If the machine, which monitors flight conditions in real-time, determines wind speeds are too high, it will turn around and land so the survey can be attempted at a later time, under more favourable conditions. Above this threshold, the wind can compromise the efficiency of the survey. PrecisionHawk’s UAV can fly in rain, snow and wind up to 40 to 45 km/hour. The company, with headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., and satellite offices across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and India, provides a complete system for aerial surveying. It’s designed to be user-friendly: simply throw the UAV into the air and it will fly multiple transects over a pre-programmed area to collect a complete survey of the field. It gives contractors a view of the field that they can’t really get any other way,” says Ernest Earon, founder of PrecisionHawk. You can see very clearly the differences in the field based on drainage, evaporation rates and things like that, particularly surveying after a rainstorm. “The bird’s eye view lets you get the holistic view of the field, and that’s a big help. These pictures are then stitched together and can be imported into geographic information system (GIS) or computer-assisted design (CAD) software, allowing the user to study the aerial images and pinpoint areas that require closer inspection by a trained human eye to diagnose what’s at the root of any trouble spots. To capture this data, the UAV flies multiple passes overhead, constantly snapping pictures to ensure complete coverage of the survey area. Both models can be kitted out with cameras and sensors to deliver a bird’s-eye view of a farm, providing a snapshot of field conditions. There are two types of UAVs: a fixed-wing model that flies like a miniature airplane, and a rotor model that can hover in place like a miniature helicopter. The rapidly evolving technology is giving farmers the ability to understand what’s happening in their fields like never before, and new rules coming down the pipeline on both sides of the border have the potential to open up new opportunities to put these powerful machines to work. Drainage contractors too stand to benefit from adopting UAV technology into their operations. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are generating a lot of buzz in the agriculture sector lately.
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