Drones equipped to capture RGB and Multispectral imagery have made it possible to map crops and land accurately. By amalgamating these images through photogrammetry software, areas with irregular crop growth or signs of poor health can be precisely identified and geo-referenced. This information serves as a foundation for further on-ground analyses such as soil sampling or the identification of pests and diseases. Leveraging vegetation indices, anomalies can be flagged for investigating various plant aspects, including growth cycle stages, water stress levels, and nutrient deficiencies. Upon issue detection, targeted solutions can be recommended, and base maps can be generated for precise equipment application, ultimately reducing chemical usage.
Drones in Mining
Mining companies worldwide are increasingly adopting drone technology as a safer, quicker, and more precise option for stockpile management, monitoring, and asset inspection.
Drone payloads used in mining operations can acquire data with superior accuracy compared to terrestrial, manned airplane, and satellite surveys, and are also more cost-effective. Coupled with sophisticated software, the data outputs include contour maps, surface and elevation models, and stockpile measurements. This high-precision data plays a crucial role in auditing, reporting, and planning. Additionally, remote sensing helps prevent accidents and downtime, ensuring the safety of surveyors and maintaining uninterrupted mine operations.
Moreover, the use of spray and spreading drones is gaining momentum, particularly for vegetation control in challenging terrains like waterways, dam walls, stockpiles, and rail corridors.
Drones in Emergency Services
Cost-effective, real-time data and imaging, even in challenging conditions and with no risk to personnel, rescue drones are a valuable asset. Particularly instrumental in locating missing individuals is the thermal imaging camera, capable of detecting human body heat day or night.
The Mavic 3T boasts a thermal camera with a resolution of 640 × 512, enabling point and area temperature measurement, high-temperature alerts, varied color palettes, and isotherms. This feature set facilitates efficient target identification and enables swift decision-making.
Drones in Surveying
Surveying drones are outfitted with onboard cameras that capture ground images from various aerial viewpoints. These images are geo-tagged with precise geographical coordinates obtained from a GNSS sensor on the drone, providing the exact spatial location of each image.
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a mapping technique that enables the recording of intricate details regarding topography, vegetation, buildings and infrastructure, with a high degree of precision.
