AERONAUTICS

Aeronautics: Using Unmanned Aircraft in the Crash Documentation/ Reconstruction

Unmanned aircraft are air vehicles that can fly without having human pilots. They can be controlled with a ground control station or onboard electronic equipment by humans. They can be remotely operated if a powerful wireless connection is mandatory for a safe and well-controlled flight. The most common form of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is completely autonomous drones but do have a controller that is to be operated by humans. UAVs are also suitable for outdoor detection of crash scenes or locations where certain accidents have occurred. The survivors could be identified and could be contacted immediately. The crew members could have a clear picture of the location and assess the seriousness of the disaster. This paper aims at devising a problem statement and mission objective for using unmanned aircraft in the crash documentation or reconstruction, which requires ultimate accuracy.

Unmanned aircraft or drones have been said to provide reconstruction benefits for the accident scene as they can collect visual data with precision. The mapping software they are equipped with changes the photos and videos in 3D models that could be recreated into maps for later accident reformation (Dukowitz, 2020). A popular technique called photogrammetry is utilized through unmanned aircraft or drones so that taking videos at angles and locations where crashes or accidents have taken place is facilitated (Almeshal, Alenezi & Alshatti, 2020). It is studied that this technique is twice as fast compared to hands-on methods for taking photos of crashes and accidents with accuracy. The reconstruction of accident scenes is convenient with this method with the visual data collected by the drones photogrammetry technique due to its safe flight and control when in the air.

The user-friendly apps and tools are used afterward to develop the captured visual data by the unmanned aircraft into reconstructed accident scenes so that the dynamics of the crash or calamity could be interpreted well. Aerial photography and video making through advanced drone functions are helpful in re-devising the scene for investigating the accidents. When evidence like aerial photos or videos is present, obtained through drones, the crash investigation becomes much more feasible than asking the eyewitnesses at the crash scene, which might not be available at times.

Statements from police investigators have corroborated that drones are quite efficient in collecting data for crash examination. They cited that the data collection procedure with drones takes less than five or sometimes eight minutes only, while this was not possible manually (Sequin, 2019). When police officers had to investigate around the crash scene, it took a good two to three hours for the entire process. Technology has been extensively used by the police and traffic departments, especially via drones or unmanned aircraft, for reconstructing the map crash scenes, catering to its benefits for law enforcement, and forming specialty teams for the crash location.

The image processing taken by the drones depends on the positioning of the unmanned aircraft and its control by a human. The creation of orthorectified images captured by the drones from the crash scene assists in providing the correct infrastructure of the place where the incident took place with the depiction of...

…UAV is involved. The high-resolution pictures that the drone can capture are sufficient to produce a re-enactment of the crash scene with better graphing methodologies. The processing of pictures with specialized image algorithms is done for creating models of the crash scene with precise measurements. NIJ-sponsored studies verified that the crime scene investigation was done efficiently since the time taken to clear the scene was reduced with UAV by 35-45 minutes as compared to manual methods (The Johns Hopkins University, 2018, p. 19).

Hence, the mission objectives would be:

To check whether the factors determined in the literature are present in UAV for crash reconstruction

The number of factors is considered the most important for obtaining the highest level of accuracy for capturing photos or recording videos

To test the factors for gaining consistency in high-quality images for crash reconstruction

At normal operating conditions, the feasibility of unmanned aircraft for crash reconstruction is proposed for the current research. It would also depend on when and where the experiment would be conducted, especially day or night, and places where extreme weather occurs, such as snow. The contribution of factors providing trusted quality of images for error-free reconstruction should be ensured. The process would be hinged upon the enlisting of factors conducive to the effectiveness of the usage of UAVs. The list should include all the possible influencers, including seasons, flight altitude, drone sensors, software used within, manual control of the ground control device, etc. Drones are expected to speed up the operation of visual data collection as secondary accidents are most likely to occur soon after the actual accident has…