By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

DAYTON, Ohio — Sinclair Community College and the NASA Glenn Research Center have paired up in a project using drones to study Lake Erie’s harmful algal blooms (HAB). The partners are using Sinclair’s aircraft, ground support equipment and crew to fly a NASA hyperspectral sensor.

“The hyperspectral sensor is taking a lot of pictures at the same time in different band widths,” explained Andrew D. Shepherd, executive director and chief scientist, Sinclair Community College National Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Training and Certification Center.

“So your eye can see into the infrared, ultraviolet and the visual spectrum all in one picture. As you're flying, it’s creating a lot of data; it is giving you a lot of information that you can use to make decisions.”

NASA processes the information and then shares it with Ohio EPA and other entities that are responsible for the well-being of as well as maintaining the water, said Dionne M. Hernández-Lugo, HyDRUS project manager. The information shows where there are HABs present; this should serve as a timely warning to water treatment plants.

The project started late summer of 2016. Sinclair’s Altavian Nova Block III UAS was being used to carry NASA’s custom HyDRUS Hyperspectral sensor payload. NASA had to miniaturize the weight and size of the sensor so it would fit into the drone.

Shepherd and his crew did the test flights at Wilmington Air Park. They needed to be sure the sensor wasn’t interfering with the radio communications or the flight navigation. The sensor weighed more than the recommended payload for the aircraft, so they did a wing balance analysis.

Next, the crew did lake flights around Maumee Bay near Toledo, Shepherd said. Sinclair expanded the program in 2017. Researchers upgraded the aircraft, which gave them a larger payload and better flight performance.

In addition to the Wilmington and Lake Erie flights they also flew over Barberton Reservoir near Akron, an inland body of fresh water that has an algae problem.

 The NASA Glenn Research Center also has a manned aircraft that goes out with a hyperspectral imaging system – it flies over and does imaging of the algal blooms.

“NASA decided to pursue this drone concept because when the image is from the aircraft, it might have some resolution issues because you're far away from the water,” Hernández-Lugo explained. “The UAV (drone) allows you to be as close as 400 feet from the water. That gives you higher resolution, and you’re able to detect better the algae that is present in the water.”

After NASA processes the images, scientists can differentiate the normal algae from the harmful algae, the cyanobacteria, that is present in the water, she explained. They then make the information available to the public.

“The flights were successful both years,” Shepherd added. “They were able to identify and access the extent of the algal blooms using the UAS. I’m hopeful for future activities.”

The project was coordinated with the NASA Rocket University Team and the University of Toledo Environmental Sciences Department, through which funding was provided to Sinclair as part of the Ohio Sea Grant, and by the Ohio Department of Education.