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As a component of the overall policy to defeat global terrorism and prevent attacks against the U.S., the Bush and Obama administrations have turned to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones. From 2004 to 2014, Pakistan has seen the largest volume of U.S. drone strikes targeting radical groups such as al Qaeda and the Taliban, a trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. On the surface, using drones to eliminate terrorists while avoiding an official armed conflict aligns with the theory of neo- or structural realism developed by Kenneth Waltz. And yet although 9/11 served as the impetus for the U.S. to refocus attention on ameliorating the threat of terrorism and to initiate far-reaching measures to protect homeland security, there remains intense debate over whether or not the U.S. is actually more secure than it was prior to 9/11. While structural realism is still relevant to the current international system, the effects of drone strikes in Pakistan may set the U.S. on a path toward increasingly destabilizing situations that could lead to heightened insecurity and ultimately a change in power in the international system. The existing literature suggests that drone strikes in Pakistan are (1) leading to revenge-driven counter attacks, (2) intensifying radical anti-Americanism and creating more potential terrorists, (3) damaging the U.S. relationship with nuclear-armed Pakistan, (4) destabilizing the regions where drone attacks are launched, and (5) undermining American 'soft power.' The culmination of these five trends has the potential to disrupt the current balance of power in a way that is not in America's national interest. The unique security dilemma presented by the asymmetrical threat of terrorism and the asymmetrical response of drone strikes necessitates the continued evolution of neorealism as an IR theory. / Master of Arts

Through out history, technological advancements have reshaped the built environment and its Architecture. The cities that we live in today were only made possible by the technologies of the first, second, and third industrial revolutions. Today, we are witnessing another technological revolution based on open source data and artificial intelligence. As there is an enormous amount of prosperous innovations that would directly impact Architecture design tools, building and finishing materials, and construction methods, there are also other innovations that would require spaces, buildings, and cities to be designed to accommodate them. Among the latter mentioned innovations is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also know as drones. Like the automobile, drone technology will influence not only the way we live but also our design thinking and the components of our built environment. Along with drone's ability to fly, UAV's digital infrastructure is much more flexible and most importantly, invisible. Autonomous Drones' intelligent abilities allow them to provide a wide range of services in various fields such as; freight and delivery, transportation, infrastructure and buildings maintenance, survey, surveillance, policing, fire fighting, agriculture, and even construction, all of which will effectively reduce the amount of ground vehicle traffic, especially in populated cities. Today, as these possibilities are available and constantly under development, it is important for Architecture and Urban Design disciplines to address the challenge and provide comprehensive solutions to accommodate such a technology and allow its possibilities to prosper even further. The intent of this thesis is to study UAV technology and design a mix-use complex that embraces and accommodates UAV services such as; delivery, transport, freight, and maintenance. The complex hosts a residential tower, a vertical garden tower, ground level commercial spaces, and an underground drone hub. / Master of Architecture / Today, we are witnessing another technological revolution based on open source data and artificial intelligence. As there is an enormous amount of prosperous innovations that would directly impact architecture design tools, building and finishing materials, and construction methods, there are also other innovations that would require the built environment of our cities to be designed to accommodate them. Among the later mentioned innovations is the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also known as drones. Autonomous drones are flying robots with intelligent abilities which allow them to provide a wide range of services in various fields such as; freight and delivery, transportation, infrastructure and buildings maintenance, survey, surveillance, policing, fire fighting, agriculture, and even construction, all of which will are available today and constantly under development. Therefore, it is important for architecture and urban design disciplines to address the challenge and provide comprehensive solutions to accommodate such a technology and allow it to grow even further. The intent of this thesis is study drones and their future possibilities and to design a mixed-use complex that embraces and accommodates drone services such as; delivery, transport, freight, and maintenance. The complex hosts a residential tower, a vertical garden tower, ground level commercial spaces, and an underground drone hub.

The current proposed unmanned aircraft system (UAS) detect and avoid standards require the same safety metrics, even when in close proximity to the ground or structures. This requirement has the potential to hinder low altitude small unmanned aircraft operations, such as local package delivery and utility inspection. One of the main safety metrics for UASs to adhere to is a ``well clear" volume that quantifies the vertical and horizontal separation UASs are required to maintain from manned aircraft. The current volume of 2000 feet horizontal and +/- 250 feet vertical does not provide credit for the safety benefit of being close to an obstacle where manned aircraft do not fly and could prove to be too restricting for low-level flight operations (i.e., under 400 feet above ground level). This thesis suggests using smaller safety metric volumes than the well clear volume to demonstrate that operations at lower altitudes can still be proven to be just as safe as if they were held to the larger well clear volume standard by using obstacle and terrain shielding. The research leverages simulation to analyze different safety metrics and provides an example use case in which the methodology of shielded operations is applied to demonstrate how this methodology can be applied for a safety case. / Master of Science / With the development of small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) technologies have come many practical and regulatory challenges, especially in low altitude airspaces. At lower altitudes, manned aircraft are likely to be operating at lower velocities and restricting standards require UASs to maneuver against aircraft that may not present a significant risk of collision. The excessive avoidance maneuvering can cause the successful execution of even simple operations such as package delivery or survey operations to become difficult. The strict requirements have the potential to specifically inhibit sUAS beyond visual line-of-sight commercial operations, which are of great interest to the industry. This thesis describes a method for demonstrating an equivalent level of safety of small UAS operations when utilizing avoidance algorithms that leverage obstacle and terrain awareness. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that by remaining close to obstacles, which pose a hazard to other aircraft, an unmanned aircraft can lower the risk of a mid-air collision and to demonstrate an equivalent level of safety for operations using a reduced safety metrics.

The autonomous operation of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) beyond the pilot in command's visual line of sight is currently restricted due to a lack of cost-effective surveillance sensors robust enough to operate in low-level airspace. The current sensors available either have have high accuracy of locating targets but are too short of a range to be usable or have long ranges but have gaps in coverage due to varying terrain. Sensor fusion is one possible method of combining the strengths of different sensors to increase the overall airspace surveillance quality to allow for robust detect and avoid (DAA) capabilities; enabling beyond visual line of sight operations. This thesis explores some of the current techniques and challenges to use sensor fusion for collision avoidance between crewed aircraft and UAS. It demonstrates an example method of sensor fusion using data from two radars and an ADS-B receiver. In this thesis, a test bed for ground-based airspace monitoring surveillance is proposed for a low cost method of long-term sensor evaluation. Lastly, an potential method of a heterogeneous, score-based, sensor fusion is presented and simulated. / Master of Science / Long range operations of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) are currently restricted due to a lack of cost-effective surveillance sensors that work well enough near the ground in the presence changing terrain. The current sensors available either have have high accuracy of locating targets but are too short of a range to be usable or have long ranges but have gaps in coverage due to varying terrain. Sensor fusion is a solution to this problem by combining the strengths of different sensors to allow for better collision avoidance capabilities; enabling these long range operations. This thesis explores some of the current techniques and challenges to use sensor fusion for collision avoidance between crewed aircraft and UAS. It demonstrates an example method of sensor fusion using data from two radars and an ADS-B receiver. In this thesis, a test bed for ground-based airspace monitoring surveillance is proposed for long-term sensor testing. Lastly, an potential method of a sensor fusion using different types of sensors is presented and simulated.

Under what conditions are drones effective in protecting civilians in armed conflict? And what shapes support for their use for civilian protection in armed conflict? Drones have been adopted into international peacekeeping operations for the protection of civilians in armed conflict based on the expectation of effectiveness in performing difficult tasks with limited risks. However, in the security studies literature, the question of the effectiveness of drones has been primarily explored within the context of the War on Terror. We know little about drones' effectiveness in non-combat areas like civilian protection in peacekeeping. This dissertation fills this gap by focusing on questions that emerge at the intersection of the fields of emerging technologies, peacekeeping, and civilian protection, political violence, and broader security studies, with the aim of extending this literature and providing policymakers and scholars a framework for conceptualizing emerging technologies for civilian protection in armed conflict. Empirically, it employs qualitative evidence consisting of document reviews, archival work, and expert interviews with officials at the UN headquarters and mission levels, mission intelligence officers, peacekeepers, and humanitarian workers in assessing the effectiveness of drones in peacekeeping for civilian protection. It additionally employs an original survey and a survey experiment among civilian adult populations in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to examine what shapes civilian support for the adoption of drones in peacekeeping. Overall, this dissertation provides valuable insights for both scholars and policymakers who, due to the limited research on this subject, often base assumptions about drone effectiveness in other domains like peacekeeping on their performance in combat contexts.

Yes / Purpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate food supply chain stakeholders’ intention to use Industry 5.0 (I5.0) drones for cleaner production in food supply chains. Design/methodology/approach – We used a quantitative research design and collected data using an online survey administered to a sample of 264 food supply chain stakeholders in Nigeria. The partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was conducted to assess the research’s hypothesised relationships. Findings – We provide empirical evidence to support the contributions of I5.0 drones for cleaner production. Our findings showed that food supply chain stakeholders are more concerned with the use of I5.0 drones in specific operations such as reducing plant diseases which invariably enhances cleaner production. However, there is less inclination to drones adoption if the aim was pollution reduction, predicting seasonal output and addressing workers health and safety challenges. Our findings outline the need for awareness to promote the use of drones for addressing workers hazard challenges and knowledge transfer on the potentials of I5.0 in emerging economies. Originality – This is the first study to address I5.0 drones' adoption using a sustainability model. We contribute to existing literature by extending the sustainability model to identify the contributions of drones use in promoting cleaner production through addressing specific system operations. This study addresses the gap by augmenting a sustainability model, suggesting that technology adoption for sustainability is motivated by curbing challenges categorised as drivers and mediators.

Intraplate tectonics is generally not well documented and understood, despite its significance for seismic hazards in areas such as southeastern Canada. Neotectonics is even less well understood in these regions. This study focuses on providing an in-depth analysis of potential neotectonic pop-up structures in southern Ontario, Canada, leading to a comprehensive definition of what pop-up structures are, to constrain the processes involved in neotectonism, and to determine the extent to which neotectonism impacts the region. Previous literature has hypothesized that neotectonic structures have a likely potential to be linked to reactivated structures within the Precambrian Basement rocks of the Canadian Shield. In addition to documenting new potential neotectonic structures, this work provides a brief overview of tectonics in southern Ontario, and how previously measured lineaments in the Precambrian Basement may align with observable, potentially neotectonic surface structures. Three locations in southern Ontario were documented using a combination of ground and drone-based structural analysis: 1) Fletcher Creek Ecological Preserve, 2) Wainfleet Wetlands Conservation Area, and 3) multiple sites on Manitoulin Island. These sites were chosen where previous studies had documented neotectonic activity, and/or where initial geomorphic analyses indicated the possibility of a pop-up structure. All sites are located within the Silurian to Devonian cover rocks of the Niagara Escarpment. Fracture patterns at each site were analyzed using ground-based measurements using FieldClino and/or drone-based photogrammetry (DJI Phantom 4 V2 and Phantom 4 Pro acquisition followed by analysis in Pix4D and Drone2Map), where applicable. Where access permitted, ground-based measurements iv were obtained on structures, in addition to RTK-DGPS (Real Time Kinematic Differential Global Positioning System) profiles over potential pop-up structures. Analysis revealed that pop-up structures exhibit a distinct geomorphic expression, manifesting as a near-linear elevated ridge, where stress relief features have variable geomorphic expressions, such as domes. In southern Ontario, the presence of these pop-ups and stress relief features demonstrates that the region is tectonically active, despite often being characterized as a stable continental interior. This study adds to a growing body of work documenting neotectonics in southern Ontario, with several stress-related structures documented for the first time in this study, showing their prevalence over a wide area. The results of this study were used to create an updated tectonic hazard map of Ontario. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Les véhicules aériens miniatures à ailes fixes (MiniAV) sont de petits avions avec une envergure d'ailes de moins de 1000 mm et pesant moins de 500 grammes. Grâce aux avancées qui ont été réalisées ces dernières années dans la miniaturisation des autopilotes et dans la propulsion électrique, il est maintenant possible de construire des MiniAVs qui peuvent être utilisés à des fins de reconnaissance en milieu restreint ou hostile. Pour réaliser cet objectif, le MiniAV doit être capable d'effectuer, de façon semi-autonome, des vols non stationnaires et stationnaires et être capable de réaliser des transitions autonomes entre ces modes. Ce mémoire décrit le développement d'une stratégie de contrôle pour permettre à un MiniAV de réaliser des transitions autonomes entre les modes de vol non stationnaire et stationnaire. Il est possible de diviser l'enveloppe de vol d'un MiniAV en 4 modes distincts : le mode non stationnaire, le mode non stationnaire vers stationnaire (L2H), le mode stationnaire et le mode stationnaire vers non stationnaire (H2L). Les structures des modèles pour les modes non stationnaires et stationnaires sont basées sur la linéarisation d'un modèle de MiniAV à corps rigide ayant 6 degrés de liberté. Les contrôleurs de ces deux principaux modes de vol sont présentés. Le mode L2H est gérée par le contrôleur du mode non stationnaire, tandis que le mode H2L est géré par le contrôleur du mode stationnaire. Une approche systématique, appuyée par un superviseur basé sur la logique, est développée pour gérer les transitions entre les modes. La performance du superviseur est démontrée à travers des vols expérimentaux sur un banc de test. Il est montré que la stratégie proposée est capable de mieux performer que les méthodes rencontrées dans la littérature utilisant des plateformes similaires.

Tableau d'honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdorales, 2014-2015 / De nos jours, les drones se présentent comme une nouvelle tendance dans le domaine de la télédétection civile grâce à leur capacité de combler plusieurs lacunes inhérentes aux plateformes conventionnelles. Les capteurs hyperspectraux embarqués sur ces systèmes figurent parmi les solutions en émergence et qui offrent de nouvelles opportunités en matière de cartographie de la surface terrestre. Cette solution se caractérise par l’acquisition des données à très hautes résolutions spectrale, spatiale et temporelle. Le présent travail vise à faire progresser les connaissances relatives à l'élaboration de cartographie des minéraux établie à partir d'images acquises à l'aide de cette solution. Il aborde notamment les problèmes liés aux distorsions inhérentes au processus d’acquisition des données et les méthodes permettant de les corriger. Il s’intéresse également à la conception d’une méthode de classification qui soit adaptée aux caractéristiques de ces données notamment en termes du grand volume et de la haute résolution spatiale. / Nowadays, unmanned aerial systems have become a new trend in the field of civilian remote sensing. These systems allow overcoming several shortcomings of conventional platforms. The hyperspectral sensors mounted on this type of platform are amongst the up and coming solutions that provide new opportunities for mapping land surface. This solution is characterized by the acquisition of data at very high spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions. The present work aims to advance knowledge about mineral mapping using images acquired with this solution. It particularly addresses issues related to the distortions of the data acquired from such a system and methods to correct them. It also focused on the conception of a classification method that is suited to the characteristics of these data particularly in terms of large volume and high spatial resolution.