Define Sortie Subareas

Use the Define Sortie Subareas option (geogxnet.dll(Geosoft.GX.UAVSurvey.PlanSortieSubareas;Run)*) from the UAV Merge Sorties > Plan Survey menu to divide the area of interest into adjacent subareas covering individual sorties.

Define Sortie Subareas dialog options

Survey name

Select the survey you would like to work with from the list of available project surveys. Multiple surveys can be created within the same GPF.

See the Application Notes below for more details.

Script Parameter: PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.SURVEY_NAME

Define Subareas

Calculate

Distance

Select the Calculate option in conjunction with defining the subarea size using the Distance option to calculate polygons according to the drone flight length per sortie. The contextual parameter below will become available.

Nominal sortie length

Different drones have different maximum flying time per sortie. Translate the flying time into line metres and provide it here. This figure is then used to calculate the sortie polygon layout and sizes.

Script Parameter: PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.NOMINAL_SORTIE_LENGTH

Script Parameters:

PLAN_UAV_SURVEY. DEFINE_SUBAREAS [0: Calculate (default)]

PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.DEFINE_SUBAREAS_SIZE [0: Distance]

Calculate

Time & speed

Select the Calculate option in conjunction with defining the subarea size using the Time & speed option to specify the size of a sortie by speed and time endurance. The two contextual parameters below will become enabled based on your current choice; their inputs will be converted internally to distance before proceeding to calculate the sortie polygon layout and sizes.

Speed (m/sec)

Specify the airspeed of the flight.

Script Parameter: PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.SPEED

Duration (minutes)

Specify the drone endurance time.

Script Parameter: PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.DURATION

Script Parameters:

PLAN_UAV_SURVEY. DEFINE_SUBAREAS [0: Calculate (default)]

PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.DEFINE_SUBAREAS_SIZE [1: Time & speed]

Import

You may have already defined /adjusted the breakdown of the area into sorties. In this case, select the Import option to import the pre-existing polygons into the workflow. The contextual parameter below will become available.

Subarea polygons

You are prompted to select the pre-existing subarea polygons. Select the polygons that collectively cover the Area of interest.

Script Parameter: PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.POLYGONS

Script Parameter:

PLAN_UAV_SURVEY. DEFINE_SUBAREAS [ 1- Import]

Output plan map name

Specify the plan map on which to draw the calculated polygons. For clarity, adjacent polygons are drawn in different colours.

Two new groups are added to the Data view of the plan map: one represents the sortie subareas and the other the take off locations.

Script Parameter: PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.OUTPUT_MAP

[More]

All subsequent parameters have default settings. Should you wish to customize them, expand this section.

Overlap

Subarea overlap along line

It is recommended to overlap adjacent polygons along the survey lines. The overlap will be used to level and merge line segments. Clicking on the Calculate button populates this entry with a value representing 10% of the length of the subarea polygon.

Script Parameter:PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.OVERLAP_ALONG_LINE

Lateral subarea overlap

You could also overlap one line laterally in order to level adjacent lines afterwards. Clicking on the Calculate button populates this entry with a value equivalent to half the line spacing.

Script Parameter: PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.LATERAL_OVERLAP

Information

Flight line azimuth (CW from N)

Flight line spacing

Tie line spacing

The project parameters are displayed to help guide you with setting the overlap parameters.

Script Parameters:

PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.FLIGHT_LINE_AZIMUTH

PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.FLIGHT_LINE_SPACING

PLAN_UAV_SURVEY.TIE_LINE_SPACING

Application Notes

You may be running different scenarios to plan the same survey. Each scenario can be saved under a separate survey name in the same working folder. The files related to each survey are prepended by the survey name in order to avoid conflict.

Given the line-metres per sortie, the average size of each sortie polygon is calculated so that it covers 90% of the provided line-metres per sortie. 10% is reserved to allow for the distance travelled from/ to the takeoff location.

Output Files

The planned subarea polygons (*.ply files) are created and saved in the Survey name subfolder. The number of polygons depends on the survey line and tie line spacing in the survey. The basename syntax for the polygons is "Survey name_i-j.ply", where "i" is the row number and "j" is the column number of the subarea; i=1, j=1 represents the top left most polygon.

The polygon files will inherit the projected coordinate system from the Survey Parameters (i.e., coordinate system, datum and local datum transform, projection method, and length units).

You will have the opportunity to modify the polygons before surveying them.

*The GX.NET tools are embedded in the geogxnet.dll file located in the "...\Geosoft\Desktop Applications \bin" folder. If running this GX interactively, bypassing the menu, first change the folder to point to the "bin" directory, then supply the GX.NET tool in the specified format. See the topic Run GX for more details on running a GX.NET interactively.