c), EC (d), and chloride (e). .................. 51
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