As seen on msh-clermont.fr: Below you find an English summary of the video above.
The IntelEspace geomatics platform of the MSH Clermont-Ferrand (USR 3550) conducted research with a Microdrones UAV, equipped with different payloads for acquiring data (camera, multispectral, thermal and Lidar.) The research project was carried out with support by the French Government and Europe.
The project was titled “DDRAUN,” a French acronym for “Données, Drone, Risque, Agriculture, Numérique” which means High-Resolution Spatial Data for Agricultural Systems: Measuring and Managing Natural Hazards. The goal of the research was to implement a protocol for monitoring invasive species whose proliferation could be harmful to farming.
The DDRAUN project began its research in the fields of Auvergne, France, where, over the past ten years, an explosive population of moles have been damaging local crops.
The Microdrones system provides the necessary means to gather data to track the mole population and quantify their impact by creating a high resolution cartography of the molehills on the ground and measure indices of the Chlorophyllian activity and height of the grass.
In addition to the DDRAUN program, the IntelEspace platform will also use the Microdrones UAV for other research projects, such as environmental geography and archeology. For example, the Microdrones system will be used to measure and analyze erosion and the impact upon vegetation (diffusion, growth measurement, calculation of vegetation indices)
In archeology, the Microdrones system is able to take aerial surveys of sites and detect any buried remains through thermal and multispectral imaging. Using the LiDAR system, it can also detect artifacts covered by foliage. The research can also be applied to geology and forestry. The scientific potential is infinite with the ability of the Microdrones system to collect high resolution and precise environmental data.
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