A new breed of Remote Sensing (RS) platform known as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is emerging. UAS are widely used in military applications that are “Dull, Dirty and Dangerous” missions but are now being applied to industry. The size of the aircraft ranges from as small as 10 cm (micro air vehicle) to Global Hawks with wingspan as wide as 70 m. UAS can be equipped with a variety of interchangeable imaging devices, and sensors such as digital videos, infrared cameras, thermal, multi-spectral and hyper-spectral sensors, synthetic aperture radar, laser scanners, chemical, biological, and radiological sensors and weather monitoring devices.

Small sized UAS (sUAS) platforms will be ideal for Aerial Robotics in facility inspection and monitoring of deep water production platforms, offshore and onshore facilities, rapid response and assessment tool to monitor an oil spill, monitoring endangered species along oil and gas operation corridors, and security of our critical infrastructure from threats. Robotics technologies present an opportunity to develop reliable and deployable solutions to support business processes while removing personnel from the operating theatre or accessing areas that would otherwise be difficult or impossible.

Dr. Ramachandran will discuss the exciting potential of sUAS in the oil and gas industry and share some of the latest research from the Geomatics program at Nicholls State University. Ongoing research projects include characterization of Louisiana barrier islands, inspection of offshore platforms, infrastructure monitoring, and precision agriculture. A sUAS certification program is being designed to prepare students in UAS related careers.

PARKING AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Visitor parking is available in the Visitor Garage, levels G-1 and G-2. Parking is metered and payable by credit card only. All visitors must check-in on level 2 at either the Tower Concierge Desk or the Marathon Oil Corporation Reception Desk. Please have photo identification available upon check-in.