New UAS Sensor Payload Portfolio for Near-Surface Geophysics at the NSF National Geophysical Facility

Matt Burgess, Erika Schreiber, Chad Pyatt, Akram Mostafanejad, Chris Crosby, Hayley Bricker, & Beth Pratt-Sitaula

Submitted August 30, 2026, SCEC Contribution #15430, 2026 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #102

The NSF National Geophysical Facility (NGF), operated by EarthScope Consortium, provides NDAA-compliant small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS), advanced sensor payloads, and expert operational support to enable community near-surface geophysical research. The UAS program offers FAA Part 107-certified pilots, integrated RTK GNSS field systems, and a portfolio of remote sensing technologies, including high-resolution optical RGB for imaging and Structure-from-Motion (SfM), lidar, and multispectral/thermal sensors to support applications such as topographic mapping, fault mapping and characterization, earthquake event response, landform change detection, and environmental monitoring. The program also provides project planning assistance, proposal support, instrumentation, field operations, and data processing resources to help investigators successfully execute UAS-based research.

Beyond providing aircraft, sensors, and pilot support, our UAS program delivers an end-to-end research service that supports the complete research data lifecycle; from project planning and data acquisition through initial data processing, quality assurance, and long-term data stewardship. Final datasets will be archived and ultimately published with a digital object identifier, ensuring that products generated from UAS campaigns are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) by the broader scientific community. By integrating field operations, engineering expertise, data processing, and data management within a single community facility, the NSF NGF UAS program enhances reproducibility, maximizes the long-term value of community-funded research, and demonstrates how coordinated operational support extends well beyond providing instrumentation alone.

Key Words
remote sensing, UAV, lidar, topography, photogrammetry, fault mapping, earthquake event response

Citation
Burgess, M., Schreiber, E., Pyatt, C., Mostafanejad, A., Crosby, C., Bricker, H., & Pratt-Sitaula, B. (2026, 08). New UAS Sensor Payload Portfolio for Near-Surface Geophysics at the NSF National Geophysical Facility. Poster Presentation at 2026 SCEC Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
Earthquake Geology