Date of Completion

2024

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thesis Type

Honors College

First Advisor

Dr. Dryver Huston

Keywords

UAV, Drone, Landslide

Abstract

The monitoring of landslides and other geological hazards poses a physical challenge for researchers when the hazards are located in physically remote areas. Unmanned aerial devices (UAVs) equipped with camera-type sensors have been successfully used for environmental monitoring for the past decade, providing accurate surface data in a timely and cost-effective manner. While satellite imaging and aerial photography are an essential part of landslide management, some of the sensors employed by researchers are ground-based instruments. This project investigates the feasibility of using a modified unmanned aerial device equipped with an innovative grabber device to deploy and retrieve ground-based landslide monitoring equipment. The idea for this project emerged after a devastating landslide site in Mount Mansfield State Forest, VT, in the spring of 2019 that washed away access trails. Testing of the grabber device is still underway.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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