53 even that: it is widely recognised that many of the devastating wildfires across the western US over the past few years were caused not by forests growing too wild but by critical infrastructure decaying over time and toppling onto dry, flammable tinder. The wildfires destroyed towns and villages, killing many people, particularly in the drier parts of northern California. Such tragedies could have been prevented through prudent maintenance of infrastructure. Structures such as power poles and cell towers are particularly challenging to survey, even with UAVs. Each tower often requires hundreds of photographs, with resolutions fine enough to identify literally every bolt in the structure – the absence or blurring of even one will cause concern. US-based Skyfish has built a reputation in recent years for its ability to survey these high-value structures with a consistency and resolution that is rare even in the UAS photogrammetry industry. It carries out photogrammetry missions using primarily its M6 and M4 multi-rotor UAVs, but its capabilities are supplemented by expertise in technologies that include onboard computing, flight control and GCS design, as well as more obvious areas such as image processing, RTK-GNSS, and high-resolution cameras. Its choice of components has enabled Skyfish to comply fully with the US NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) – that is, with no parts imported from unapproved nations – and it has been vetted and certified by the US Army for the quality of its services. The M6 and M4 are also set to be added to the AUVSI Green UAS List, a standard analogous to the Blue List of companies approved for US Department of Defense-related operations. That will certify that the UAVs meet the highest levels of cybersecurity and NDAA supply chain requirements for providing commercial services to the DoD. Sony and photogrammetry The seeds of Skyfish’s specialisation in photogrammetry were planted early in CEO Orest Pilskalns’ career, who studied mathematics and physics before working for Lockheed Martin Astronautics as a research scientist, obtaining his PhD in computer science in the process. “I spent cumulatively about 10 years in academia at Washington State University, with a focus on software engineering and geospatial information systems. It was during that time, in 2014, that I started Skyfish,” Pilskalns says. “We moved the company to Montana and worked on prototyping for a year, particularly on navigation and mapping software owing to my background in computer science. We were essentially a software company trying to achieve Skyfish M6 and M4 | In operation Uncrewed Systems Technology | June/July 2023 Skyfish is making good business out of performing high-quality photogrammetry of tall, complex metallic structures (Images courtesy of Skyfish) A close partnership with Sony has been key to Skyfish unlocking some advantages in photogrammetry and 3D modelling
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