Remote-controlled cars and airplanes were a hobby of Nick Urban's when he was a boy. That interest remained as he pursued a computer science degree at Bucknell University, where he spent this summer building a remote-controlled plane that's being used to map the landscape around a creek that runs through Bucknell's campus and into the Susquehanna River.
The plane, dubbed the “Flying Bison,” was built of foam, includes Geographic Information System technology and can navigate predetermined paths on autopilot. Digital still and video cameras were attached to the plane so it could capture images of the Miller Run Creek as it flew around the waterway. Urban explains that the plane could capture more up-to-date and higher-resolution photographs than satellites can because of its small size and imaging capability allowed it to get close to the ground.
Bucknell plans to build wetlands and plant vegetation around Miller Run Creek as part of a project to reduce flooding near its banks and keep pollutants out of the Chesapeake Bay. Information from the Flying Bison will help the Bucknell Environmental Center figure out the best way to put this plan into action.
The Flying Bison was born when Urban and his roommate, Bucknell physics major Dan Farrell, entered the national Unmanned Air Systems competition. After that he built a refined version of the plane for its Miller Run Creek restoration project.
Urban, a senior, plans to enter the competition again this year. After graduation he'd like to get a job working on unmanned aerial vehicles.
Source: Nick Urban, Bucknell University
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen