RES2021-05: Drones and Other Technologies to Assist in Disaster Relief Efforts

Tennessee faces many threats from natural disasters such as storm, flooding, landslide, and earthquake, which damage civil infrastructure and cause major service interruptions. The application of emerging technologies such as drones, sensing technologies, machine learning methods, and optimization techniques in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery have gained substantial attention. This research first reviewed the current practice and system configurations for using drones and other emerging technologies in disaster relief efforts, providing useful insights for TDOT to understand the uses of these technologies. A generalizable framework based on 3D reconstruction, deep learning, and optimization was proposed for processing drone-acquired data and drone mission planning, which can be applied in various disaster scenarios. Thereafter, the use cases as well as general workflows for using drone systems and software tools in different types of disaster scenarios were studied, including post-disaster infrastructure systems surveys, landslide investigation, and flooding assessment. Pilot tests were also conducted to validate the proposed methods, use cases, and workflows, confirming the feasibility and potential of using drones and associated technologies in disaster relief efforts, and therefore providing TDOT useful information for potential implementation.

• Record URL:
  https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/tdot/long-range-planning/research/final-reports/2021-final-reports-and-summaries/res2021-final-reports/RES2021-05_Final_Report_Approved.pdf

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $149999
• Contract Numbers:

  RES2021-05

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Tennessee Department of Transportation

  James K. Polk Building
  Fifth and Deaderick Street
  Nashville, TN  United States  37243-0349
• Managing Organizations:

  Tennessee Department of Transportation

  James K. Polk Building
  Fifth and Deaderick Street
  Nashville, TN  United States  37243-0349
• Project Managers:

  Webb, Brandon

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  Knoxville, TN  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Li, Shuai

• Start Date: 20200901
• Expected Completion Date: 20220228
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Transportation, Planning, Research, and Development

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Disaster preparedness; Disaster relief; Drones
• Geographic Terms: Tennessee
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01754248
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Tennessee Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: RES2021-05
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Oct 6 2020 9:01AM