[Aztlan] Fw: Aerial survey

[donald raab]

Thanks Mike

--- On Sun, 3/29/09, donald raab <modeldon_9 at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: donald raab <modeldon_9 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Aerial survey
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Date: Sunday, March 29, 2009, 2:27 PM







Listeros,
 
Recently I retired from Northrup Grumman.  For many years I have been an amateur archaeologist specifically interested in Meso and South America.  I've also enjoyed a lifelong hobby.  That is building and flying radio control model aircraft.  A few years ago I developed an RC electric powered glider.  I installed in it a live TV system.  I used my first version to prove the concept flying  at the Caracol site with the BVAR field school.  Since then I have a new version that has added GPS overlay capability.  As the real time video is captured it is ovelaid with GPS coordinates and altitude.  A survey mission would involve flying a selected area (one mile square) like a lawnmower.  The live video is captured via a minature DVR via a scan chip.  It could also be inputed directly into a VCR or computer.  the chip also can be downloaded into a computer.  Using something like Windows movie maker all sorts of slice and dicing can be accomplished.
 
The aircraft itself is all electric powered and a single survey loiter time can exceed 45 minutes.  The effective video range is 1.5 miles.  Everything is portable to the extreme.  Any reasonable cleared area near the survey site can serve as the launch and recovery area.  I used the center quadrangle opposite the main pyramid in Caracol as the launch area.
 
I am interested in participating in field surveys where aerial mapping would be a useful adjucnt to the field effort.  I am able to pay my way to the site and back.  I would expect that expenses while on site would be covered.  Being retired availabilty is not a problem.
 
Thanks for you consideration.
 
Don Raab