Introduction to My Blog

Welcome

My name is Ryan Riley, and I am currently a senior studying Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) at Purdue University. This blog's purpose is to share my knowledge and experiences of UAS throughout AT 31900, Unmanned Aerial Systems Applications, Data, and Documentation.

UAS Background

Engineering - The Beginning

I started my education at Purdue interested in science and technology. I began in the College of Engineering on track to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering. My initial focus was on water, ideally with filtration in mind, but also open to other avenues such as soil hydration, and stormwater management. Due to these extended interests I was closer to being an Environmental or Civil engineer than Chemical. I applied for and received an internship with my local municipality as a Stormwater Engineering Intern. The internship was technically Civil Engineering, but lined up with many of my engineering interests. I conducted many surveys, developed water detention basin tracking and maintenance systems, utilized ArcGIS for containing and tracking a lot of my data, and much more. I worked alongside and above a handful of civil engineering interns leading my own surveys utilizing ground-based surveying technology. I became very interested in the Environmental, and more so Civil, sides of engineering. However, I had always wanted something very hands-on, and my engineering program wasn't quite that. I decided I needed a change, and had heard great things about Purdue's technology programs, and how much more hands on the work was.

Discovering Unmanned Aerial Systems

I began a search of Purdue's degrees looking for a change. I ran through the list of all the technology majors we had to offer, picking out a few majors here and there to do more research later on. Towards the bottom of the list I saw a major that was brand new, Unmanned Aerial Systems. The name alone piqued my interest, so I put it on my list. After hours of research I realized how many applications UASs can have, and how I could apply my knowledge and focus on my interests with this major. I started my change of degree forms immediately and was accepted into the UAS program in the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology. I began my new studies in the Fall of 2017, and have learned and accomplished quite a lot within this major. I purchased my own miniature quadcopter to start logging flight hours, in addition to the platforms I have flown in various classes, and my X525 that was built for AT 21900. Prior to the major, I had no experience flying any sort of unmanned vehicle. However, I have developed my skills in the past year, and have become infatuated with unmanned aerial vehicles and systems.

Future Plans

Having worked in the environmental/civil engineering fields for two full summers, I have a lot of experience with construction sites, inspections, and maintenance. With a degree in Unmanned Aerial Systems I would like to work in a similar field, doing inspections on bridges, roadways, windmills, and more. Additionally, my former interest in water movement and filtration has not dwindled. Therefore, working with farms, or even municipalities again, to work with water would be of great interest to me. However, I have found so much interest in UAS and all of its' applications that I will be happy to pursue any market for my skills upon graduation. While some of my interests for UAS application are stronger than others, I would be happy doing anything I can with my degree.

E-Portfolio Evaluations

In this section of the post, I will be evaluating five e-portfolios of students from Professor Hupy's previous AT 409 and Geog 390 courses.

AT 409, Fall 2018, Evan Hockridge

Evan has a very in-depth portfolio with a vast array of information included in his many tabs. He provides a great amount of detail surrounding his tables and figures, and utilizes those tables and figures in a great way to enhance his posts. He seems very knowledgeable on his topics of interest, namely UAS usage in ecological research. He provides multiple sections dedicated to his experience with all the tools he utilizes, and comes across very professionally. The portfolio is well organized and maintained. His many tabs help to break up the incredibly amount of detail and experience he has, making it easy to locate exactly what a reader is looking for from him. Overall, he did a great job with his portfolio, and it would be a great tool to reference in order to assist in your own portfolio creation.

GEOG 390, Spring 2017, Jesse Friend

Jesse utilizes quite a lot of figures, and there are a few problems with this. Many of his figures seem to only be included to fill space, or are otherwise fairly meaningless. His figures don't have great descriptions, and they are not very well supplemented by the rest of the post. Some of his posts are simply vague descriptions of the activity for that day, and don't expand on the purpose of the activity, at least not to an adequate level. The further back I look through the blog the better he gets, meaning that over time his quality fell off immensely. Additionally, his "Maps" tab is completely empty. The layout of the portfolio isn't bad otherwise, but the content is lacking in many areas. There isn't anything good to gain from this portfolio that the previous one didn't already have and did better.

GEOG 390, Spring 2017, Zach Miller

Zach does a great job with his portfolio. He utilizes many figures, and expands on them greatly. The labs are described very well, and their purpose is expanded on as well. His figures are much more meaningful than Jesse's, and the layout of his portfolio is very nice and easily read. His maps page is filled, but the figures are not captioned on this page. Additionally, he is lacking a "Contact Info" tab. There are many positive qualities to Zach's portfolio, and only a few negatives. His usage of figures and explanations will be something I strive for in my own portfolio.

AT 409, Fall 2018, Thomas Gonya

The first thing I notice when viewing Thomas' portfolio is how narrow the posts are relative to the page width. This makes every post very long, and difficult to read. Thomas does not utilize many figures in his post like the rest of the portfolio's I've viewed. His "Figures" page is filled well, and they are described well, but the lack of figures in the actual posts makes each post more tedious to read. His actual posts are quite detailed when you take the time to read them. Other than his posts, there isn't much more to his portfolio. Something Evan did very well that Thomas did not was his thoroughness with tabs. Evan had many that were filled with information in addition to the coursework, while Thomas has only coursework in his portfolio.

GEOG 390, Fall 2015, Dakota Dorn

Dakota's portfolio is similar to Zach's in many ways. Dakota utilizes figures in helpful ways, and expands upon them to aid his posts. He makes sure to describe why and how the processes being done are being done the way they are. Dakota could have had more tabs, but the information he conveys in his posts are plenty good. He actually doesn't have a "Home" button to click on which is a tad strange. To return to the actual blog posts I had to click the title of the portfolio. It's a bit unintuitive to use. Other than that he does a good job with his portfolio.

Summary

Throughout my critiques of these five e-portfolios I have learned a few things I will take with me while working on my own. Readability of the actual posts rises greatly when figures are used as an aid instead of as a majority of the content. Having additional tabs with information outside of the specific coursework being done helps the reader feel more attached to the author, it makes them feel more real. Utilizing space effectively will be key as well. Most importantly, though, is the need to be in-depth with my posts. The more relevant information there is, the better.

The UAS curriculum is very new seeing as how the commercialization of this degree is just now spiking in popularity. The first four courses in this degree didn't seem to have much information that would lead to being industry-ready. As the major evolves I believe much more of the information taught will be geared towards what is standard in industry, and how to make yourself stand out from that.

The idea of an e-portfolio is very interesting to me, and my initial thoughts are how useful something like this will be. Having a chronology of my most important work in this major will certainly be helpful in setting myself apart from other UAS majors in programs not utilizing e-portfolios. The content of my portfolio will certainly get better as I become more familiar with the platform, and as our labs get more in-depth. I can imagine that the capstone classes for UAS will have e-portfolios filled with great projects and results that will really separate us from our peers.