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Table of Contents
Course title: A Comprehensive Course for Drone Operators
Volume of the course: credit points
Proposed volume: 1 semester (suggested spring/summer due to the weather limitations), 3-4 ECTS
Language
English
Abstract
The course contains a comprehensive guide for drone operators, including legal part, introduction to the technical problems (as needed for UAV maintenance), airspace classification and regions/zones according to the worldwide regulations and CAA (Civil Aviation Agencies). The course also describes UAV-related job characteristics and opportunities, description of the hardware needed and opportunities. It also discusses some physiological, social and psychological facts about being a drone operator.
Goals and objectives of the course in terms of competencies and skills
The aim of the course is to provide knowledge on drone operations, their safety, drone maintenance on the user level. Once finished, students may benefit from the following outcomes:
- Be able to understand drone technology in general.
- Be able to understand airspace construction, and related airspace use limits.
- Be aware of the impact of the weather on the operations.
- Understand the impact of human physiology and psychology on the UAV operations and their planning.
- Able to plan ahead to perform safe and secure drone operations in various environments.
- Be able to perform necessary drone maintenance.
- Be familiar with the basics of photography and video recording in the context of both hardware and operations.
- Be familiar with manual training methods (simulations, real-world) to obtain necessary manual skills to smoothly perform RC operations.
Structure and tasks of independent studies
Work is organised into:
- theoretical form, given by the lecturer in the form of multimedia presentations,
- self-study, using the attached workbook,
- practical part using drone simulators in the laboratory room,
- practical part in the laboratory room and outdoor (indoor flying room and outdoor flying).
Course prerequisites
Elementary engineering skills (assembling drone parts for the boxed products, i.e. attaching propellers, charging battery, and so on) is necessary. Good 3D space imagination is needed for safe drone operations. A good sight, naked eye or using correcting glasses/lenses is essential.
Course contents
Proposed as for full-time studies with direct contact hours required for practical activities.
Under development
UAV regulations and airspace use module;
UAV technology module;
UAV operations module;
Table 1: Drone Operators' course contents and proposed workload
| Topic | Contact hours | Self study hours | Resources - presentation name (section/s) | Content classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theoretical part | ||||
| Inner communication protocols in the UAV | 2 | 1 | UAV Data Transmission and Protocols (Introduction + Internal communication and protocols (micro-scale)) | UAV technology module; |
| Drone ecosystem communication protocols | 2 | 1 | UAV Data Transmission and Protocols (External communication and protocols (macro-scale)) | |
| Software solutions for drone ecosystems | 2 | 4 | UAV Components Part 1 (UAV components: Software section) | UAV technology module; |
| UAV operation principals - RC control | 2 | 1 | UAV Operations and Their Safety (Practice … makes master … section) | UAV operations module; |
| Coexistence in the airspace with other user (technical approach, UTM components) | 1 | 0 | UAV Operations and Their Safety (UTM components section) | UAV operations module; |
| Practice part | ||||
| Multirotor / fixed wing / heli practice on simulators | 1 | 10 | Simulator documentation specific for contact hours, self practice of the student on remaining one | UAV operations module; |
| Multirotor / fixed wing / heli practice on real drones | 0 | 3 | Hardware specific documentation | |
| Drone implementation, tuning and testing | 30 | 30 | Internet, youtube, in particular Betaflight.com, dji.com, hobbyking.com (look for documentation and links to the vendors) | UAV operations module; |
Learning outcomes and their assessment methodology
Table 2: Drone Operators' course outcomes and their assessment methodology
| Outcome | Assessment method |
|---|---|
| Understanding of the airspace construction, limitations, familiarity with rules of the coexistence with other airspace users, familiarity with Civil Aviation Authorities and legal requirements for drone operations | Written-test |
| Familiarity with limitations of the human operator, impact of external and internal factors for the operation safety | Written-test |
| Ability to plan in ahead drone operations and procedures (check lists, permits, hardware and software selection for the task) | Written-test |
| Ability to perform correct drone maintenance and servicing with particular respect to the powering (batteries) | Written-test or practical test on real UAV |
| Ability to control manually a selected type of drone (regarding airframe) and ability to test autonomous functions of the solution (if any) | Practical test on the simulator, indoors or outdoors |
