Aerial Platform Reliability for Flood Monitoring Under Various Weather Conditions: A Review

Abstract

Flood is an annual disaster in Malaysia, especially in the east coast region. Recently, other regions in Malaysia have experienced devastating flood as well. To monitor the flood extent, aerial monitoring approach is considered as one of the best measures. Compared to space borne remote sensing, aerial platforms are more reliable in obtaining real time data with higher spatial resolution. Among the obstacles in using space borne remote sensing approach are cloud coverage and revisit limitations, making it less desirable option for flood monitoring. In this chapter, a review of four types of aerial platforms that perform remote sensing task is presented, namely; rotary wings, fixed wings, blimps and helikites. The main criteria discussed in the review are payload capacity, endurance (flight duration), altitudes, tolerable wind speed, vertical take-off and landing ability, and the ability to perform under adverse weather, such as heavy precipitation and winds. From the findings, there are lack of studies that mentioned about the capability of aerial platform in rough weather conditions. Out of all four types of aerial platforms discussed, helikite is seen to be the most suitable device to fly in adverse weather. Nevertheless, the only drawback in using helikite is that it has mobility issue since it is tethered to the ground. Helikite application is suitable for small area coverage. As for future recommendations, the study to evaluate the helikite’s reliability in performing such task has a great opportunity to be pursued further.