Trip To Tanzania

Overview 
A few months ago, I was selected to by a sustainable volunteer program to travel to Tanzania Africa this December. In preparation for the trip, I have been learning about the culture, the laws, and the travel requirements that I will have to adhere to during my adventure. Since I am a UAS student, I am particularly interested in how Tanzania is using UAVs to serve it’s people. Therefore, this post is about Tanzania’s UAS applications.

Table of Contents
Part 1---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fighting Malaria with UAS
Part 2--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Delivering Blood with UAS
Part 3------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Intercepting Poachers with UAS
Part 4----------------------------------------------------------Utilizing Local Resources to Construct a UAV Airframe
Part 5-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tanzania Aviation Law
Part 6-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Conclusion

Fighting Malaria with UAS
Depicted in Figure 2 is a DJI Agras MG1-S spray UAV in Cheju, Tanzania. Taken from an article in Forbes Magazine, this specialized platform is designed to fight malaria which is responsible for killing 80,000 people per year. according to malariaspot.org. As being considered one of the first UAS based biological control applications in the world, could a UAS with operating limitations make a faster more cost-effective spray then manual spraying efforts?  For more information, click on the figure to be directed to the article.

Figure 1: Source Tanzania flying Labs

Delivering Blood With UAS
Sounding more like a vampire program than a UAS program, a UAS collaboration consisting of Wingcopter, DHL, and the Deutache Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbit (GIZ) have utilized a vertical take off and landing platforms (VTOL) to deliver blood and medical supplies to difficult to reach areas in Tanzania. Similar to efforts taken by Zipline, this method of UAS operation can help doctors save lives because instead of taking 4 hours to transport medical supplies, a Wingcopter can make the delivery in 20 minutes. To learn more, click on Figure 3 and you will be directed to their promotional video. Within it, notice how the doctors appear to be holding a transmitter upon landing of the aircraft. Why do you think they are doing that?

Figure 2: Link to DHL Wingcopter Video

Intercepting Poachers With UAS.
Taken from Drone blog.com, Tanzania has an anti-poaching initiative that involves flying UAVs over national parks, reserves and other protected areas to help security track and intercept poachers. Depicted in Figure 5 is Super Bat Da 50 UAS in front of the UAS crew and security personal. A product by Bathawk Recon this system can not only stay in the air for 8 hours, but it has several  sensors that claim to be able to easily track poachers before they arrive to the animal heards. Could this be an effective tool to combat poaching? Or is this another example of overrated technology taking advantage of Africa?

Figure 3: Superbat Da 50UAS 

Utilizing Local Resources for UAV Airframes
Taken from spectrum.com, Figure's 4 and 5 depicts Bornlove Ntikha using bamboo for the frame of his DIY UAV. Ntikha wants to show that UAVs can be built out of locally available materials which can help others learn how to construct UAVs themselves. Although this technology still requires a motherboard, a transmitter, batteries, and motor components, it is remarkable to see this take flight. If a sensor can be integrated to this platform and the UAV can be programmed to fly autonomously, nobody will care about the type of airframe as long as the UAS can perform missions safely and produce deliverables. Could this method of constructing UAVs be applied to more local Tanzanian UAS projects?

Figure 4: Bornlove Ntikha Working on a DIY UAV Using Local Resources

Tanzania Aviation Law
I am not an expert on Tanzania’s aviation law, nor am I an expert on how to interpret it, however if you are curious to see what UAS policy’s I have created a bullet list of Tanzania’s UAS laws that I could find online. In other words when regarding flying in Tanzania, you should consider the following:

• UAVs weighing Unser 15.5 lbs do not require a permit to fly
• UAVs weighing over 15.5 lbs require a special permit from the Ministry of Defense
• UAVs require insurance no matter recreational or commercial operation

Furthermore, according to drone traveler.com, Tanzania categorizes UAVs by weight and by purpose:

• Class 1: 0-11lbs
• Class 2: 11 – 55lbs
• Class 3: 55 lbs and more

Interestingly enough, it appears that there are also categories of operation as listed:

• Category 1: leisure and sport
• Category 2: private use except leisure and sport
• Category 3: commercial use

Within operation category 2 and 3, it is my understanding that UAS operators must have a pilot’s license and be 21 years or older.  If you are someone that wants to bring your UAV into Tanzania to fly, the TCAA appears to accept Part 107 licenses as an acceptable means of documentation, but you will have to do a fairly significant amount of preplanning and communication with the TCAA before you lift off. Furthermore, it appears that you will need to pay of $200 as well. Nevertheless, it is very interesting to learn about UAS law in a different country. This makes me wonder what kind of rules UAS operaters coming to our country must abide by. Lastly, Tanzanian UAS resources can be found here:

• https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59311e48bf629a7d92b39065/t/5a574bca53450ad102603b6e/1515670486660/AIC+05+-+2017+Unmanned+Aircraft+Systems.pdf
• https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293747-i9226-k10180983-Use_of_drones_in_Tanzania_not_in_NPs-Tanzania.html
• https://uavcoach.com/drone-laws-in-tanzania/
• https://africandrone.org/tanzania

Conclusion
Although it each UAS application in Tanzania is powerful, interesting, and can hopefully benefit the greater good, I favor Nikha’s story the most because he is an example of Tanzania’s self sufficiency as it will hopefully be able to one day create UAS technology rather than contract out to other countries. Nevertheless, each article as well as the Tanzanian government’s efforts to regulate the UAS operations within the country demonstrate that UAS has the potential to grow in Tanzania.

Figure 5: Bornlove Ntikha Assembling his DIY UAV

GIS Day Results

Overview
As mentioned in previous posts, Purdue’s 11th annual GIS Day took place at Purdue’s Stewart Center on Thursday November 7th and featured a variety or subject matter experts from local, state, and federal companies. For roughly eight hours, I spent my time either presenting, questioning, or listening to a variety of people talk about their backgrounds in GIS and noted what deliverables they have been able to produce as well as learning why their deliverables were considered cost effective.To help further promote the UAS presence in GIS applications, I volunteered to present in front of an audience as well as enter a poster competition. Despite being my first-time attending GIS day, as well as being the only independent researcher, I earned second place in the Poster competition as shown inn Figure 1.

Figure 1: Myself (Right) Earning 2nd Place for Purdue's GIS Day Poster Presentation 

Key Takeaways
The material that I learned from this conference ranges from using GIS to survey census data to using GIS as a tool to survey erosion. In an effort to keep this content UAS related, I felt particularly interested in a presentation by Dr. Carly Sakamura from Maxar Technologies. Although this blog post fails to describe the amount of information in her presentation, she provided a unique perspective of showcasing the interest of the satellite data, and the challenges that the Maxar experiences when mapping the planet.

Although Unmanned Aerial Systems differ greatly from satellites, I was able to relate to her emphasis on the importance of collecting and interpreting accurate data let alone the data collection storage challenges that Maxar had to address. From a privacy standpoint, I found it fascinating that although satellite imagery cannot expose more than 30-centimeter accuracy, it is not because the technology cannot rather it is because the government “will not allow it”. This  leads me to reflect and believe that below 30-centimeter accuracy satellite data exists, but not for the general public.

Without harping on the above statement too much, I wonder how UAS mapping will accommodate national security interests, let alone who will be able to legally obtain highly accurate UAS data given the fact that UAS data a has potential to redefine the way we see the world. Will accurate UAS data produce the same challenges that below 30 meter satellite accuracy does? Or will the technology one day enable people to inexpensively purchase a UAV that can compete with satellite data?

Critiques and Conclusion
From a career development standpoint, I will be sure to go out of my way to participate in further GIS Day Conferences. Although my overall GIS day experience at Purdue was extremely meaningful, I hope that I can participate in future GIS day conferences where sensor specific subjects are discussed more openly. Due to the fact that I currently work with a variety of different sensors with a plethora of different applications, I think that learning about the sensors used to collect data can greatly improve my lexicon of factors to consider while planning UAS missions.

Furthermore, I hope to make it a priority to explore more open sourced software because not only is it free, open sourced software can provide solutions to problems that could otherwise cost thousands of dollars in licensing. Taken learn.g2.com, clicking on Figure 2 is a lexicon of 10 free different open source websites to consider. It looks like I will be starting there…

Figure 2: Access to learn2.com