The paper presents a spatial model of the satellite antenna with an arbitrary number of flexible arms. Such a system is an example of an open kinematic chain with a tree-like structure. The modification of the rigid finite element method is used to discretise flexible links. The equations of motion are derived from the Lagrange equations and the motion of the system is described using joint coordinates and homogenous transformations. Numerical simulations have been carried out to analyse how the method of extending the arms influences the dynamics of the system.
The possibilities of remote sensing techniques in the field of the Earth surface monitoring and protection specifically for the problems caused by petroleum contaminations, for the mapping of insufficiently plugged and abandoned old oil wells and for the analysis of onshore oil seeps are described. Explained is the methodology for analyzing and detection of potential hydrocarbon contaminations using the Earth observation in the area of interest in Slovakia (Korňa) and in Czech Republic (Nesyt), mainly building and calibrating the spectral library for oil seeps. The acquisition of the in-situ field data (ASD, Cropscan spectroradiometers) for this purpose, the successful building and verification of hydrocarbon spectral library, the application of hydrocarbon indexes and use of shift in red-edge part of electromagnetic spectra, the spectral analysis of input data are clarified in the paper. Described is approach which could innovate the routine methods for investigating the occurrence of hydrocarbons and can assist during the mapping and locating the potential oil seep sites. Important outcome is the successful establishment of a spectral library (database with calibration data) suitable for further application in data classification for identifying the occurrence of hydrocarbons.
The paper presents a method of calculation of position deviations from a theoretical, nominally rectilinear trajectory for a SAR imaging system installed on board of UAV. The UAV on-board system consists of a radar sensor, an antenna system, a SAR processor and a navigation system. The main task of the navigation part is to determine the vector of differences between the theoretical and the measured trajectories of UAV center of gravity. The paper includes chosen results of experiments obtained during ground and flight tests.
The paper presents the campaigns of mobile satellite measurements, carried out in 2009–2015 on the railway and tram lines. The accuracy of the measurement method has been analysed on the basis of the results obtained in both horizontal and vertical planes. The track axis deviation from the defined geometric shape has been analysed in the areas clearly defined in terms of geometry, i.e. on the straight sections and sections with constant longitudinal inclination. The values of measurement errors have been estimated on the basis of signals subjected to appropriate processes of filtration. The paper attempts to evaluate the changing possibilities of using the GNSS techniques to determine the shape of the railway track axis from 2009 to 2015. The determined average value of the measurement error now equals a few millimetres. This achievement is very promising for the prospects of mobile satellite measurements in railway engineering.
This work presents the results acquired during simulation studies done for a 3D free-floating satellite behaviour with input-output decoupling approach. The research object is a free-floating satellite with a 3 DoF rigid 3D manipulator where a noise disturbance was introduced. Different approaches are used to compensate the noise influence. Systems using a visual aid to determine the position of manipulator joints are not ideal and introduce some uncertainties. What is more, determining the position from joints encoders is not error-free while computing angular velocity from numerical differentiation introduces even greater disturbance to the system. A couple of scenarios were investigated where state of the manipulator, including its position and velocity, was disturbed with homogeneous noise. Also the control inputs of the manipulator were disturbed. Simulation results show that the biggest impact on the control quality has a scenario where the satellite’s state has been disturbed with additive noise.
Recently, Google Earth Engine (GEE) provides a new way to effectively classify land cover utilizing available in-built classifiers. However, there have a few studies on the applications of the GEE so far. Therefore, the goal of this study is to explore the capacity of the GEE platform in terms of land cover classification in Dien Bien Province of Vietnam. Land cover classification in the year of 2003 and 2010 were performed using multiple-temporal Landsat images. Two algorithms – GMO Max Entropy and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) integrated into the Google Earth Engine (GEE) plat-form – were applied for this classification. The results indicated that the CART algorithm performed better in terms of mapping land use. The overall accuracy of this algorithm in the year of 2003 and 2010 were 80.0% and 81.6%, respective-ly. Significant changes between 2003 and 2010 were found as an increase in barren land and a reduction in forest land. This is likely due to the slash-and-burn agricultural practice of ethnic minorities in the province. Barren land seems to occur more at locations near water sources, reflecting the local people’s unsuitable farming practice. This study may provide use-ful information in land cover change in Dien Bien Province, as well as analysis mechanisms of this change, supporting en-vironmental and natural resource management for the local authorities.
The paper presents methods of on-line and off-line estimation of UAV position on the basis of measurements from its integrated navigation system. The navigation system installed on board UAV contains an INS and a GNSS receiver. The UAV position, as well as its velocity and orientation are estimated with the use of smoothing algorithms. For off-line estimation, a fixed-interval smoothing algorithm has been applied. On-line estimation has been accomplished with the use of a fixed-lag smoothing algorithm. The paper includes chosen results of simulations demonstrating improvements of accuracy of UAV position estimation with the use of smoothing algorithms in comparison with the use of a Kalman filter.