Projects ASTRA: Autonomous unmanned aerial System for synThetic aperture Radar, photogrAmmetry and digital image correlation

ASTRA: Autonomous unmanned aerial System for synThetic aperture Radar, photogrAmmetry and digital image correlation

The main goal of the project is the development of an autonomous Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) platform able to perform Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry, photogrammetry, and Digital Image Correlation for monitoring both slopes (e.g. landslides and mines) and infrastructures (e.g. bridges, towers, urban sites). The key idea of this project is to exploit the huge potential of autonomous UAS as a platform that could overcome the gap between space/air-borne platforms and terrestrial installations. Space/air-borne platforms are able to cover large areas, but their use has strong limitations in terms of flexibility and cost. Terrestrial installations are much cheaper and can acquire data at much higher sampling time, but their field of view is limited by orography. UAS platforms could be the answer for many applicative cases when a satellite or an airplane does not provide adequate time coverage, and a terrestrial installation is not effective. In this context the capability of autonomous flight is a qualifying feature. SAR acquisitions are as much better as the flight is well-controlled. Ideally, the flight should be a repeatable straight line. An autonomous flight could be much closer to this condition than a flight piloted by an human operator.