Unmanned Systems Technology 008 | Alti Transition UAS | Ground control systems | Xponential 2016 report | Insitu Orbital N20 | UAVs | Solar power | Oceanology International 2016 report

71 UAV, to use the Lancaster platform for extended and beyond-line-of-sight operations for applications including monitoring mobile and static property and changes in the environment. PrecisionHawk also works with DJI on rotary systems, and they have jointly developed an easy-to-use data acquisition and management package for use by farmers. PrecisionHawk has developed control software for two DJI drone models – the Matrice M100 and M600 – to operate the machines and manage the imagery captured. The Smarter Farming package combines the DJI M100 or M600 Matrice UAVs, which have a flight time of up to 40 minutes, with PrecisionHawk’s DataMapper inflight app for data collection and a one-year subscription to DataMapper for data management analysis. The combination aims to bridge the gap from flight to geospatial data analysis so that more people can use the technology more often, says Patrick Lohman, vice-president of partnerships at PrecisionHawk. “We wrote an app, DataMapper, that tells the UAV what to do. Flick a button and it takes off, tell it all the waypoints – we handle the geometry calculations – and it takes a path to take the pictures and comes back and lands where you tell it to,” he said. “We’ve taken the human out of the loop for gathering the information.” With DataMapper, a user can create a flight plan and autonomously collect geospatial data. The images are viewable in DataMapper, where they are processed into 2D and 3D maps and made ready for further analysis. Users also have access to DataMapper’s library of analysis algorithms that provide detailed information for farmers with different data depending on the season. PrecisionHawk has a staff of remote sensing data scientists who build the algorithms on which the software works. The system can measure plant counts and plant height, and PrecisionHawk is working with more partners in agriculture such as Du Pont. Mine clearance UAVs are also being used to enhance the detection and clearing of landmines. In one study, researchers from the University of Bristol have flown a UAV over Manchester United’s Old Trafford football pitch to show how large areas can be mapped quickly. The two-year project has been funded by the Find a Better Way charity, which was set up by the club’s legendary striker Sir Bobby Charlton, and the UAVs will obtain high-resolution UAVs | Insight Unmanned Systems Technology | June/July 2016 Researchers at the University of Bristol are using these quadcopters with different camera payloads to locate landmines quickly and safely (Courtesy of Find a Better Way) The app tells the UAV what to do; it takes a path and comes back where you tell it to. We’ve taken the human out of the information-gathering loop