12 TIPS FOR EXPERT AERIALS Pushing back against false reporting BAD PRESS Remote-Split Operations 101 WAY BEYOND LINE OF SIGHT LIDAR vs. Photogrammetry THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2021 RotorDronePro.com Water sampling Litter cleanup Pest control ECO DRONES Parrot Anafi USA© 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved. OWN THE MATRIX on 4K Ultra HD ™ , Blu-ray ™ and Digital Now SCAN TO JACK INFEATURES 36 ‹ Level Up! 12 tips to create incredible drone photos BY TEAM ROTORDRONE PRO 56 ‹ Bad Press What the Wall Street Journal got wrong about drones BY PATRICK SHERMAN VOLUME 8, NUMBER 5 | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021EXPERT TECH 32 ‹ Remote-Split Operations: How to fly a drone you never see BY PATRICK SHERMAN 50 ‹ Photogrammetry vs. LIDAR Choosing the right sensors for your job BY GABRIEL TORRES 60 ‹ When Drones Go Bad Investigating incidents of rogue operations BY PATRICK SHERMAN AIR SUPPORT 22 ‹ Parrot Anafi USA A diminutive drone with superlative features BY PATRICK SHERMAN DEPARTMENTS 6 ‹ Top View 7 ‹ Return to Home 8 ‹ Aerial Intel 66 ‹ Over the Horizon RotorDrone Pro (USPS 18095; ISSN 2374-8389) is published bimonthly by Air Age Media, Inc., 11 Grumman Hill, Suite 5, Wilton CT 06897 USA. Copyright 2019, all rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Wilton, CT, and additional mailing offices. 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FREEFREE FREE 1-877-929-63036 RotorDronePro.com RCX.com e Association of Magazine Media EDITORIAL Executive Editor Debra Cleghorn | debrac@airage.com Senior Technical Editor Gerry Yarrish | gerryy@airage.com Associate Editor Matt Boyd | mattb@airage.com CONTRIBUTORS Tim Bresen, Gus Calderon, Jeff Howe, Robert C. Rodriguez, Patrick Sherman, George Suresh, Johan Vandenhecke, Bobby Watts PRODUCTION Production Director David Pandy DESIGN Valpro Media Services DIGITAL MEDIA Web Producer Holly Hansen VIDEO/PHOTOGRAPHY Photographer Peter Hall Videographer Adam Lebenstein ADVERTISING Fox Associates 800.440.0231 (USA/Canada), 312.644.3888 adinfo@rotordrone@foxrep.com CONSUMER MARKETING Mast Circulation Group, Inc. MARKETING & EVENTS Marketing Assistant Erica Driver Event Manager Emil DeFrancesco PUBLISHING Group Publishers Louis V. DeFrancesco Jr., Yvonne M. DeFrancesco FOLLOW US On Facebook: rotordrone Follow us on Twitter: @rotordrone Instagram: instagram/rotordronemag Visit us online: RotorDronePro.com Comments may be sent to: rotordrone@airage.com EDITORIAL OFFICE 11 Grumman Hill, Wilton, CT 06897 USA EMAIL rotordrone@airage.com REPRINTS AND LICENSING C ontact Wright’s Media at airage@wrightsmedia.com or (877) 652-5295. TOP VIEW BY DEBRA CLEGHORN THE RIGHT TOOLS If you’ve ever wondered whether LIDAR or photogrammetry is the right tool for your job, you don’t want to miss this month’s Expert Tech from Gabriel Torres. Use his advice to determine which sensor is the best match to your particular application. And speaking of sensors, the Parrot AnafiUSA has an infra-red sensor that work with its electro- optics, so operators can identify temperatures between -10 and +400 degrees. See what else this military-grade drone off ers in our “Air Support” review. An aerial camera can take your creativity to new heights (pun intended!). is month in “Level Up!,” we share 12 expert tips to help you get the most out of your eye in the sky. With a little practice and imagination, you’ll be on your way to producing stunning aerial images. When drones get in the news for the wrong reasons, it makes flying more challenging for responsible—and licensed—operators everywhere. So, this spring when the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that thousands of drones were flying within restricted airspace near the Los Angeles International Airport—the third busiest airport in the world!—people were worried. In “Bad Press,” contributor Patrick Sherman explains the inaccuracies and misinformation in this article. It’s especially important to push back against misleading drone stories that malign our responsible and growing industry, so please share this article with your associates. I think you’ll enjoy this October/November issue. If you’d like to share how you use uncrewed aircraft or have a question you’d like to see answered in a future issue, please drop us a line at RotorDrone@airage. com. Your comments help us continue to make RotorDrone Pro the industry’s best uncrewed aircraft resource. CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, submit a change of address, or for questions about your subscription, go to https://rotordronepro.com/help-contact-us You can also send an email to service@airage.com, or call +203-529-4638 8am to 6pm EST Printed in the USA A 3D output map from LIDAR provides elevation information, which can be colorized based on either elevation or intensity to aid interpretation. is is a mine excavation site with steep walls.RotorDrone Pro 11 Grumman Hill, Ste. 5, Wilton, CT 06897 twitter.com/ rotordrone facebook.com/ rotordrone pinterest.com/ rotordronemag instagram.com/ rotordronemag youtube.com/ airagemedia rotordrone@ airage.com RETURN TO HOME RotorDronePro.com › Mailbag After reading “Mission to Mars” in the August/September issue, I had to take a minute to let the editor know how entertaining and informative Patrick Sherman and Tunesha Griffith’s article was. I was awed by how similar NASA’s Ingenuity aircraft is to a BVLOS drone. Fascinating stuff ! Please keep the surprises coming. Bradley Pierce [email] Instagram Facebook › Olympic Drones Intel awed the world with a light show featuring 1,800 drones during the opening of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. We shared footage of the event, and here are a few of your comments: Mike Conner: Wow! I wonder if these drone swarms will replace fireworks one day. Sue Fitzgerald: Simply amazing. Endless possibilities for these types of small drones! Pete Collins: : Can you imagine how long the preflight check routine is for 1,800 drones? Worth it, though! We love hearing from our readers. Your emails, tweets, and comments let us know what you’d like to see in print and online. Here’s what some of you are saying about RotorDrone Pro. RotorDronePro.com › Mailbag e “10 Top Jobs” feature in the August/ September magazine was a pleasant surprise. I knew that UAS operations were increasing but I didn’t fully realize the potential. I think having the right skillset will be critical in my UAV job search. A recent college grad, I recently received my Part 107 commercial certification and am currently taking additional training to get certified in thermography. My next goal is to get APRS (American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) trained and certified. As a subscriber I appreciate seeing articles on these topics. ere is so much more to drone flying than being able to safely control the aircraft; knowing how to use the sensors properly and how to use the data is even more important. ank you for being a great resource. Tim White [email]8 RotorDronePro.com REVIEWS | ACCESSORIES | GEAR | TECHNOLOGY | NEWS AERIAL INTEL Galápagos Drones W hen conservators of the Galápagos Islands realized that a rat infestation was threatening local wildlife, they turned to a New Zealand drone company, Envico, for help. Monitoring activities in early 2018 determined that North Seymour was infested by black (Rattus rattus) and brown rats (Rattus norvegicus). e Directorate of the Galápagos National Park immediately began managing the project’s development after declaring a state of emergency, which secured funds from the Fund for Sustainable Environmental Investments. Bell Laboratories produced 3,000 kilograms (6,600 lb.) of “conservation bait”—a rodenticide specially developed to only attract rats—for the eradication. e bait’s formula was designed especially for projects within the Galápagos Archipelago due to their unique weather conditions. Karl Campbell, Island Conservation South American Regional Director, highlighted that before drones were available, they had to use helicopters, specialized pilots, and bait spray buckets. He said, “ e use of drones is more precise; it also increases feasibility and reduces eradication costs of invasive rodents in small and midsize islands worldwide.” A team using two six-rotor drone copters started spreading bait laced with rat poison around North Seymour island and a nearby islet called Mosquera. Envico’s heavy-lift, electric- powered drones were each quipped with a 3D-printed fixed spreader system, allowing for an October/November 2021 9 effective 40m (120-ft.) swath range. The pre-programmed drones used GPS to simultaneously fly over blocks across the island, using varying application rates depending on the topography. The drones flew for 15 minutes at a time, deploying 44 pounds of bait during each flight. This system offered high accuracy and control previously unseen across other applications methods and moved almost 1.5 tons of bait over 450 acres in just two days. Mechanical difficulties with the drones shut the operation down when only half of North Seymour was treated, and workers had to spread the rest of the bait by hand, creating a natural experiment that could provide useful data on the drone approach. Island Conservation plans to compare outcomes in the drone-baited and hand-baited halves of the island. The project might be the first of its kind, but others in the field expect drones to play an increasing role in culling non-native animals that threaten rare species. Especially on small, remote islands, far from helicopter companies, drones could be a much cheaper way to spread poison. South American Regional Director of Island Conservation, Karl Campbell, said “The use of drones is more precise; it also increases feasibility, and reduces eradication costs of invasive rodents in small and midsize islands worldwide.” Christian Sevilla, a park ranger, said the ecological monitoring will continue for the next two years. This is the time needed to declare the island rodent- free and have evidence of the recovery of the ecosystem, monitoring the proliferation of cacti and other species. While this may have been the world’s first use of drones to remove invasive vertebrates, it certainly won’t be the last. PHOTOS BY ANDREW WRIGHT/ Island ConservationNext >