WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT DRONES?

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT DRONES?

I must admit I did not know a lot about drones. I know that a number of individuals use them for entertainment, flying them as a kind of modern day remote control airplane. The military is probably the largest operator of drones for surveillance, spying, and targeted bombing. Other than that, I admit to being dronistically challenged. Until recently!

On a summer trip to visit relatives on a Manitoba farm, I was totally unaware that at present, 80% of private drone use is for agricultural purposes. The reasons include the need to regularly and cheaply monitor crops to improve management and yields,. Near-infrared sensors can be tuned to detect crop health, letting farmers react and know if they need to apply fertilizer or spray for insects.

My friend, Stan, who farms, also owns a gravel pit on his property. Three large pyramids of gravel intrude into the skyline near his home. I asked Stan how he kept track of the number of loads of gravel that truckers extracted from the piles, since there was no locked gate to prevent theft. Although users are supposed to record the number of truck loads taken, it is not a very reliable procedure.

To determine the amount of gravel that has been removed, the company that manages the pit, uses drones to fly a complex series of grid passes over the piles and the drones record the heights of the piles with geographic coordinates. From the drones measurements, the amount of gravel that has been removed since the last fly over can be determined very accurately. Who knew? Definitely, not me!

Other interesting uses of drones that my research unveiled include:

-They were used in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi for filming skiing and snowboarding events for television.
-Drones can be used to deliver small packages, pizzas, letters, medicines, beverages etc. at short distances
-After a natural or man made disaster, a drone provides a quick means to gather information and navigate debris
-With thermal sensors, drones can quickly discover the location of lost persons, and are particularly useful at night or in challenging terrain
-A drone could potentially be used to “drop in supplies” to an otherwise unreachable location
-Drones can provide fast access to high-quality, real-time visual inspection of power lines, oil and gas pipelines, transmission towers, buildings and bridges, wind turbines and rotor blades
-The presence of drones has proven to serve as a deterrent to poachers and illegal loggers and can also monitor salmon, rabbits, seals, and sea lions providing new insights into animal behaviour
-They can help with crowd surveillance and public safety and help in monitoring criminal activity, crime scenes and fire investigations
-Sending drones into hurricanes and tornadoes provides new insight into their behaviour and trajectory

I can now admit that I know a lot more about drones than I did before I visited Stan’s gravel pyramids. On that note, class is dismissed! Be prepared for a pop quiz on Monday!