Applications of Unmanned Vehicles with Wireless Sensor Networks and Surveying

An unmanned vehicle, such as a flying multi-copter, an unmanned rover, a remote-controlled boat, can be used to cover a large area of land, to perform repetitive, tedious yet strenuous tasks for people. We can have an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) distribute a network of seismic microphone, used during seismic surveying, in treacherous terrain, free of heavy signal wiring, without risking injury to human workers. A UAV can sweep a large area with a mosquito-zapping net, destructively sampling mosquito population in the area, giving entomology researcher better data about their distribution and behavior through time and space. An unmanned boat, or a UAV, can distribute a drifting wireless sensor network (WSN) into a body of water. The same, or several unmanned vehicles, can then monitor, recharge and finally recollect them. The following thesis presents hardware for all of the above applications, as well as software and algorithms for the unmanned vehicles, and sensor nodes.