Unmanned aerial systems (drones)

How do we use UAS?

The benefits that UAS offer the fields of environmental monitoring and conservation are being realized by an ever-increasing number of researchers and scientists. UAS provide quick, easy, and cost-effective insights, on demand.

The applications for UAS vary widely, but can be used to capture high-resolution imagery and video that give scientists and first responders a new perspective and important information that supports data-driven, real-time decision making.

Applications of UAS at Ecology

• Aerial photography/videography
• Coastal erosion monitoring
• Spill response/emergency response
• Mapping and site inspections
• Structure-from-motion modeling 
• Lidar (Light detection and ranging)
• Temporal change monitoring
• Air and water quality surveys 
• Communications products and storytelling

Benefits of using UAS for environmental work

• Increased safety and reduced risk for our staff.
• Scale of the landscape to be surveyed exceeds the capacity of staff and/or conventional aircraft.
• The above-ground-level operational requirements exceed the safe operation limits of conventional aircraft.
• Survey equipment, such as cameras, video cameras, infrared cameras, radar, sonar, and Lidar, are best deployed using these vehicles.
• Manned aircraft are usually unavailable and not cost effective

Projects

We fill out a project checklist every time we use UAS to support our work. Below is a list of all approved projects.