Projects
The focus of this project is on the analysis of UAS data rather than the data collection process itself. You are not required to collect your own UAS data; however, the dataset you use must be sourced from UAS data. Alternatively, your project could involve enhancing some aspect of UAS data collection, such as flight planning or Structure from Motion (SfM).
Available Data Sources:
- Lake Wheeler (NCSU) - Agricultural Land: A dataset we will provide.
- Utilize Open Data Sources
- Collect Your Own Data: Optionally, you may choose to collect your own UAS data.
Proposal, presentation and paper requirements
Pre-Proposal
- Submit a project pre-proposal to the project discussion forum on Moodle.
In the pre-proposal please define the scope of the project, the project location, data, and analysis you would like to perform.
Proposal
- Define research question, select location, list available data, methods (theory), software tools, describe expected results.
Presentation
- Length: DE students 10 minutes, on-campus students 15 min + 5 min discussion
- Introduction/background: problem, motivation for the research, research question / objective
- Study site: where, why this site, geographic characteristics
- Data acquisition: platform and sensor, flight plan (if applicable), flight conditions
- Data properties and processing: resolution, spatial extent, accuracy
- Analysis and/or modeling methods: describe methodology and workflows
- Results: present and explain the results using qualitative and quantitative description, tables, graphs, maps/images
- Discussion: discuss impact of flight conditions, data and methods on the results, uncertainty issues, compare with results from other studies, which questions remain unresolved, what still needs to be done
- Conclusion: summary of the most important findings including advances in methodology, future work
Paper
- Structure and formatting should follow scientific journal standards.
- Same sections as the presentation
- Text and Figures: min. 4 pages, single spaced including tables and references images, maps, graphs, presented in readable size with scale and legends where needed
- References: at least 5 papers from scientific journals, rest can be reports, web documents
- Appendix (optional): workflows, scripts, metadata. Software commands, issues go here
Grading and rubric
The project is worth 40% of the course grade (see Logistics & Policies). Within the project:
| Milestone | Due | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-proposal | 9/9 | required, not graded |
| Proposal | 9/28 | 5% |
| Progress report | 10/21 | required, not graded |
| Presentation | 11/30 and 12/1 | 35% |
| Final paper and portfolio | 12/7 | 60% |
Milestones are hard deadlines and are not accepted late. The ungraded milestones exist so you get feedback while there is still time to act on it; skipping one costs you that feedback and a conversation with me, not points.
For every graded row below: full points means the element is present, specific to your project, and correctly interpreted; partial credit means it is present but thin, generic, or partly wrong; zero means it is missing.
Proposal (5 points)
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Research question or objective: specific, and answerable with UAS data | 2 |
| Study site and data: identified, available, and suited to the question | 1 |
| Methods and software tools: named, with the underlying theory | 1 |
| Expected results: described concretely | 1 |
Presentation (35 points)
DE and on-campus presentations are graded on the same rows; only the length differs (10 minutes DE, 15 plus 5 discussion on campus).
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Introduction and background: problem, motivation, research question | 4 |
| Study site: where, why this site, geographic characteristics | 3 |
| Data acquisition: platform and sensor, flight plan if applicable, conditions | 4 |
| Data properties and processing: resolution, extent, accuracy | 4 |
| Analysis and modeling methods: methodology and workflows | 5 |
| Results: quantitative and qualitative, with tables, graphs, maps | 6 |
| Discussion: effects of conditions, data, and methods; uncertainty; comparison with other studies; what remains unresolved | 4 |
| Conclusion: key findings, methodological advances, future work | 2 |
| Delivery: within the time limit, clear, figures readable with scale and legends | 3 |
Final paper (60 points)
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Introduction and background with the research question | 6 |
| Study site | 4 |
| Data acquisition | 5 |
| Data properties and processing | 6 |
| Analysis and modeling methods | 8 |
| Results: presented and explained with quantitative and qualitative description | 12 |
| Discussion: uncertainty, comparison with other studies, open questions | 8 |
| Conclusion and future work | 3 |
| Scientific writing, structure, and formatting: journal standards, minimum 4 pages single spaced | 5 |
| References: at least 5 scientific journal papers, consistent citation style | 3 |
Past Projects
Examples of student projects from previous semesters are on the Past Projects page.