Push is on for Unmanned Aerial Systems in agriculture

The push is on—from farmers and ranchers to rural appraisers—to make Unmanned Aircraft Systems a part of what the Federal Aviation Administration calls the National Airspace System. As things stand now, farmers and ranchers may use a small UAS, or drone, mounted with cameras for their own, personal use on land they own or manage. It’s the commercial side of sUAS that has officials of the Federal Aviation Administration concerned. The FAA had said in recent statements it is continuing efforts to develop the regulatory framework for safely integrating small UAS into routine NAS operations. It plans to issue its small UAS rule for public comment later this year. As of Jan. 7, the FAA has received 214 requests for exemptions from commercial entities, with 12 exemptions granted to 11 companies in a variety of industries. Two have been granted to firms that have a major agricultural interest. The exemptions to the current ban on commercial drone flights were granted by the FAA to Advanced Aviation Solutions of Star, Idaho, and its eBee fixed-wing aircraft for “crop scouting,” and to Trimble Navigation of Sunnyvale, California, and its UX5 to “perform precision aerial surveys for agricultural purposes by taking still photographs of crops.” According to a company release, the 5.5-pound Trimble UX5 is targeted at the surveying, agriculture, oil and gas, mining, construction, environmental industries. The system autonomously captures a series of high-resolution images during flight, which is typically up to 50 minutes covering as much as one square mile when flying 400 feet above the ground. Using Trimble Business Center Aerial Photogrammetry software, images are used to generate two and three-dimensional deliverables such as orthomosaic images, three-dimensional point clouds and contour maps. The Trimble UX5 enables the collection of large amounts of data, often faster than traditional surveying or mapping technologies. Advanced Aviation Solutions plans to use its 1.5-pound, fixed-wing eBee drone to make photographic measurements of farm fields, determine the health of crops and scouts for pests. The aim is to save farmers time walking through fields. The drone also can carry sensors that pick up information invisible to the naked eye, which can help determine which fields need watering. Meanwhile, sales of UAS to the non-commercial, individual, user continue at a fast pace at Neodesha, Kansas-based AgEagle, LLC, with more employees being hired to meet manufacturing demand...more