Drone News & Articles

Photographer Eleonora Costi traveled around the continent to capture some of the most beautiful and eye-catching temples she could find. 

She has been working as a photographer since her university days, but says that social media has really changed the world of photography.

She credits Instagram with turning her into a travel photographer.

"I started publishing my travel photos on Instagram and people started following me, and even travel companies started noticing me, so I became a travel photographer and content creator," she told Insider.

"Give me a computer and a camera and I can work anywhere," she said.

Currently, her travels are mainly concentrated around Asia.

"I love Asian culture, food, and people, and for a woman who travels alone it's a truly safe place," Costa said.

Her last trip took her to seven countries around Asia in 20 days. She visited Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Macao, Hong Kong, Brunei, and Singapore, and took 12 different planes.

Her goal during this trip was to find the wildest places to shoot with her drone, but she told Insider that finding these places wasn't easy.

"I did a lot of research online, asked for information, and I also had some luck," she said. 

Not all of her images ended up being temples, either. Many of her shots are taken from above, but this one is an exception.

She's off to Thailand next to find unusual spots to photograph, so keep an eye out for new work.

After many years of writing about and being involved with the drone industry as a strategic consultant, I recently had the chance to see the technology from a completely different perspective. What started as a simple transaction between a home seller and a real estate photographer that offered drone services ended up showcasing the inherent challenges and opportunities that are inherent with the safe and lawful integration of drones into the national airspace system (NAS).

I’m selling a piece of property that’s near the airport in South Florida and hired a photographer to use a drone to show the house from above. In doing so, I was able to not only see the industry from the other side but also document the challenges that exist for operators that when trying to legally enter the airspace with their drone, in spite of having FAA permission to do just that. These challenges call into question who really controls the airspace but also demonstrate a path forward for drone industry advocates. 

Incredible Opportunities with Drones in Real Estate

Real estate professionals almost immediately began to utilize drone technology once it became affordable and available, and for good reason. Anyone selling a house or piece of property needs to be able to use multiple angles to show that asset in the best possible light, and what better perspective to show it than from above?

After deciding to put this piece of Southern Florida property on the market, I got in touch with 3D Reflections (www.3dreflections.net) to capture these images. The company is owned by Todd Stevenson and offers what they call “immersive video technology” to showcase the houses they are hired to portray in more detail than even I had imagined.

We met at the house in question for what turned out to be a ‘tour de force’ in modern real state photography, even though photographs are less than 50% of what these people do. I was somewhat surprised to see that he had an infrared scanner in his arsenal, partly because I’m so familiar with that technology. I first wrote about laser scanning in 2013 when police departments all over the world were discovering the technology to expedite crime scene reconstructions during CSIs. Since then, it’s been used by police departments and in other commercial applications, but what benefit would it be for a real estate photographer?

Infrared scanners capture information that enables the creation of a dense point cloud that is stitched together via post-processing software. Once that software has done so, you can view that asset in a coherent and continuous manner in perfect, colorful 3D. As I said, I’ve seen that technology deployed in serious professionals applications, but it was something else to see that same principle is being used in Doral, Florida to scan a two-story house with 74 different scans, with each run lasting about a minute. This allows the 3D Reflections team to produce virtual tours, which are in addition the capture of stunning photos from the air.

Stevenson and I walked around the house and he talked through and showed me all of these amazing features, which got me excited about how many different ways I’d be able to show off the property. He wasn’t highlighting the photos that would be captured from the air though, and I soon found out there was a good reason why.

The Geofencing Issue

While I was excited to see what kind of 3D images he was going to be able to create, what I really wanted to see were the images he’d be able to capture from above. I was anxious to see him take his DJI Phantom 4 Pro Plus, which he had with him, into the sky. It was then that he revealed he might not be able to use his drone because of my property’s proximity to the Miami International Airport. I could tell by his voice that he was just as disappointed about that as I was.

“It’s complicated,” he said with a sigh. “DJI has a mandatory geofencing near airports that prevent me from flying my drone so close to Miami International. I have all the permits here in my phone that have authorized me to fly here, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get around those geo-fencing restrictions.” 

I would have asked to see what authorization and proof he had around this, but he offered it before I needed to do so. He showed me his phone that did indeed contain FAA authorization to operate in the location with the correct date and time. With all that seemingly settled, then what was the issue?

“I requested this permission days ago and filed the NOTAM so everything would be done by the book, but the drone panel continues to insist that the vehicle will not fly in this area,” Stevenson said. “Currently, DJI has two ways to accomplish this on their "Fly Safe" website. However, their easy method (self-unlocking) does not work with my drone because of the integrated screen, for which I paid an extra $300, on my Phantom 4 Pro Plus.  DJI's other method (custom unlocking) requires that I apply and wait for DJI to respond to my request.”

DJI’s official position is that it does not apply geofencing as airspace control and that DJI strives to complete all unlocking requests in less than 30 minutes. Despite that, Stevenson mentioned that DJI’s support hadn’t offered any helpful feedback, and he even encountered some language barriers in the process. That didn’t line up with all the things I’ve heard about the incredible support structure, specifically in the USA, that is supposed to be the best at providing timely support to English speakers. I told him while that wasn’t something I’ve personally experienced, it’s something I’ve heard many users say at conferences over the past year, whether it was on panels or in private conversations.

“Sorry, that just hasn’t been my experience,” he said. “I’ve been trying to reach anyone in their support hotline for days to ask for a workaround using my FAA authorizations, but to no avail.” 

We later found out why we weren’t getting anywhere via email, but in the moment all I was focused on was quickly figuring out how Stevenson would be able to capture those images of my property. That desire compelled me to reach out to someone who I knew would have some critical insights around doing so.

Geofencing Restrictions and Workarounds

While Stevenson was working on his scans and began with the conventional photography of the property, I picked up the phone and called my friend Christopher Todd from the Airborne International Response Team (AIRT - https://www.airt.ngo/). His organization is a 501(c)3 based in Miami and specializes in the use of unmanned aerial platforms for disaster relief and public safety, and the limits of geofencing systems are ones he knows all too well. 

“Yes, we are familiar with the issue,” Todd told us. “Last week we were involved in a consortium of UAV companies working for a major Florida power company in preparation for the potential landfall of hurricane Dorian in our area. It’s a group of organizations around Florida that have an emergency service contract to provide UAS teams on demand. The power company acts as a coordinating agency for the effort. The geofencing restrictions were an issue that the power company was working to resolved directly with DJI so the flight teams could operate near the various South Florida airports for damage assessment operations if needed.”

That’s what it took to get DJI to lift the limitations of their geo-fencing? If that’s the case, what hope does Stevenson, whose business is far more limited in scale and scope, have of getting that same authorization? The reality is that the FAA has told him he can operate in this area under 400 ft, so how could a private company override the FAA’s authority in this manner?

“It is a problem that does not yet have a perfect solution,” Todd said. “I understand the need for certain measures to avoid bad actors that could place lives at risk, but there should be an easier method to gain access to airspace if you have authorization from the FAA to do legitimate work.”

That legit work was what Stevenson was ready to do since he has finished his scans and conventional photography of the property. All that was left was capturing the images from the drone. But was a private company going to prevent him from doing so, even though he had permission from the national authority? 

We went outside and he unpacked his DJI Phantom 4 Pro Plus and surprisingly enough, the drone took off without issue. As happy as we were about this, it also left us very confused. If the DJI software is telling us it can’t fly because of geofencing, why did the drone take off at all? We later found out that the flight has been released by DJI but the system never updated the screen.

The drone hadn’t been in the air that long before another issue arose which had nothing to do with the FAA or DJI.

“You Can’t Do That”

Before Stevenson and I could even talk about the mechanisms behind how or why DJI’s system could remove the flight restriction but not give him any indication that was the case, we received the frantic visit from a uniformed guard who came running in our direction waving her arms.

“You can’t do that here!” she shouted. “You can’t fly a drone inside the community without permission from the homeowner’s association.”

I let her know that we had permission from the FAA and they are the ones who control the skies, not the HOA. She was unmoved and insisted that the HOA has prohibited flights of drones inside the community without written authorization from them. That was the only permission that mattered to her.

I began to explain to her the limitations of the HOA’s authority related to issues far less relevant that drone flights, but it proved to be a moot point. In the midst of that discussion, Stevenson landed the drone and began to pack it up. The security guard seemed satisfied that she had stopped this “unauthorized” action, even though Stevenson had all the time he needed to capture the necessary images.

The aftermath of that entire ordeal left me wondering not only how people who don’t have the experience in the industry and understanding of the regulations like I do fare in these sorts of circumstances. I have that experience and understanding, but how can we as an industry not only avoid but move past such challenges?

Who Really Controls the Airspace?

Operating a drone for commercial purposes means applying for and receiving a Part 107 license, and also receiving specific permission from the FAA when operating in controlled airspace, just like the airspace that my property resides under. All of this should be considered a baseline when accessing the airspace. The challenges we encountered had nothing to do with any of this though, which is why I wanted to get a better understanding around why certain companies and organizations are seemingly trying to exert authority that is not theirs to define or enforce.

As soon as I got home, I wrote an email to my contact at the HOA and expressed my concerns in writing about the legality of their drone policy. Later that day I received a response basically saying that they were just trying to protect the privacy of the residents and the policy would stay in place. I explained to them that hundreds of legally certified flights operated by FAA-approved pilots (aka, manned aircraft) flew over the community every day and the HOA did nothing about it. Additionally, how FAA-approved pilots access or utilize the airspace over HOA property is not in their purview to define or enforce.

I never heard back from them.

In trying to access how DJI is attempting to control this access, Adam Lisberg, DJI’s Corporate Communication Director, North America responded to our request for information with a detailed explanation on how to unlock the mandatory geofencing and a link for DJI customers with an account to do it themselves (https://www.dji.com/flysafe/custom-unlock). He also provided feedback about the specific challenges we encountered.

“We made the process pretty simple,” Lisberg told Commercial UAV News. “We staff the unlocking site around the clock, and most requests are approved in much faster than 30 minutes. The use of a CrystalSky monitor shouldn’t matter since pilots can get advance unlocking if they plan to fly without an Internet connection. This is helpful for pilots who will fly in remote areas with no Internet or phone service, for example.”

That was great to hear, but the fact that the built in geo-fencing limitations of their system are so extensive made me wonder how much DJI wants to control access to the airspace. Is DJI trying to limit the way FAA-approved pilots can enter the airspace, in the same manner that the HOA is seemingly trying to do?

“DJI wholeheartedly agrees that only the FAA can authorize flight in the NAS and we have zealously defended the rights of drone pilots against attempts by other governmental bodies to impose their own flight restrictions,” Lisberg continued. “DJI was a founding member of the Network of Drone Enthusiasts, which advocates against local restrictions, and DJI has advocated across the United States to ensure drone pilots have consistent access to the skies. We strongly believe that drone pilots should ultimately be in control of their aircraft and make the decisions on how and where to fly; our geofencing system provides the best possible advice on how to make those decisions.”

I was happy to hear that the drone manufacturer agrees that the FAA has sole authority in this matter, and I believe that the HOA not being able to say something similar is due more to ignorance than a genuine desire to control the airspace. As it turned out, the back-and-forth emails between Stevenson and DJI were all addressed to the customer support team, not to flysafe@dji.com. That’s the email address DJI has specifically created to provide unlocking assistance. Additionally, an upcoming Enterprise version of DJI’s Qualified Entities Program will allow trusted professional operators to remove their geofencing, and that capability would have allowed us to avoid the issue entirely.

Utilizing the right email and having the ability to remove geofencing restrictions would and will make a big difference, but the experience nonetheless underscores the specific challenges that drone operators can encounter when trying to legally and safely enter the airspace. How can we as an industry avoid and move past such issues?

Avoiding Airspace Challenges and Redefining Perceptions

For technical challenges when pursuing an FAA-approved drone flight, I’d recommend getting out in front of potential issues as far as possible, and to keep pushing for a resolution even when you seemingly hit a dead end. As Lisberg mentioned, DJI has no interest in authorizing flights in the NAS itself, and the ability to operate as we wanted was actually provided. These sorts of roadblocks don’t exist because drone companies are trying to get between the FAA and operators. They exist because something needs to be changed with a system or process, and more often than not, companies like DJI need to be made aware of these roadblocks so they can remove them.   

As for challenges with organizations like the HOA, I could have asked for the permission they wanted, even though it’s not permission I technically needed. I could have held to that reality when encountered by the security guard, but would that have escalated the situation in a way that created further complications?

While it’s always easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission, situations where security guards or other authorities don’t realize they’re out of their jurisdiction when it comes to the airspace can take a turn for the worse very quickly. It’s one of the reasons that organizations like the LAFD and other public entities try to be transparent in everything they’re doing with drones. As we work to change the perception of drone technology as weapons or war or tools to spy on people, I’d recommend commercial operators of all types do the same with the people and organizations in the places they’re flying.

It is not up to equipment manufacturers, cities, states, local governments, homeowner associations or anybody but the FAA to regulate the NAS for both manned and unmanned aircraft. Let’s hope that by raising these issues more often, we create an avenue for an open and frank conversation about the rights and obligations of the new breed of aviators who have the same level of responsibility and professionalism as their manned aviation colleagues.

Fully autonomous robots that are able to inspect damaged wind farms have been developed by Scots scientists.

Unlike most drones, they don't require a human operator and could end the need for technicians to abseil down turbines to carry out repairs.

The multi-million pound project is showing how the bots can walk, dive, fly and even think for themselves.

They're being developed by Orca - the Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets hub.

The hub bills itself as the largest academic centre of its kind in the world and is led from Heriot-Watt and Edinburgh universities through its Centre for Robotics.

The consortium also involves Imperial College London, the universities of Oxford and Liverpool, and more than 30 industry partners.

Together, they are producing remarkable robots.

Dr Mirko Kovac and his colleagues in the aerial robotics laboratory at Imperial College London have created a new kind of flying drone.

Aerial drones are already used offshore to inspect hard-to-reach structures.

But this one goes further: it can manoeuvre to attach itself to vertical surfaces and has a robotic arm. A drone like this could fly to a wind turbine, not just to inspect it but to deploy a sensor or even carry out a repair, and because it's autonomous there'd be nobody onshore with remote controls.

It would mean an end to the risky business of humans donning hard hats and harnesses to dangle from a high turbine column over a heaving sea.

Meanwhile, ANYmal can go walkies.

This robot - which has the air of a chunky, electronic Rottweiler about it - gets about on four legs instead of wheels. It has been produced by the company ANYbotics and is already on the market.

Oxford's Dynamics Robot Systems Group is using ANYmal to develop new planning and navigation techniques.

Principal investigator at the Orca Hub, Prof David Lane of Heriot-Watt, says it presents new opportunities in the energy industry.

"A lot of the offshore platforms we work on are very small. The spaces are very confined, and wheeled robots won't be able to negotiate their way around the whole platform," he says.

"So robots that crawl, that have legs and can walk, they can go places on the platform that other robots wouldn't be able to."

Building trust

Orca's partners are also developing offshore robots that can roll on wheels, float on water or sink beneath its surface. Heriot-Watt were early leaders in developing submersibles that can inspect, repair and help decommission offshore structures.

But Orca's game-changer lies in developing robots that are not remotely controlled but autonomous and make decisions for themselves. Using artificial intelligence to create machines that can learn on the job means repairs and inspections can be carried out where radio signals don't reach and control cables won't stretch.

To the relief of many, there is still a degree of human supervision.

Helen Hastie, professor of computer science at Heriot-Watt and one of Orca's technical leads, says it is a question of building trust between human and machines.

"They have an autonomous element, which means that they sense the environment and can make certain decisions by themselves," she says, "but what's important is transparency, so that the operator understands what the robot is doing and why, and we're trying to get the robots to be explainable so they can explain their behaviour to the operator."

'Out of harm's way'

The Orca Hub is part of the UK government's £93m R&D funding for robotics and AI for extreme environments. The offshore industry is under constant pressure to become more efficient. This can be a euphemism for redundancies. Prof Lane says it's not a question of putting people out of work.

"People just do different jobs," she says. "What it does it take people out of harm's way." The robots will be offshore doing the work but there will still be plenty of people back onshore who will be working on the data and actually working on the robots.

"The robots don't fix themselves."

Today drones are used for a lot more than photography. Global leader DJI has demonstrated that with its latest products designed for agriculture and disaster relief.

Unveiled at the DJI AirWorks Conference in Los Angeles, the three new drones have been designed to assist businesses and government agencies incorporate drone technology into their operations.

Attendees at the conference included the Los Angeles Fire Department, Corteva Agriscience, DroneDeploy, Marathon Petroleum and Microsoft.

The new products are:

DJI Phantom 4 Multispectral drone – The world’s first fully-integrated multispectral imaging drone built to power farming’s next generation and enable more efficient environmental land management.

DJI Agras T16 drone – The global introduction of DJI’s leading spray drone for agriculture applications that makes it easy to precisely apply liquids like fertilizers and pesticides to field crops and orchards.

DJI Disaster Relief Program – A new initiative to rapidly equip first responders with DJI drone technology and support during natural disaster response and recovery missions for wildfires, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes.

“Over the past year, DJI has focused on delivering enterprise-grade drone technology that enables some of the most sophisticated businesses and government agencies in America to safely and securely deploy drone technology into their daily operations,” said Mario Rebello, Vice President and Americas Regional Manager at DJI.

“This year we aim to put our easy-to-use drones in the hands of farmers, agronomists, and land stewards to help manage their lands in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way, while also making sure we equip emergency responders with access to the industry’s best tools and support their need to rapidly respond and save lives during natural disasters.”

The DJI AirWorks Conference was also an opportunity for businesses and organisations to showcase their technologies and approaches they have integrated into drone deployment.

These include:

FLIR Systems introduced the MUVE C360, the industry’s first multi-gas detector fully integrated with the DJI Matrice 210 drone that will transform how emergency response teams approach chemical, industrial, and environmental incidents by providing a new level of safety, dramatically reducing time to action, and delivering a more complete assessment in situations where every second counts.

Microsoft demonstrated how organizations can use their technologies including Azure IoT Edge and Azure Cloud to streamline secure deployment of DJI drone fleets.

Corteva Agriscience and DroneDeploy shared their experiences of scaling and managing a fleet of nearly 500 drones, one of the largest deployments of drones within the agriculture industry worldwide.

The Los Angeles Fire Department showcased how it is using drone technology as an emergency response and preparedness tool across a variety of situations including hot-spot identification and aerial mapping for wildfire response, as well as incident response for swift water rescues, hazmat operations, and urban search and rescue missions.

American Petroleum Institute and Marathon Petroleum revealed their efforts to define best practices and shared learnings for the use of drone technology within the oil and gas industry, as well as showing how drones are being used to promote worker safety during waterway and flare stack inspections.

DJI has also introduced new tools for developers to allow them to create new drone technology with DJI X-Port.

How do you map one of the largest countries in the world? One drone at a time, perhaps. That’s exactly what the Indian government is doing, with the Survey of India (SoI) using a fleet of drones to map the country in incredible detail.

One of the first areas being surveyed is the Ganges river basin, which is being mapped with an accuracy of 10 cm, according to Professor Ashutosh Sharma of India’s Department of Science & Technology.

“The basis for everything”

A fleet of 300 drones is being gathered to capture aerial footage, which will be combined with other data sources and then converted into highly detailed maps using artificial intelligence.

“Even today we don't have a digital map of India of sufficient accuracy,” Professor Sharma told the Times of India. “But this is [going to be] the basis for everything... whether we have to lay down train tracks, lay a road, put up a hospital ... or any kind of development and planning.”

The new maps will have a scale of 1:500, meaning 1 cm will represent 5 metres on the ground. Mapping remote towns and villages in this detail will give local authorities accurate data relating to land ownership. In some cases, it is believed this will enable citizens to have verified land-ownership claims leading to the issuance of property titles for the first time.

Between now and 2021, the Indian project – which also brings together data from multiple sources – will map 75% of the country. The initial focus areas will be those that are populated – regions that are mostly forest or desert, for example, may be excluded from the exercise.

Transformative effect

Highly detailed and digital maps can help countries and communities around the world to pinpoint problems, find solutions and protect their future.

They can provide crucial information to aid groups in disaster zones, such as during the rescue effort in the aftermath of the huge earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015; help to protect the world’s forests and determine who’s responsible for areas of land to tackle illegal mining, logging and forest fires; and could even be used to help predict and prevent floods.

The United Nations Development Programme has said it will use digital technologies to transform the way it tackles issues such as poverty and climate change.

It is also using drones to create 3D maps of the Maldives – a country extremely vulnerable to the risks of climate change.

You can't just plop a scale into the ocean and ask a whale to get on it. 

Scientists studying the body mass of whales have had to weigh stranded or dead animals, which can mean dealing with bloated or decaying bodies, making accuracy a challenge. Scientists have now figured out a better way to weigh by using drones.

A team of researchers led by the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies in Denmark and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts published a study on the drone method this week in the British Ecological Society journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 

The scientists used drones to snap aerial photographs of southern right whales off the coast of Argentina, where lots of the animals gather in clear waters. The researchers developed a model that lets them calculate body volume and mass from these images. 

The drone-and-modeling approach works well for whales, but it could be adjusted and applied to other marine animals that are tricky to weigh. It also gives researchers the ability to track animals over time to keep tabs on their long-term health.

"Weight measurements of live whales at sea can inform how chronic stressors affect their survival and ability to produce offspring," said Michael Moore, a Woods Hole biologist and co-author of the paper. 

The team worked with the Digital Life Project at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a nonprofit initiative that creates digital 3D models of living organisms, to create a full-color 3D model of a right whale you can view and download on Sketchfab. Now we just need a volunteer to 3D-print a life-size version.

A common cliche in the drone industry is the ‘birds-eye view’, those all-encompassing visuals from above that offers a useful perspective – whether you’re creating a model of a construction site or searching for survivors in the wake of a natural disaster.

In the case of movie director Nicolas Vanier and his muse, ornithologist Christian Moullec, the term can be taken a little more literally.

Varnier used a range of DJI equipment to make ‘Spread Your Wings’, a movie out this month inspired by the work of Moullec. The French ornithologist spent years training to fly a microlight, before using it to train endangered geese to take safer migration routes between the Arctic circle and Europe.

The film is fictional but based on Moullec’s story, in which the microlight is accepted by migrating birds as the ‘parent’ and leader of the V formation.

“Nature has a lot to offer society and needs to be protected,” said Nicolas Vanier. “Drone technology enabled us to get closer than ever before and capture the true beauty of the birds for people to appreciate. Without the drone, we’d never have been able to achieve the shots we did. It really helped in making a fantastic story even more magical.”

The movie would not have been the same if we’d shot it before drones existed” – Nicolas Vanier

Eric Guichard, Director of Photography for the film, said, “Due to the Ronin 2 being much lighter than other professional camera stabilisers we were able to take it up on the microlights with us. I don’t know of any other equipment that would stabilise a camera with the image quality that is required for a professional production to the same level.”

Keen to see the end result? Spread Your Wings will be released on the 9th October 2019 in France (‘Donne moi des Ailes’), and later in other European countries, Canada and Japan.

As Hurricane Dorian threatens the USA after devastating the Bahamas, we take a look at how drones can play a crucial role in helping safety agencies mitigate the damage and after-effects of freak weather events.

Extreme weather has been increasing in America over the last 50 years, including more heavy downpours and hurricanes. In fact, some of the costliest hurricanes on record have occurred in the last decade; namely hurricanes Sandy (2012), Harvey (2017), Maria (2017), and Irma (2017). And now the raging Hurricane Dorian has left a trail of devastation in its wake, claiming the lives of at least 20 people in the Bahamas.

"First responders and utility companies today rely on drones to help people during emergencies, and DJI expects our products will play a critical – even lifesaving – role in responding to this looming disaster," said Mario Rebello, DJI vice president and North America regional manager,

With severe hurricanes seemingly on the rise, drones have emerged as the go-to tool for the emergency services to bolster their recovery plans and aid their rescue efforts – offering useful aerial perspectives which provide key decision-makers with vital situational awareness quickly, effectively, cheaply and safely.

DJI enterprise drones are ideal for such rescue efforts, including the M200 Series which can carry a host of payloads – such as the Z30 zoom camera and XT2 thermal sensor – and the Mavic 2 Enterprise, which is a lightweight aircraft for quick deployment.

Today, we take a look at the advantages of using drones for post-disaster response and real-life examples of when drones were used following some of the most devastating hurricanes in recent memory.

Drones Versus Traditional Methods

Drones are transforming the way that emergency services and key agencies act after a hurricane, quickly replacing traditional response methods. After all, relying on helicopters or grounds crews comes with its challenges.

Yes, helicopters offer aerial views, but technicians might miss issues as they fly by at 40 miles per hour.

This method can also be expensive, not to mention dangerous, with missions impacted by lingering bad weather or cloud cover, while pilots might be required to manoeuvre their helicopters without colliding with hard-to-see lines or transmission towers.

Meanwhile, ground crews often have trouble accessing the areas they need to inspect due to downed trees and impassable roads, and face dangerous conditions like swampy areas and downed electric lines. It is also a time-consuming process.

To overcome the challenges associated with traditional hurricane response methods, drones have flown into the mix, offering a cost-effective solution which is quicker and safer than ground patrols and cheaper and less dangerous than helicopter missions.

Having a rugged platform like the DJI M200 Series that can fly in adverse weather conditions was ideal following Hurricane Irma

Thanks to drones, damage of critical infrastructure can be assessed far easier and more efficiently than traditional methods, providing the most up to date and near real-time experience for the incident commanders. Drones can also cover large expanses of land, be deployed fast and access hard to reach areas – all while keeping operators out of harm’s way.

Hurricane Dorian – Drones Set To Play Their Part

With Hurricane Dorian bearing down on America’s East Coast, there are already reports of the emergency services readying their drones for action.

North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), for instance, has gone on the record to say that it is assembling teams of people who can fly unmanned aircraft after the storm has passed to collect video and photo images of the damage.

James Pearce, spokesman for the Division of Aviationm said: “As much as possible, we try to get them in position so they’re close to the impacted areas. We want to be ready to go as soon as the storm passes.”

NCDOT first used drones to get a bird’s-eye view of storm damage after Hurricane Florence last autumn. The department deployed 15 teams of two to four people to capture thousands of images at dozens of places where roads were impassable (see image below).

Meanwhile, a few days ago, DJI urged authorised drone users in the southeast United States to prepare their equipment and their operating procedures for the impending arrival of Hurricane Dorian.

The manufacturer said public safety agencies, utility operators, media outlets and other drone users with FAA authorisation to fly DJI drones should prepare now to ensure they can fly in a chaotic post-storm environment without electricity or internet service.

DJI has unlocked its geofencing restrictions for drones operated by Florida Power & Light Company, which serves more than 10 million people across the state of Florida, and is working with other utilities which may be called in to assist recovery efforts.

It was also announced that DJI was working with Florida emergency management agencies and with DJI Enterprise dealers who serve first responders to quickly unlock geofencing for public safety drones in Florida.

Mario Rebello, DJI vice president and North America regional manager, said: “First responders and utility companies today rely on drones to help people during emergencies, and DJI expects our products will play a critical – even lifesaving – role in responding to this looming disaster.”

In the Bahamas, drone teams have been tasked with documenting the widespread devastation and damage and offer situational awareness to local Bahamian government officials.

Members of the Airborne International Response Team (AIRT), which provides drone capabilities for disaster response, have teamed up with members of the Southeast Florida Region 7 All-Hazards Incident Management Team (SEFL-R7 AHIMT), to form a joint-reconnaissance team.

Christopher Todd, Executive Director at AIRT, said: “The debris field at Marsh Harbor was unlike anything I have ever seen. By combining the drone with the latest rapid mapping technology, we were able to produce a highly accurate and incredibly detailed digital map of the hardest-hit areas of Marsh Harbor and the other towns.

“Beyond just search and rescue and damage assessment missions, these types of systems will help us provide a better understanding of what exactly happened, why it happened, and how it might be prevented from happening again in the future.”

Case Studies: Drones A Key Player Amid Hurricane Chaos

So, drones have been used in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, but it isn’t the first time UAVs have been deployed to bolster recovery efforts.

In 2016, with Hurricane Matthew, insurance and telecom companies such as Allstate and Verizon, relied upon drones to assess the damage of critical infrastructure.

In order to determine connectivity and damage, the telecom company, Verizon, used a drone throughout parts of North Carolina that experienced severe flooding to inspect cell towers.

In Savannah, Georgia, Allstate relied on drones to survey property damage caused by the hurricane.

In 2017, hurricanes Harvey and Irma presented another scenario where drones were utilised to serve in disaster recovery efforts as useful recovery tools.

En route to Florida, Hurricane Irma left thousands of people homeless, and in some cases, similar to the earlier incident with Harvey and Texas-based chemical plant, Arkema, others have been exposed to harmful chemical substances from large refineries wiped out by the hurricane.

Determined to restore order on the ground, emergency management teams and first responders were hard at work, utilising drones to give them an aerial perspective and assessing the damage of critical infrastrucuture, enabling key decision-makers to take action.

Drone teams conducted more than a thousand missions, covering in excess of 300 miles of hurricane-damaged terrain, to try to limit the effects of Hurricane Irma.

This imagery provided the most up to date and near real-time experience for incident commanders and the pictures were able to be catalogued.

Cameras, especially with long-range zoom and thermal imaging capabilities, were utilised extensively during these operations, with the rugged DJI M200 Series – which can carry payloads such as the Z30 zoom and XT2 thermal – proving its worth.

Meanwhile, drones helped insurance inspectors improve safety, gather better data and jumpstart efforts to rebuild the Caribbean island of St Martin following Hurricane Irma – which took a good brunt of the storm and saw the vast majority of its buildings damaged.

It meant that claim adjusters needed to inspect each structure and estimate the cost of repairs before insurance companies could begin to help the island’s residents get back on their feet.

From the ground, this would take months. But, by using drone maps to assess the structural damage caused by the hurricane, insurance inspectors shortened that process to days  –  all while improving safety, data collection and turnaround time for the claims process.

The drone maps helped to create a common set of data and a clear record of the damage, helping everyone involved stay organised and on the same page throughout the process. Each map could also be geotagged, with a clear record of the exact time, date and location.

Conclusion

The ever-increasing use of drones for disaster response mirrors the rise of drones across the larger world of enterprise, from construction to public safety.

And it’s no coincidence either. Drones yield numerous benefits for the emergency services in the wake of a freak weather event, like a hurricane, compared to more traditional methods.

They can be deployed quickly, easily and cheaply, providing real-time information and unique views which are vital to decision-makers – all while keeping crews away from danger.

Drone technology has certainly been something of a game-changer when it comes to reacting to a major disaster.

LiDAR is one of the most important tools in the commercial drone industry.  While it has been around since the 1960s when it was mounted to aircraft, its uses have expanded dramatically now that LiDAR can be used with commercial drones.

What is LiDAR and how does it work?  LiDAR is a remote sensing technology: sensors that are mounted to drones send a pulse from a laser to collect measurements, which can then be used to create very precise models (including 3D models) and maps of objects and environments.

LiDAR is an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging.  The idea behind the technology is conceptually simple:  LIDAR measures distance by measuring the time that it takes to get the laser pulse to the measured object and back.  By doing this many many times per second, you can get an accurate distance and gain enough information to be able to tell quite a bit about the object that you are looking at.

We recently found an interesting piece in Grind GIS here that should help to broaden your understanding of the potential uses of LiDAR technology.  You will see that it is used in surveying and mapping,  agriculture, forestry, police and firefighting, forestry, environmental assessment and more.

1. DEM (Elevation Value): DEM stands for digital elevation model which has z coordinates value along with x and y. Elevation values are used everywhere, inroads, building, bridge and other. It has made easy to capture the surface height. Before LIDAR, ground survey or photogrammetry method was used to capture the z coordinates but the problem with this method was time-consuming. LIDAR has made things easier and quicker.

2. Micro-Topography: LIDAR is very accurate and precise technology which uses a laser pulse to strike the object. Regular photogrammetry or other survey technology can miss the surface elevation value that is hidden by vegetation or forest canopy. But LIDAR can penetrate through the object and detect the surface value.

3. Agriculture: LIDAR helps the farmer to find an area that uses costly fertilizer. LIDAR can be used to create an elevation map of the farmland that can be converted to create slope and sunlight exposure area map. Both the layer information can be used to create high, medium and low crop production area. The extracted information will help the farmer to save on the costly fertilizer.

4. Forest Planning and Management: LIDAR is widely used in the forest industry to plan and manage. It is used to measure the vertical structure of the forest canopy and also used to measure and understand canopy bulk density and canopy base height. Other uses of the LIDAR in the forest industry is the measurement of the peak height to estimate its root expansion.

5. Forest Fire Management: LIDAR is becoming widely popular in forest fire management. The fire department is transforming from reactive to proactive fire management. LIDAR image helps to monitor the possible fire area which is called fuel mapping (fire behaviour model).

6. Precision Forestry: Precision Forestry is defined as planning and operating the site-specific forest area to increase the productivity of wood quality, reduce cost and increase profits, and maintain the environment quality. LIDAR and aerial photo is used to perform precision forestry.

7. Tourism and Parks Management: LIDAR DEM is used to plan the park and tourism area. High accurate surface models help to find the best area to have a playground, trees, and walking trail. Parks management is a big business and LIDAR technology is playing a vital role in its management. 3D image of the park, generated from LIDAR technology helps for the future growth of the park.

8. Environmental Assessment: Micro topography data generated form the LIDAR data is used in the environmental assessment. Environment assessment is done to protect the plants and environment. Remote sensing and surface information (LIDAR) is used to find the area that is affected by human activities.

9. Biodiversity for Birds: As LIDAR technology is evolved in finding detail information about the forest. Forests are homes for different types of birds, animals and insects. Science uses LIDAR data to analyze forest (vertical structure) to see whether it is a suitable place for them. Vertical structures of trees, shrubs, and other plant tell what species can live and prosper in that area.

10. Flood Model: LIDAR provides very accurate information. Rivers are very sensitive and few meters of change in information can bring disastrous or loss of properties. So LIDAR is used to create high resolution and accurate surface model of the river. This extracted LIDAR information can be used for the 3D simulation for better planning of the structures or buildings on the river bank.

11. Watershed and Stream Delineation: DEM generated from LIDAR is used to create watershed area and streamline delineation. High and accurate DEM is the major input to create this and GIS software is used to create it. This way you can calculate watershed for the particular water channels and find an out-stream channel for overland flooding.

12. ELC: ELC is the short form of Ecological & Land Classification. It is done to provide the biological and physical information of the Landscape which helps in sustainable management. ELC process helps in the range of sectors like land-use planning, environmental assessment, forest management, habitat management and many more. During the classification of Land, high-resolution LIDAR data helps to understand the nature and type of the land, that will help in the ELC process.

13. River Survey: Water penetration green light (532 nanometers) of the LIDAR is used to measure underwater. Underwater information is required to understand the depth, flow strength, and width of the river and more. For the river engineering, its cross-section data is extracted from LIDAR data (DEM) to create a river model, which will create a floodway and flood fringe map. LIDAR data can be used by the marine engineer to understand marine life,

14. Modelling of the Pollution: a LIDAR wavelength is shorter which operates in ultraviolet, visible region or near-infrared. This helps to image the object which is in the same size or larger than the wavelength. So LIDAR can detect pollutant particles of carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide and methane. This information helps researched to create pollutant density map of the area which can be used for better planning of the city.

15. Mapping: Surface model created from LIDAR is used to add graphical value to maps. DEM (from LIDAR) is added underneath of all layers that shows the 3D view of the land. Especially LIDAR data (DEM) is added on the aerial photography to show the 3D view which makes easier to plan roads, buildings, bridges and rivers.

16. Management of Coastline: LIDAR data of the coastline surface and under the water surface can be combined by researches to analyze the behaviour and area of the waves covered by them. If these data are captured periodically then the marine scientist can understand the coastline erosion occurrence.

17. Transport Planning: LIDAR data for road helps the engineer to understand it and give a roadmap for the building it. As LIDAR are highly accurate technology it helps to understand the width, elevation and length of the existing road. Besides, civil engineers use LIDAR data to cut & fill, do culvert sizing, vegetation removal, grade calculations and more.

18. Oil and Gas Exploration: As LIDAR wavelengths are shorter, it can be used to detect molecules contained in the atmosphere that has the same or bigger wavelength. There is the new technology called DIAL (Differential Absorption LIDAR) which is used to trace amount of gases above the hydrocarbon region. This tracking helps to find the Oil and Gas deposits.

19. Mining: LIDAR is also used in the mining business in various tasks. It is used to measure the ore volume by taking a series of photos of ore extraction space. These interval photos are used to calculate the volume.

20. Archaeology: LIDAR has played an important part for the archaeologist to understand the surface. LIDAR can detect micro-topography that is hidden by vegetation which helps archaeologist to understand the surface. DEM created from LIDAR is feed into the GIS system and it is combined with other layers for analysis and interpretation.

21. Exploring Quarries and Minerals Area: For Archaeology it is important to understand human civilization by finding the quarry and minerals site. So LIDAR is used to detect these spot.

22. Viewshed Analysis: Viewshed analysis is a common name in GIS, it uses a digital elevation model (DEM) to create a viewshed map. It uses individual cell to determine that is visible or not from all other remaining cells. Accuracy of analysis depends on the inputted DEM. So high accurate DEM generated from LIDAR is used for these type of analysis.

23. Solar Energy Planning: Solar energy is getting popular for heating and electricity purpose. Solar panels are used to absorb the heat energy from the sun and it is converted to heat or electricity energy. For the installation of the Solar panel, there are some basic requirements which are identified by the help of the LIDAR data. Like Solar panel should be kept to the south-facing of the roof and it should have minimum area and so on.

24. Right to Light: Every house owner has right for the light, other types of construction should not block the light for the individual. As LIDAR data can capture the 3D model of the building, GIS analysis can be used to produce a shadow map which shows illumination area during a particular time of the day.

25. Glacier Volume Changes: LIDAR is used to calculate the glacier change over the period. LIDAR image is taken in time series to see the change happening. For example, LIDAR image was taken of Iceland from 2007-2009 and project was completed in 2012. These captured data will help scientist to know the amount of volume change.

26. Gaming: LIDAR technology is used to capture the surrounding area and this data is feed into the computer and colour code is added to it. For example for the race track game, LIDAR will be used to capture the view of the real race track. This captured race track data will be used for the game.

27. Accident Scene: Ground-based LIDAR can be used to capture the accident and crime scene. LIDAR technology can be used quickly to record the accident scene on the road that can be used later for the investigation. This allows the traffic to flow smoothly if there is the accident.

28. Architecture: Ground-based LIDAR technology can be used to capture the structure of the building. This digital information can be transfer to a computer for architecture to design the house model.

29. Recording of Building: Ground-based LIDAR can be used to record the inside of the house. It can be used to record the interior design too. This extracted data can be printed on the 3D printer to model it. Or when the building is rebuilt, this recorded information can be used to restore the interior design.

30. BIM: GIS is a valuable tool that helps in the planning, organizing and subsequent growth in the energy and utility industries. The effective management of energy systems is a complex challenge. GIS has enormous potential for planning, design and maintenance of the facility. Also, it provides improved services cost-effectively.

31. Cellular Network Planning: LIDAR can survey the area with less time compared to other methods. The collected surface model can be feed into the GIS system to create a line of sight or viewshed map. This outputted map can help a cellular engineer to find the proposed cellular antenna.

32. Vehicle Automation: LIDAR is becoming more popular in vehicles to make it automatic. LIDAR is used to grab the information on the road and it is passed to the computerized system to make a humanlike decision.  For example, LIDAR can detect the road yellow lines which tell the vehicle to stay within yellow lines. Nowadays vehicle uses Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) which has LIDAR technology. It helps the vehicle in cruise control slow down when there is a vehicle in the front and also speed up when there is no traffic.

33. Sewer and Manhole Survey: There is someplace in the sewer line where that is not physically accessible. In this situation sensor attached with the robotic machine are sent into the pipe for a survey. This information is later fed into a computer for analysis.

34. Meteorology: LIDAR has been used for the study of clouds and their behaviour since it was invented. It uses its wavelength to strike small particles in the cloud to understand it. There are different kinds of LIDAR which are used for various purposes in meteorology.

Elastic backscatter LiDAR: It is the simplest type of LiDAR and is typically used for studies of aerosols and clouds.

Differential Absorption LiDAR (DIAL): It is used for the measurements of gas like ozone, carbon dioxide, or water vapour.

Raman LiDAR: It is also used for measuring the concentration of atmospheric gases but also to take the number of aerosol parameters present.

Doppler LiDAR: It is used to measure wind speed.

35. Geology: In geology, the combination of LIDAR aircraft and GPS has evolved so much it is used finding the fault and measuring the uplift. The combination of the above technology was used to find the Seattle fault in the Washington State, USA. NASA satellite called ICESat that has LIDAR sensor is used to monitor glaciers and perform coastal change analysis.

36. Astronomy: In the exploration of MARS, LIDAR technology was used to create the topographic map of the red planet (the NASA Mars Global Surveyor). NASA\’s Phoenix Lander used LIDAR technology to detect snow falling in the Mars atmosphere.

37. Atmospheric Physics: In the Atmospheric Physics, LIDAR is used to measure the concentration of oxygen, nitrogen, potassium, sodium and other gas particles in the middle and upper atmosphere. This information is used to create a density map.

38. Oceanography: LiDAR is used for calculation of phytoplankton fluorescence and biomass in the ocean surface. It is also used to measure the depth of the ocean (bathymetry). A typical example will be measuring of the coral reef.

39. Military: LIDAR has always been used by the military people to understand land. It creates a high-resolution map for the military purpose.

40. COPS: It is quite common technology in the law enforcement department. Police use LIDAR gun to detect the speed of the vehicle and also to understand the traffic flow. This technology is so precise that they can pick up the targeted vehicle from the cluttered traffic.

41. Forensic: 3D Laser scanning or LIDAR is becoming quite popular in forensic examination. Though the technology is new, it is embraced by the police department, law enforcement agencies and government crime agencies.

42. Imaging: LIDAR technology is used to create a 3D image of the object that is in distance. 3D imaging is done with both scanning and non-scanning systems. There is a technology which uses a combination of fast gated camera and LIDAR to created 3D image (3D gated viewing laser radar). It is a non-scanning system.

43. Wind Farm: LIDAR is used in the wind farm to calculate the direction and strength of the wind. LIDAR attached to the turbine helps to change the direction of the blade to generate more power.

44. Dune Monitoring: LIDAR is used to monitor the dune activities. It includes a change in size and shape, vegetation, rate of change and other related dune activities.

45. Urban Municipality: LIDAR is used by the urban municipality to survey the city. As LIDAR is accurate and quick to survey, it helps the municipality to know where things are and what are the changes happened in the city. City assessment department can use LIDAR to find out what are things build up in the public backyard.

46. Railway Infrastructure: Traditionally railway track measurement was done by regular survey system. Now LIDAR can quickly perform the measurements of the railway track and the topographical and surrounding area of the railway path.

47. Airport Infrastructure: LIDAR is used to capture features in the airport like runways, terminal buildings, hangars and other objects. This allows the airport authority to manage and operate the airport system smoothly.

48. Tunnel Surveying: LIDAR is used to measure accurate and detailed measurements, used for analysis, assessment and modelling of the tunnel that is for railway track or road. This might be in the mountain, land or underwater.

49. Tsunami Inundation Modeling: Tsunami is a well-known natural disaster and can take thousands of lives and may damage infrastructure. LIDAR technology help scientist to understand the area that will be covered when the tsunami happens. DEM produce by LIDAR gives the elevation value of the seashore and bathymetric data provides underwater elevation. This information, layered in the GIS will provide the inundate area when Tsunami occurs.

50. ISMP: Integrated Storm Water Management Plan has become a popular name compare to the traditional system, which is an ecosystem-based approach to rainwater management. The goal of ISMP is to balance between land use planning, stormwater engineering, flood and erosion protection, and environmental protection. For the ISMP or traditional stormwater management system, elevation map is important. It is easy to produce contour from DEM which is created from the LIDAR data. LIDAR data are accurate and precise.

A recent survey carried out for the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), by Kantar TNS, indicates that real estate professionals are increasingly open to embracing new digital technology, in the interests of providing a more effective service to vendors and buyers.

The number of respondents using drone footage in 2019 has risen to 66% - up from 51%, when the same research was last undertaken in 2017.

Bindi Norwell, CEO, REINZ says that this increase doesn’t surprise her.

“Many years ago, a real estate marketing campaign was essentially a single photo on a newspaper page, with a very short script, and the agent’s phone number, but new technology has completely transformed the process of buying and selling, and drone footage, 3D walkthroughs and VR all can help a prospective purchaser to really ‘experience’ the property and its surroundings, with a 360-degree view.”

Social media continues to be seen as a valuable marketing tool, with 60% of respondents using un-paid social media, while 58% currently pay for advertising on social platforms.

Back in 2017 those figures were 50% and 39% respectively, so the uplift in paid social media advertising shows an interesting trend, which likely attests to its efficacy and reach.

“Social media is such a valuable marketing tool because it allows agents and their clients to connect easily and, in fact, it’s one of the first places most potential buyers look, these days,” says Bindi Norwell.

“Facebook itself is one of the most popular of all social media platforms with real estate professionals, because it targets people who are actually looking in a particular town, suburb, or price range, and the agent can display his or her listings, videos, photos, and updates - as well as past sales, and testimonials. Almost 50% of New Zealanders check their Facebook each day so embracing it has made good business sense.”

The 2019 survey result also points to the increasing popularity of smartphone apps, allowing agents, vendors or buyers to communicate wherever and whenever they want.

51% are now utilising the marketing power of smartphone apps, compared to 38% two years ago and video advertising is another area with a noticeable rise in the number of users.

Search engine optimisation has been embraced by 36% of respondents, up from 29% in 2017, but results for the offshore marketing question reflect a decrease in foreign buyers, over the past two years.

Where 31% were marketing to potential purchasers abroad, in 2017, 29% answered in the affirmative in 2019.

In one of three new questions in this year’s survey, respondents were asked if they are using algorithms to leverage data and while 15% are utilising this technology already, 32% are considering its use.

7% are using artificial intelligence – another new question in 2019 – and use of virtual reality is catching on with 5% utilising it currently while 48% are considering it.

“With so many new tools available to real estate professionals they might appear to be prioritising the relatively tried and true, but there are clearly some in the industry who have quickly become comfortable with really cutting-edge digital tools and services and are using it to benefit themselves and their clients,” says Bindi Norwell.

“1% reported that they’re using robots in open homes, and it will be interesting to compare that figure with next time we survey given that 11% stated they would consider using them,” she adds.