Drones at GEO
The Department of Earth Science has a range of UAVs that can be used for staff and master students. In addition to mapping, some of the drones are suitable for producing outreach photos and videos.
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Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) commonly known as drones can be used to get very-high resolution (less than 1 cm) imagery, Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and 3D models. Such datasets can be used to help map landforms and landscapes, or to measure 2D and 3D changes over time. The Department of Earth Science has a range of UAVs that can be used for staff and master students. In addition to mapping, some of the drones are suitable for producing outreach photos and videos.
In order to fly a drone you must have passed the A1/A3 online test on flydrone.no. The UAVs are listed below. For any questions or enquiries please contact Benjamin Robson (benjamin.robson@uib.no). Please note that students wishing to borrow a drone must fill out this form.
DJI Mavic 3E (two available)
These drones can fly for 45 minutes, featues a mechanical shutter, 56x zoom camera, and an RTK module that allows centimetre-level georeferencing precision. The drones are relatively light and easy to transport, fly well in windy or high-altitude conditions, and are easy to use. The controllers have integrated screens which allow for mission planning. In Norway these drones can connect to the national CPOS network which allows for real time corrections of GPS positions, providing centimetre scale accuracies. For areas where this not possible, we also have a DGPS base station that can be set up.
Figure 1: launching one of the DJI Mavic 3E UAVs
Figure 2: RTK base station in use
Wingtra Gen II (one available)
The Wingtra is a professional grade drone. It is a vertical take off and landing (VTOL) fixed-wing drone. It can fly for approximately one hour on each battery, and can be mounted with a standard 42 MB Sony camera, or a multispectral camera. This drone can cover much larger areas than the DJI drones. The drone has uses a PPK workflow which allows for centimetre scale georeferencing of the data. Note that this drone requires a fee to operate (to cover insurance) and must be operated by either Benjamin Robson or Gidske Andersen.
Figure 3: The Wingtra UAV taking off
DJI Air S2 (2 available)
These smaller drones are compact and easy to hike with. They can be used for mapping smaller areas or capturing photos of videos of the field. The onboard GPS is not differential, so if centimetre-scale accuracy is needed you must collect ground control points in the field.
Figure 4: One of the DJI Air S2 drones being used to make a 3D model of a glacier
