Alaska Researchers Use UAS to Aid Native Whale Hunters
Photo: University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks recently used a small unmanned aircraft to select a path through the ice to allow whale hunters to reach open water.
The task is usually done by hand with ice picks and can take days or weeks. The university offered to try finding the safest, most efficient routes using a hexacopter built by one of its students, and the native whaling captains from the Native Village of Barrow, Alaska, endorsed the idea.
UAF researchers started mapping ice trails in the region seven years ago, but this year was the first time a UAS was used. It was a Ptarmigan UAS, designed and built by UAF electrical engineering student Ben Neubauer. The flights took place in April, with the Ptarmigan carrying a GPS unit from NovAtel and a high-resolution camera.
The UAS was the brainchild of doctoral student Dyre Oliver Dammann and Eyal Saiet, a staff member for the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration and masters student in remote sensing.
The vehicle flew at 400 feet elevation over a section of ice that is about 800 meters by 200 meters. The resulting data were used to create a 3-D map of the surface, allowing the whale hunters to find the best routes to the bowhead whales they seek. The researchers hope to use a fixed-wing aircraft with longer endurance for similar flights next year.
