PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
December 2014
1091
UAS S
trategy
A comprehensive UAS strategy has been developed
that is tailored to the mission, funding, personnel,
and infrastructure levels of the DOI and includes:
•
Focusing on sUAS, which are more aligned with
DOI’s decentralized mission execution strate-
gy and more supportable by the Department’s
funding, personnel and infrastructure levels.
•
Leveraging available excess DOD sUAS to min-
imize procurement, training, and support costs.
•
Establishing partnerships with Federal agen-
cies and universities that possess UAS capa-
bilities beyond DOI’s to support DOI missions,
avoid duplication, share missions and enhance
capabilities.
•
Conducting operational tests and evaluations
of various UAS technologies to support the de-
velopment of long-range UAS requirements and
strategy.
Based on the requirements and strategy developed
above, the DOI can procure (buy or contract) sUAS
capabilities that cannot be met either through ex-
cess DOD sUAS or those available through part-
nerships with other organizations,
including ser-
vice contracts with the commercial sector that
would provide the required data sets.
P
rivacy
The DOI has decades of proven experience in the
proper collection, use, control, and retention of ae-
rial and satellite data, and employs the same poli-
cies for its UAS data sets.
Although UAS are starting to prove their ef-
fectiveness, recent concerns with the potential of
UAS to infringe on an individual’s right to privacy
threaten to overshadow the benefits this technolo-
gy promises to bring to the DOI’s mission. Conse-
quently, privacy concerns must be addressed effec-
tively if a DOI bureau expects the public to contin-
ue their support of the use of UAS, especially since
the potential for more routine use could increase
privacy concerns.
All DOI UAS missions are in full compliance
with Federal laws, and with DOI policies and pro-
cedures. The data collected with UAS sensors are
handled and retained within industry standards,
consistent with data collected with any of the DOI’s
remote sensing systems. The UAS missions are
subject to professional standards, codes of conduct,
and case law with the public’s trust in mind.
M
issions
Satellites, manned aircraft or
in situ
observations
have traditionally collected data needed to meet the
DOI’s demand for remote sensing data, sometimes
at a significant risk or cost. The leading
cause of field biologist fatalities in the DOI
from 1937 to 2000 was aviation related
(Sasse, 2003). However, introducing a new
technology can be challenging since it must
not only be more cost effective than tradi-
tional methods, but must also meet any
required data specifications, and be able to
operate with minimal disruption to the en-
vironment and ecosystems being observed.
The DOI, working with many partners, is
actively conducting operational test and
evaluations (OT&E) of UAS technology,
which are designed to evaluate the poten-
tial of the technology to support mandat-
ed DOI scientific, resource and land management
missions. Completed proof of concept UAS missions
have been crucial in determining how the technol-
ogy can cost effectively meet the DOI remote sens-
ing data demand (Figure 2). These missions have
been able to provide invaluable information on how
to most efficiently implement this technology, but
also provide insight into the associated costs. Exe-
cution of these missions has also provided a perfect
opportunity to develop and test required operation-
Figure 2. Total number for flight hours of DOI operational and test evalu-
ation missions from fiscal year 2010 to 2014 (USGS).
“The DOI,
working with
many partners,
is actively
conducting
operational test
and evaluations
(OT&E) of UAS
technology.”
