86 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
A strong drawcard is its 100sq km
CAA-designated restricted UAV
testing range with a ceiling of 1,000
metres at Birdlings Flat, 30km from
the city. There, post-graduate students
test everything from sensing systems
to algorithms that autonomously
evaluate the suitability of a landing
site prior to a safe landing, to
radio frequency. They have tested
positioning technology to determine
precise positioning during landing
and takeoff and a UAV platform
that autonomously records a forest’s
“cutover” geographic edge for accurate
tree harvesting.
Japanese collaboration
The Royal Society of New Zealand
and The Japanese Society for the
Promotion of Science jointly gave
NZ$60,000 recently to a collaborative
project by the university’s Wireless
Research Centre and Japan’s
Yokohama National University to
develop a device that enables multiple
drones to communicate with each
other while flying over a natural
disaster area. The task was to collect
information about the status of people
buried under rubble so they could
potentially be triaged for rescue.
The futuristic technology revolves
around body area Wi-Fi networks
where interconnected devices are
implanted, attached or carried by
a person, be it a mobile phone,
exercise wristband or in the fabric of
a garment. The research focused on
ways those network signals could be
located by a swarm of drones so first
responders on the ground could find
survivors quickly.
Fred Samandari, director of the
university centres, said the drones
picked up signals even if connections
were damaged, to indicate whether
a person was dead or alive. It adds
another layer to drones kitted with
thermal heat imaging for detecting
people at a distance in search and
rescue operations.
The device was tested in non-
emergency situations in the first phase
of the project.
Now the universities are seeking an
additional NZ$200,000 to bring the
project to market.Canterbury’s students have also
been researching ways UAVs can
withstand elements and air pressure
when collecting samples such as water
or volcanic ash in hard to reach places
and returning with them in one piece.
“We needed to make sure the
samples collected were secure and that
they didn’t end up splashing all over
the place,” Samandari said.Forests
The centres designed a drone to
monitor hotspots in bushfire situations
for the government’s forestry research
institute, Scion.
Scion has been at the forefront of
publicly and privately funded trials of
UAVs flying beyond the line of sight
for the evaluation of tree harvesting
and relaying tree health and pests in
forests using interchangeable remote-
sensing technology.
“We’re definitely aiming for a future
beyond visual line of sight,” Samadari
said.
“Here in NZ aviation authorities
are extremely open. They really want
to liberate the industry.Flight testing to identify
paddock plant health and
animal crop availability.WIRELESS
RESEARCH CENTRE, CANTERBURY UNIVERSITY‘Now the unis
are seeking
$200,000
to bring the
project to
market.’