Drones at Sewanee: Adventures in tracking leaf fall and building our own

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, are widely used in a variety of disciplines and for multiple applications. Our project with UAVs began in September 2017 with the purchase of the DJI Phantom 4 Advanced drone and the... [ view full abstract ]

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, are widely used in a variety of disciplines and for multiple applications. Our project with UAVs began in September 2017 with the purchase of the DJI Phantom 4 Advanced drone and the parts for a second and self-built drone. The main goal of our semester was to: 1) familiarize ourselves with the two drones by flying the DJI drone through Lost Cove to track leaf fall, and 2) construct and test fly the self-built drone with the help of Aliyah Pandolfi and Kashmir Robotics. Our project tracking leaf fall with the DJI drone consisted of weekly flights at Lost Cove and uploading pictures and videos that we had taken in flight. Pictures and video attempted to capture leaf fall by consistently taking pictures right above the treetops and looking out towards the horizon. Due to limited abilities of the first controller that we had purchased for the drone, we were unable to take waypoints. Using maps that we were able to create post-flight by downloading the GPS points of our pictures, we determined that every flight started and ended in the same spot, and pictures and videos taken during each flight were consistently of the same areas. Some challenges arose during our flights with our SD card that held our pictures and video. Other challenges included losing connection with the controller during flight even though the drone wasn’t yet out of range, understanding imagery with changes in the sun’s position between flights, and working waypoints once we purchased a new controller. Imagery quality was also inconsistent because of weather and the changing angle of the sun as we approached winter. Challenges with the self-built drone included problems with the flight controller and a faulty propeller. Despite these initial problems, we feel that UAVs could be successfully used to support research and management projects in many departments across campus in future years.