Journal of Geographical Sciences, Volume. 30, Issue 9, 1534(2020)

Iterative construction of low-altitude UAV air route network in urban areas: Case planning and assessment

Chenchen XU1...2, Xiaohan LIAO1,3,4,*, Huping YE1, and Huanyin YUE1,34 |Show fewer author(s)
Author Affiliations
  • 1Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, State Key Laboratory of Re-sources and Environmental Information System, Beijing 100101, China
  • 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 3Institute of UAV Application Research, Tianjin and CAS, Tianjin 301800, China
  • 4The Research Center for UAV Applications and Regulation, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
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    Figures & Tables(18)
    Ground objects distribution (a) and land use classification (b) in JJXC district
    Roadmap of iteratively constructing the multi-level air route network in urban areas
    The Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) for RSRP index of the single base station
    Schematic diagram of single base station signal modeling at 120-m height
    Schematic diagram of regional signal distribution of base stations at 120-m height
    Moving distances for each class I air route obtained from actual investigations
    Diagram of comparison among the initial path, moved path and smoothed path
    Flowchart of the main process of constructing the class III air route network (DEM: Digital Elevation Model)
    Low-altitude UAV air route network and its local enlarged map in the JJXC district (Red lines: type 1 air routes; blue lines: type 2 air routes; yellow lines: type 3 air routes)
    Population exposure risk distribution of UAV operation in the study area
    Maps showing each iterative air route network (a. class I air route network; b. class II air route network; c. class III air route network)
    Enlarged local map for class I-III air routes
    Direct and iterative paths for population risk comparison
    Air route network construction process (a. class I air route based on roads; b. class II air route based on favorable space; c. class III air route based on obstacle space; red line: re-planned air route segments)
    • Table 1.

      The minimum general element set for the iterative construction process of regional air route network

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      Table 1.

      The minimum general element set for the iterative construction process of regional air route network

      StepKey technologyRequired elementsOptional elementsRequired data processing
      IHierarchi-cal planningRoad network: urban expressway, urban main road, community or campus internal trunk roadMobile base station.Roads around buildings within a community or campus.Road network: extract the road area and its center line and measure the road width. The road is stored in the form of shapefile. A road is a record composed of the coordinate values of feature points.Mobile base station: analyze the communication coverage limit and determine the regional route height limit accordingly.
      IIUtilizing positive constraintsNone. The positive constraint element is only auxiliary but not required.Urban green belt, isolation belt, grassland, street trees, parks, and other green areas; rivers, large areas of waters, ditches, and other water sources.Green space: the relative position with the road determines the translation direction and translation distance, and thus the direction and translation distance matrices.Water area: the relative position with the road determines the translation direction and translation distance, and thus the direction and translation distance matrices.
      IIIAvoiding negative constraintsGeneral obstacles: buildings, mobile base station tower poles, street lamps, power lines (poles), etc.Other obstacles, such as terrain in constructing the route in mountainous areas.Mobile base station: the clearance boundary modeling of the tower pole is used to build an “obstacle” environment, and the communication coverage is modeled to analyze the spatial signal distribution.Other ground objects: to construct a mathematical model of clearance boundary.
    • Table 2.

      Air route classification and relative attributes in JJXC district (Xu et al., 2020)

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      Table 2.

      Air route classification and relative attributes in JJXC district (Xu et al., 2020)

      TypesFunctionConstraintsHeight (m)Minimum height (m)Platform
      1Connecting urban areas with the outside areaHigher than most of ground objects in urban area70-30070Fixed wing/multi- rotor UAV
      2Main traffic routes inside the urban areasHigher than lamps, trees, and buildings along roads50-7050Multi-rotor UAV
      3Internal air route of community units in urban areaNone15-5030Multi-rotor UAV
    • Table 3.

      Sheltering factor for each type of land use

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      Table 3.

      Sheltering factor for each type of land use

      CodeTypeSheltering factor
      12Farmland0
      23Open woodland (canopy density 10%-30%)2.5
      41Waters0
      51High-rise buildings7.5
      52Low-rise buildings5
      53Other construction land: factories and mines, large industrial zones, oil fields, salt fields, quarries and other patches of land; traffic roads, airports, and special areas10
      61Others, including of unexploited land (e.g., deserts, salt flats, marshes)0
    • Table 4.

      Comparison of the population exposure risk for iterative UAV low-altitude air route network

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      Table 4.

      Comparison of the population exposure risk for iterative UAV low-altitude air route network

      TypePopulation exposure risk index (PERI)
      AverageVarianceAverageVarianceAverageVariance
      Type 1Type 2Type 3
      Class I62.4262.921580117.4762.14
      Class II21.759.0525.9815.3523.9217.88
      Class III21.748.8925.0614.0525.3722.17
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    Chenchen XU, Xiaohan LIAO, Huping YE, Huanyin YUE. Iterative construction of low-altitude UAV air route network in urban areas: Case planning and assessment[J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2020, 30(9): 1534

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    Paper Information

    Category: Research Articles

    Received: Mar. 4, 2020

    Accepted: Jun. 2, 2020

    Published Online: Apr. 21, 2021

    The Author Email: LIAO Xiaohan (liaoxh@igsnrr.ac.cn)

    DOI:10.1007/s11442-020-1798-4

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