Unmanned Aerial System for use in Environmental Monitoring of Water Body Wave Motion

This paper details the research conducted on an open source flight controller for the use of monitoring surface and wave motion of water bodies. Testing was preformed on an industrial FANUC robotic arm, where a Pixhawk 2 was tested using pre-preprogrammed circles of varying sizes to mimic the amplitude of sinusoidal waveforms. Results show good to excellent comparability between the circle radii programmed, and the calculated displacement from the Pixhawk's reported acceleration. This was achieved through the use of Fourier Transforms, filtering and integration of the acceleration logged by the Pixhawk during tests. Such a system is envisaged to be used in the reduction of flow noise a hydrophone experiences from surface deployments, where real time monitoring of the surface would raise and lower a deployed hydrophone in the water column to reduce or eliminate flow noise. Further to this, this system could be used for an early warning tsunami detection system, which could compliment systems already deployed, as well as being a cost effective solution for areas where no systems are currently in place.