While low-cost uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) can be acquired and operated by individual principal investigators for simple surveying or photography, very high-resolution observation using advanced sensors is often out of reach for most researchers. To help make these tools more widely available, five National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported Earth science facilities (NCALM, EarthScope Consortium, NHERI-RAPID, OpenTopography and CTEMPs) have joined together to create the UAS Federation.
The UAS Federation currently manages over 35 aircraft (6 heavy lift airframes, 7 medium lift, and at least 23 light duty airframes) along with remote-sensing systems that collect a broad range of data, including lidar; airborne magnetics; hyperspectral, multispectral, and thermal images, and albedo. Numerous cameras with RGB capacity are also available. In addition, we can provide access to software and over 140 archived UAS data sets.
