Category Archives: Aerial/UAS
Keeping the Dream Alive
Above: Valley Air Photo’s full lineup: the single-engine Beechcraft V35 Bonanza is their main film aircraft; the twin-engine Cessna 320s are capable of carrying both film and digital cameras but are mainly used in digital acquisition. At its 30-year anniversary, a small aerial photography business recounts changes in the industry and in itself. Thirty years...
UAS Coalitions
Above: Hybrid multirotors such as the FireFly 6 are offering solutions to common problems, allowing automated takeoff and landing along with waypoint flight control. Credit: Jon Barnes, Bajora Media. What are they doing for the UAS industry? Being an entrepreneur is a lot like being a surfer. You need a surfboard and access to...
Surrogate UAS
Above: Hart Drobish, president of Courtney Aviation, was a contractor to the forest service flying the air tactical control platforms on the Happy Camp Complex wildfire. Additionally, Drobish served as a ground liaison contact on the project, managing the flow of infrared and visual imagery from the aircraft to the end users. Combining UAV technology...
Lidar for Forestry
Above: Lidar-derived tree crowns and maximum tree-top heights are overlaid on a 20cm orthophoto. Vector-based products allow for a transition from the point cloud to GIS. A forester’s guide to understanding lidar topics, from upfront data-acquisition costs to business benefits to the path from research to operationalization. Although many lidar industry insiders never imagined the...
Satellite Imagery’s Impact
Above: The highest resolution of commercial satellite imagery is still more than an order of magnitude lower than the highest resolution attainable from aerial platforms. Keystone Aerial Surveys, Inc. developed this digital surface model from 1.75 cm digital imagery taken with a low-altitude flight. The resolution is sufficiently high to enable its use for mapping...
Unmanned Systems
Above: This robot, the BoniRob, was developed for precision agriculture by Osnabrueck University of Applied Sciences in Germany, led by Arno Ruckelshausen. Robots for Precision Agriculture, Weather Forecasting, Scientific Studies From Amazon to Google to Domino’s Pizza, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have been drawing significant attention in recent months. Amazon plans to launch a Prime...