Drone Meteorite Searching

Main Survey Data Collection

Drone Image Survey Requirements

• Ground resolution: 2 mm /pixel
• Overlap: 10%
• Minimum sun elevation: X degrees (to avoid long shadows creating too many false positives. Ignore if overcast). Use https://www.sunearthtools.com/dp/tools/pos_sun.php to calculate survey start/end times for your location.
• GPS tagging of the images (Exif)
• Timezone set to UTC

Note:

Survey strategy

When the data is processed, the oldest images are somewhat prioritised. Hence the higher priority/probability areas should be surveyed first.

The simplest way to achieve this is to cut the search area polygon into 5-20 smaller polygons, depending on the size of the survey. Try not to make the polygons too elongated.

Low-resolution Survey

(optional) Needed to make a background map of the survey area (used as a layer on slippy map on Webapp).

Data Collection

• Ground resolution: 5 cm /pixel
• Overlap: 70%

Data Processing

• Upload and process the data on WebODM (cloud version).
• Download the data product: Orthomosaic (large geoTiff file).
• Upload geoTiff to Mapbox: https://studio.mapbox.com/tilesets/
• Wait for processing, note the Tileset ID, make sure it is public, and put that ID somewhere... TBD

WebODM setup

• feature-type: orb
• use-fixed-camera-params: enable
• sfm-no-partial: disable
• skip-3dmodel: enable
• skip-report: enable
• fast-orthophoto: enable
• dsm: disable

Webapp Deployment

See deployment notes: https://github.com/desertfireballnetwork/dfn-meteorite-drone-webapp/tree/main/webapp

GPU machine Deployment

Heavy lifting jobs (Machine Learning training and inference) need a GPU desktop or beefy VM. This machine just needs to be connected to the internet, and will work as a slave wrt the webapp on the VM.

See install notes: https://github.com/desertfireballnetwork/dfn-meteorite-drone-webapp/tree/main/mldaemon

Checklists

Computer things

• Laptop + backup laptop. Linux distro, ~1TB free space, SD card reader.
• Spin-up Webapp VM.
• Start high-performance GPU computer (lab).

Comms

• Starlink unit.
• Starlink ethernet adapter.
• Re-activate Starlink subscription that should be on pause (ask Hadrien).
• WiFi router with WAN port and swappable antenna (SMA).
• high-gain 2.4GHz WiFi antenna.
• hand-held UHF radios (1 pp) + charger.

Power

• Generator.
• Petrol and/or diesel. Usage: ~X litres / 12h
• Battery station + cables.

Drone

• Drone.
• Drone camera + lenses.
• Drone controller.
• RTK base station.
• Batteries (charge them just before the trip).
• Battery charger.
• SD cards.
• Something to make a landing pad (e.g. tarp).
• stuff for making ground control points (for the low-res survey)