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INTRODUCTION

Today, one of the most critical demands to advance research and improve human performance in many areas is renewable energy in any form. The globe is experiencing a tremendous rise in population and GDP consumption, prompting us to search for alternative energy sources in an effort to strike a fair balance between our requirements for energy, our ability to grow, and our ability to protect the environment. Solar, hydro, wind, and geothermal energy sources all provide ample energy. Since they never run out, require little upkeep, and are relatively cheaper, solar and wind energy in particular have emerged as the favorites of ecologists and new age statisticians worldwide. The major countries in Europe, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, made significant investments in solar energy in 2019, resulting in an 81% rise in solar installations across the EU, establishing solar energy as one of the most promising future resources. The future of India and the rest of the globe lies on solar energy. The decrease in capital costs is one of the main forces behind the adoption of new emerging resources. This article seeks to explain to the reader how drones might improve solar energy planning, construction, and maintenance with greater profitability and efficiency. There are numerous ways to capture solar energy. Utility-grade plants and rooftops are the two main methods of capturing solar energy. Both of these uses for drones seem feasible, but for the moment coming, let's emphasize on utility-grade plants since they have extensive use in India. 

SOLAR POWER IN INDIA

Given that India receives 2856 hours of sunlight on average every year, it is not surprising that the administration desires to capture and harness that energy. The Indian Government unveiled plans in 2008 with a goal to reach the capacity for 20 Gigawatts (GW) of solar power before 2022, with support from the Indian Technical and Mutual Development (ITEC). Surprisingly, India reached that number by itself in 2018. The government then established a revised goal of 100 GW of solar power by 2022, with 35 GW already operational. We must build 65 GW in the upcoming years in order to surpass India's ambitious goal of constructing 100 GW. Solar energy being the most ecofriendly and sustainable, more and more organizations and people are wanting their installations. The augmented ultimatum for solar inaugural among entities and consortia brings logistical difficulties. Substitutive casing and mass-market evolutions across the country are progressively inducting rooftop solar panels. There's also an ascent in demand for solar energy estates (or photovoltaic shops) to aid support neighborhoods by metamorphosing a grand volume of the sun’s energy into consumable electricity.

MAJOR 5 CASES IN USAGE OF DRONES IN SOLAR OPERATION

We have understood how solar has basically developed and created a new space in newer technologies. Let’s get deep and understand how drone technology basically support the solar energy and its growth.

Surveying solar panels

The first and foremost thing that drones can do is that surveying a large piece of land where solar panels can be set up. This thing was earlier done manually which used to be a tedious process which involves lot many people getting on the field and personally analyzing the field for the set-up of solar panels. The drone technology and its advent has basically helped in progressing the steps and the aerial view of the region helps in deciding whether this place is fit or not for the set-up of solar panels. It is the drone technology that tends to provide high-resolution data which aids in site selection with less than a fraction of second, not just at the affordable cost but without using manual methods. The collected data via drone is basically photos and videos. The photos that are collected of the entire region can be sued together with the help of the triangulation method and creation of orthomosaics and 3-D models of the place can be taken place. It is these models and the orthomosaics that help in retrieving the perfectly analyze data of the region and helps in making a decision for the installation of solar panels in that region by the respected authorities. it also helps in identifying the misalignment, erosion data as well as providing information about soil and vegetation. The data collected also helps in providing the elevation information and how high or how lower region is for the set-up of solar panels.

Monitoring of Construction 

According to the traditional methods, it was quite challenging to monitor the progress of construction of solar panels in the region. A team of precise engineers and land surveyors where is sent on ground to check the updates of the construction time to time. The advent of drone technology has basically made it easy to monitor the progress of construction of solar panels. Drones in solar industry have basically helps in providing advanced surveillance where drones can be sent at any time of the day to keep a check on the progress of the construction of solar panels and helps in regular scanning and detection of problems. Drones for solar farms make it a point in ensuring that the best results are served to its consumers.

Drones for solar farms inspection 

Drones in solar industry basically helps in inspection of the region where the solar panels are placed. They help in detecting any animal is and report the same in no time. Hence, proper support can be provided to the solar panel industry. Hence reducing the time of investigation and providing on the spot results. we need to understand that one of the major issues of solar panels ever since their introduction is that even if they tend to reduce the carbon emissions and are extremely sustainable they are very fragile. Drones for solar farms basically helps in spotting where exactly has the damage been created and providing solutions to it as soon as possible. This basically helps in ensuring performance peak levels and reduces the likelihood of costly and disruptive errors at later stages. Drones for solar farm inspection are sent annually and monthly sometimes to make sure that the inspection happens on time and the damage squad at short notice.

Measuring the peak performance

Remote sensing basically makes it a point to meet the commitment and the necessity of employees working at dangerous situations. Previously, it was observed that employees used to risk their lives. Climb up on rooftops to check the solar panels and report any damages. Drones in the solar industry have basically helped in regular inspection as well as electrical substation monitoring at regular intervals. Drones helps in pin pointing minute errors quicker than manual methods. Drones are also capable of providing thermal readings and zooming into each and every single panel specifically and smoothly without any hesitation.

Accessible and Actionable Data

With the arrival of artificial intelligence and machine learning, drone technology has speed up the process in providing accessible and actionable date. It is said that drones in solar industry identify problems with solar panels, 80% faster than a group of engineers can do. This has basically helped in making the process not only time efficient but also cost-effective and hence choosing drones over a bunch of people has been pretty much helpful.

5 BENEFITS OF DRONES FOR SOLAR POWER

Drones in solar industry also tend to provide tons of benefits as their usage is increasing. Let’s understand a few.

Improving the levels of safety 

It is always easier to send a drone for inspection, then actually sending a team of technicians and making sure they’re safe. Climbing up on roofs full of solar panels, which is located at a tremendous height makes it difficult and is also scary at the same time. Hence, drones for solar farms has basically reduced the threats as well as improve the safety. Similarly, direct contact of human weight open combiners and inverters can be difficult. If the same thing has been scanned from aerial methods, it becomes easy and safe for everyone involved in the process.

Reduction of labor costs 

It was since people started following the Motto of sending drones on ground instead of feet, the tons of money that was basically spent on employing some laborers to do the work has reduced. It has also increased the precise data that is getting captured and is also cutting short the time. 

Increase in efficiency 

Drones for solar farms inspection has increased the amount of efficiency in data collection than it happened in traditional ways. Drones easily conduct highly efficient inspections by procuring data of larger sites in very less time as well as providing high-resolution images.

Increase in visibility 

Getting the birds eye view perspective with the help of drones in solar industry has basically helps in procuring data with minute perfection. In case of manual inspections, it used to get very difficult for every individual to inspect each and every part of the solar panel. Drones in solar industry have basically enhanced the entire process, by reducing the issues to granular level, and with better comprehensive visibility, as well as simple and clear understanding of the visual data.

Storing and retrieving all types of data 

Drones in solar industry have basically upgraded the method of data collection. Today drones survey large hectares of land and provide an average of 10 X times faster data, then one person could actually do manually. With the efficiency of time consumption, the precision that comes in has also increased. This has made the process convenient as well as the timely reporting of the drone data has help for future references. a prospectus of establishing personalized trends of data that is in-depth has made it viable for future decision-making. The earlier data can also be cross verified with the current data so that the changing aspects of the information can be understood as well as the inefficiencies can be resolved.  Now that we have understood how drones in solar industry or benefiting the construction of solar panels as well as the benefits of drone data. Let’s understand the micro problems that R analyzed by drones in solar panels. 

4 COMMON SOLAR PANELS DEFECTS UNDERSTOOD DURING DRONE INSPECTION

Hotspots are basically the places or region on a solar panel which gets overloaded and tends to become a warmer which can either lead to a short circuit or lack of performance in its lifespan.  Micro-cracks. This might be either due to the low production, quality or lack of handling or improper production or shipping. In the earlier stages, micro cracks do not create a problem but might grow over a time and can hinder the process of providing sufficient energy.  Snail trail contamination. This is basically the initial stage of micro cracks. Now these are not just limited to one part of the solar panel. It basically starts spreading all over the region and causes defect front metallisation silver Best in the solar cell production.  PID effect. This is the damaging of the solar cells and the reduction of the yield on a yearly basis.

CONCLUSION: 

On concluding, we understand that drones for solar farms has been the most innovative and upgrading tool to provide information and inspection at the least possible time and also extremely cost-effective. Drones in solar industry have not only taken a toll but also helps in speeding up the processes so that more and more areas can develop the idea of solar panel construction as well as the goal of sustainable development can be achieved.

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 If you have a land to survey and you are basically questioning whether or not to use LIDAR mapping in the process or go with photogrammetry the best answer to all of this is yes, you should definitely go with LIDAR. Now once you’ve decided that you are opting for LIDAR, the second question that comes into your mind is how much does LIDAR mapping cost? Is LIDAR mapping cost over budget? Is photogrammetry cheaper than LIDAR survey cost? All these questions finally get to the point where one has to decide whether or not LIDAR mapping is worth it or not. Before understanding the entire process of LIDAR and its worth, let’s understand what does LIDAR basically mean and how is it helpful in the entire LIDAR mapping techniques. Lidar basically means light detection and ranging. Likewise, it is a remote sensing technology which basically helps in acquiring the data on the earth’s surface which involves sensing of the entire region and provides elevation data. Any LIDAR system basically holds three important components, the first being the laser or the ranging system, the second is the global positioning system device and the third is an inertial measurement unit. When it comes to serving the region or a mapping LIDAR has always offered many advantages over basic photogrammetry techniques. Lidar sensors are less affected by atmospherically changing and light distortions. But, apart from offering an upper hand, over photogrammetry, the cost of the entire process still becomes an obstacle, which has hindered the process of widespread adoption of LIDAR.

How is LIDAR used in drones?

Generally, the sensing device is attached to a drone so it becomes easy to fly out. A Scan Look is a series of LIDAR systems for example is added to the DJI Matrice 600 for procuring best results in regions which comprise of sparse vegetation. As we talked about the LIDAR mapping cost, we also have to understand that this application of money is not only involved in the pre-survey but also in the post processes. Hire the equipment used in a LIDAR survey better, the software is the need to be used, which eventually increases the LIDAR survey cost.

How much does LIDAR mapping cost?

Or a normal day during LIDAR mapping survey are UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) LIDAR system would cost around $2500 which is 2.06 lakhs in Indian rupee denomination. But in case of a manned aircraft LIDAR system, the price can go up as high as $30,000 a day which accounts for 24.79 lakhs in Indian rupees. Generally, UAV operators prefer not putting ground control points when mapping with LIDAR, but it is believed that it will only hamper the precision of data in such cases. Generally using the ground control points helps in accurate mapping with LIDAR, which provides best results for mapping in fields like construction and engineering. So with the high end price comes the data full of precision answering the question to how much does LIDAR mapping cost. Is LIDAR better than photogrammetry? This question can be a better answer, depending on the region that is getting surveyed. If a region full of dense vegetation is getting surveyed, it is always better to use LIDAR in case of photogrammetry because LIDAR gives high vertical accuracy with detailing of each vegetation parts. But if the same is done with photogrammetry, the precision can be hampered. Areas with sparse vegetation on site are perfectly processed with the help of photogrammetry techniques because it is this technique that can yield high vertical accuracy at that point of time. So it is difficult to decide which process to go about while serving a region but LIDAR can definitely prove out to be more advantages and more precise. If only if one can bear the cost of the same. LIDAR definitely offers various advantages like speed, collecting data from variety of locations, completely automated functionality, accuracy, high point, density on vertical targets, availability of 3D map, upon landing, less flight time, works in both day and night, many more. So it is for individual companies to basically decide whether or not to bear the LIDAR mapping cost and go ahead with it or stick to basic photogrammetry techniques.  Let us know in the comment section below your opinions on whether one should use LIDAR or photogrammetry during different processes. Also let us know your opinions on LIDAR mapping cost.

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Drones for forestry

Forest ecosystems constitute about 31 percent of the entire world’s total biodiversity’s. Even since past times the areas of forests basically have, no human indulgence, making them difficult to reach at tough times.  The size of natural forestry is extremely extensive. Problems in the forest are difficult to be solved at human levels. Primary constraints of people adhere to travelling in such difficult regions. Forests in many parts of the world have trees soaring at large heights, and areas that are extremely marshy. This makes these regions inaccessible And create a rift between humans and these regions.

Why use drones in forestry?

The surfacing of the drone technology has eventually reduced many problems. Drones bridge the gaps by producing data in aerial photographs. Data about forest management, tracking crop health, understanding the activities happening in the forest and keeping a check on illegal invasions. The ultra-portable and lightweight drones for forestry management provide many benefits such as the ability to cover large areas swiftly and quickly and capture high-resolution images and videos that can be used for drone application in forestry.  Mapping and Surveying become the foremost priorities of the drones application in the forestry domain. Measuring the volume and density of the forest and surveying the wildlife help in keeping check of the accurate data.  Drone technology has helped in gaining information about the origin and reason when there were brutal forest fires. Spraying of tonnes of water and carbon dioxides was a pro work done at times of emergencies. Apart from this- 

• Aerial surveillance by drone technology
• Photography with the help of drone technology
• Thermal imaging and 
• Topography analysis are benefits of drones in forest.

This in turn helps in rendering information and generation of conservation schemes and balancing of the ecological model. On using specialized LIDAR drones proper sensing of the entire forest takes place. This helps in gaining data about the shape of the tree and the total area it covers, the density of the leaves and its process of changing colours (seasonal changes). This in turn helps in understanding the region for further development. 

Benefits of drones in forest protection

Now, let us dive deep into the benefits of using drones for forestry-

• The first and foremost point is that drones are extremely small in size as well as extremely light in weight and ultra-portable. This gives them a distinctive advantage over all the possible traditional methods of basically gathering aerial photography data. Now that we are using drones in forest, data acquiring processes can be much faster than something like a probably human or manned aircraft or satellites, without actually compromising on the resolution or clarity of the data. What actually gives drones and edge over all the possible methods is that were used earlier is that the amount of time that can be saved and the costs associated while conducting any kind of survey in the forest. 
• Back in time focusing on a really small portion of the land which was actually needed to be given that much attention was considered a tedious task. But now with the help of drones, identifying the areas that need the specific attention can actually help in providing real-time data and information. This is the data about the health of trees, the vegetation, the animals surrounding and also the change of colour of the same forest seasonally. You’ll must not be aware, but drones can actually help in finding historical information about the forest like pest related diseases, identifying the reasons of the soil  contamination and actually tracking or keeping a watch on the animal movement. The advantageous part is that a keen watch on the illegal activities is carried out in the forest regions. 
• In ancient history collecting data by actually travelling through the entire forest site, navigating one’s way through the rugged terrain was a difficult task. Sometimes people used to get lost and a lot of time was wasted. Incidences have also proved that a lot many people have been infected by the various insects that rest in the forest, whilst the others had actually been attacked by huge animals. But ever since drone technology has been making its way to helping out all the people, collecting data in the forest has basically become a lot easier task. The amounts of enhanced safety can actually carry out research and rescue operations in forest and also in wooded areas. Nowadays one can go inside the forest come back safely because of drone application in forestry.

As we talked about earlier, Forest that have trees rising high up in the sky and extremely marshy grounds are regions that gave the least amount of flexibility. Such regions are those which are seen in the Amazon forest, the forests of Africa, and many other equatorial regions. Drones basically offer extreme flexibility when it comes to scheduling the surveys in these regions. Drones help in making these regions more flexible and easier to go about on a very day-to-day basis.

• The use of drones for forestry has basically helped in reducing the use of fossil fuels. All the drones that exist today basically function on batteries. This has basically reduced the amount of fossil fuels that were used by manned aircraft, vehicle that basically travelled down the forest to cater to the needs of collection of data. It is the drones in forest that helps in fighting climate change, by creating an atmosphere with zero emissions. The amounts of aircrafts or vehicles that were earlier used were not only expensive but also use a lot of fossil fuels. This eventually created harmful belts for the environment which has now started to reduce as drone technology in forestry, has started to increase.

Drone technology in forest basically helps in managing everything that has been a difficult task to be conducted by humans. It is because of the drones in forest that have actually helped in getting data full of precision and accuracy when it comes to special backgrounds as drones can fly very close to the ground and take images with high-resolution and videos that are accurate for mapping purposes. Wildlife monitoring is a crucial component of conservation. Reliable drone surveys in the forests help to predict future trends and in turn understanding the viability of wildlife populations. On a general basis the drone surveys are done to count the number of animal species in the forests and keep a count on their declining numbers. This tells us a lot about predatory behaviour and transmission of diseases in the forests that have their origin because of the animals.    On a concluding note, from surveying the forests to understanding the life of wildlife in that region drones are used in forestry in all the major aspects

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What Is a Visual Inspection and Why Is It Important?

Inspection that was once conducted with the help of eyes in traditional times has taken a toll with the help of drones. Drone inspections are being taking place in all fields that need visual inspections. Inspecting places that are high and out of range from human eyes are the ones that drones carry out easily. For example, inspecting a cell tower which becomes difficult with humans involved in the entire process. But this process can be reduced by twice the time if they can be performed by drones. 

Visual inspections aren’t about saving money but lives.

Inspections conducted earlier were costly and extremely dangerous. This involved risking lives of the people involved in the setup. Drones have changes the perspectives of people doing inspections. Not only have the procedures become cost effective but they save a lot of time too. Cell tower, regions are now just a matter of few hours.  Let’s first get into understanding what does drone inspection mean and why is it so important! It gets difficult to keep a check on tall cell towers or huge towers while one climbs on the rope, builds a scaffolding or even get around pressure vessels just to check their weekly maintenance. So this is exactly where drones step up and provide pictures and videos which help in catering people’s needs. Drones are sent at a greater height for aerial inspections where checking the cell towers or wind turbines becomes easier. These inspections are done to keep a proper check on the equipment’s of the company asses and making sure the processes are in check. This is also a way of avoiding further explosions and life threatening problems. Because visual inspections aren’t just about saving money and efforts but also about saving lives.  As we are trying to understand that drone inspections (aerial inspection) can make wonders we also need to understand that not all inspections are visual. Some of them involve adding sensors to the unmanned vehicles that can sense the temperatures of the regions that are getting sensed. This involves adding multispectral sensors that can sense leaking and fires priors. 

Benefits of Drone Inspections

Apart from just saving the money that is spent on the flying of drones on the site and aerially inspecting the regions, drone inspections also tend to provide tones of benefits. Let’s dive deep into some of them,

• Reducing the potential risks that are on the table if all of this happens under human supervision. 
• Saving the downtime that is involved in the process of shutting down the pressure or vessels before inspection can be cut off with the help of drones. Because, stopping any kind of processes during inspections involves loss of progress and revenue at that time period.
• Cutting the insurances given to the employees because the entire process is being carried out by drones. So the corresponding insurances can be reduced and good industrial drone inspection can be conducted.
• Getting better records of the data that is collected via aerial inspection services.

Drone Inspections by Industry

The process runs in two steps. The first is inspect then repair. The inspection being the first step helps in analyzing the details of structure and repair becomes the confident cure to the damage. All this happens in utmost perfection and detail so that no mistakes happen.  Inspections happen in various different places and different situations. Some of these include: 

• Infrastructural inspection (Bridge Inspections)

• Mining inspections

• Oil and Gas

• Turbine, Power line, Phone Mast and Pipeline Inspections

• Flare Stack Inspections

• Indoor Inspections

• Off Shore Inspections

Let’s dive into learning about few of the aerial inspection services in detail. =

Infrastructural inspection (Bridge Inspections)

When it comes to infrastructural aerial inspection services that involve inspecting things that are majorly, anthropogenically built or majorly similar these are the things that require drones, flying at different elevations, as well as inspections done in extreme details. The realm of construction and its industry has been quickly expanding which has a lead where is newer technologies step in. Drone inspections have tremendously helped in tiring operations of not just inspections but monitoring large infrastructure as well as construction sites. Drones for infrastructure inspection like that of bridges and roadways or even Railways are easily carried out without hindering any other industry facets. The analyses of the data that has been collected by drones basically helps in eliminating any future hazardous occurrences as well as predicting of significant risks. This eventually turns out to be a process that is not just helpful for the people who are eventually going to reside in these infrastructural regions, but also for the people who work at building such site.

Mining Inspections

The significance of mining in all industries is arguably increased and is considered to be a vital component of all industries. When it comes to the morning tones of regions, aerial inspections conducted by human eye on these enormous mining sites which involves inspecting storage tanks, the sites and the equipment’s it tends to be a tedious task. Does as a means of improvement and progressive terms, drones are used in mining inspections, not just for providing accurate data but also for complete aerial inspection services and visualization that our cost-effective and l less time consuming. The intelligent sensors and the mobility of the another vehicle helps in acquiring data which is full of extreme precision and eliminates the future problems that can possibly occur at mining sites.

Oil and Gas Inspections

When it comes to talking about the oil and gas industry, it becomes very difficult to face the challenges and overcoming in them and producing data full of precision. It is the aerial inspection services that tend to offer easy and simple inspections which also provide agility in the entire process as well as monitoring and serving of oil. Rigs helps in further mapping the data for operational measures.

Indoor Inspections

Indoor aerial inspections services are generally the ones that are difficult as compare to the Outdoor inspections. use drones that generally fly in areas that are covered with four walls. It gets extremely difficult to manage the inspection as well as the drone at the same time. Technology progressing has helped in the process of indoor inspections and made them highly convenient. In earlier times all this happened in extreme high or low temperatures with human surveillance. Now with the advent of technology, drones can survive extreme temperatures as well as produce accurate data at the same time.

Off Shore Inspections

Offshore aerial inspections are helping in mitigating lost revenue, capturing valuable data and ensuring safety and security for the people working at these dangerous sites. With the help of thermal and LIDAR data, one can analyses the radio metric temperature readings taken with infrared sensor as well as understanding exact distances and shapes taken with light detection and ranging to create point clouds.

The Best Inspection Drones

Now that we have understood where and how the aerial inspections are being done, we will get into the drones that carry out these operations. There are different kinds of drones for industrial inspection that are involved in different kinds of inspections according to their features and ability to capture the accuracy of data. in some cases, the balance between affordability and quality is been taken into consideration while in some places, the tolerance features of the camera is looked after. Let’s get into the specifications of the process and the drawings that are specifically used for different types of inspections.

• Flyability's Elios 3 for Internal Inspections
• DJI Matrice 300 Drone for External Industrial Inspections
• DJI Phantom 4 Pro
• Yuneec’s H520
• Flyability's Elios 3 for Internal Inspections

Flyability's Elios 3 for Internal Inspections When it comes for tough and rigid indoor inspections and a drone is made to fly in confined spaces, the Flyability Elios 3 is the one that can be fully trusted for accurate results. It is a drone that is generally surrounded by a cage and is extremely collision tolerant and is ideally professional for inspections that work in tight spaces and hard to reach internal work spaces. DJI Matrice 300 for External Inspections External aerial inspections are generally the ones that are done in regions that are open and the drone has a lot of space to move. In such situations, the Matrice 300 is the good to go drawn when it involves collecting data which is compatible with several types of payloads and includes high-quality cameras with exceptionally zoom functionality. Generally, when external inspections are taking place, it is this drone that is highly relied upon for fulfilling the current standards of the drone industry. DJI Phantom 4 Pro For roof inspections where affordability and quality are the two points that are majorly taken into consideration. The DJI Phantom 4 Pro is the drone that provides a perfect balance, as well as it is the one that is equipped with a 4K camera, precision as well as has an amazing battery life which helps in collecting accurate data for visual data of roofs. Yuneec’s H520 Inspection is that in world those are wind turbines and cell towers are generally carried out by Yuneec’s H520 which has different types of cameras like the E90 CHO and E50. It has a battery life of almost 30 minutes and provides the ability to shoot videos in 4K with extreme precision.

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The mining industry is an age-old sector that has an extreme anthropogenic dependency. Ever since the age of civilizations this industry has its graph increasing at a very slow pace. From the raw material extraction to the piling of stocks every activity is completely human-supervised tasks. The advent of drone technology has made the work in mining easier and effective. Drones uses in mining has progressed the industry to a level where the work  The need of raw materials and equipment’s in the mining industries has increased and the accessibility of the same is reducing by time. The two primary motives of drones in mining include minerals’ execution in delivering high end mapping data and multispectral ground analysis. Ever since the advent of drones the industry’s game is stepping up. The mining industry has started exploring drones for various options and for turning them into alternatives. For blasting huge mining spaces for excavation, drone-derived blast designs help geologists and drone mappers to spawn blast designs. Drones provide real-time data on the desired locations. This in turn helps in understanding change over the years by map-overlaying. In areas of rugged topography with water flowing, drones help in water management and mapping the potential flow of water.  The most important piece of work of drones in mining involves stockpile volume estimation. The data captured by drones turn out to be more precise than any traditional GNSS surveys and assists the software to calculate exact measurements of the truest shape of the piles not just a rough estimation. The same technology is applied to keep a check on illegal mining regions and the identification of the same. Aerial images provide data of potential areas of exploration, which is time-effective and 10X faster than traditional methods. By using equipment controlled safety from the surface of the mines, significant reduction of physically unstable environments can be avoided. 

How are drones used in mining to boost operations? 

There are various perks of involving drones in the mining industry, namely-

• Haul Road Optimization

High-resolution drone images help in procuring routes that are less time and fuel consuming. This helps in smooth operations of transport performing.

• Underground Mine Inspection

Inspection and mapping of underground mines by drones determines the structural integrity and acts as a green signal to enter mines. 

• Regular Monitoring of Tailing Dams

The slurry waste deposition on the embankments of the mining region poses a threat to the people in the environment around it. Drones check the tailing regions and alarm the managers prior to make the environment safe for workers.

• Stockpile Inventory control and 3D Modelling

The process of photogrammetry helps in producing data models through softwares like QGIS, Global mapper and ArcGIS. The DEMs, Point clouds provide accurate data of the region and helps in delivering accurate geospatial measurements.   Now, we just understood how drones help in the mining processes, let’s get in the detail of how the work is carried out. Drones in mining were extremely helpful. But the work that is carried out to collect the data that eventually turns out to be helpful is done in the form of survey in five steps.

How to conduct a drone mining survey in 5 steps 

• The first step being, choosing a durable drone that is unaffected by dust and a rocky ground surface. A drone that is extremely durable takes good high-resolution photos and is perfectly suitable for taking information on a rough terrain is basically used in the process of mining. One should make sure that their drone will get all the needed data without having any-setbacks or damage. 
• The second step is to make sure that the drone that has been sent to collect the data is actually collecting good amounts of data over changing heights. For example in areas which conduct open pit mining inspections, then one will need an aerial survey that offers extreme levels of accuracy even from the deepest part of the sites. Now this is where don’t technology can show its magic and mining drones and create wonders. 
• Third step is to set up an active site ground control. Mining drones with Post Processed Kinematic (PPK) receiver will cut down the efficiency of ground control significantly. This process in drone technology helps in cutting down the various complications of collecting data and also make sure that less amount of checkpoints are plotted, so that the process of verifying the accuracy can be eliminated. If the mining drone, does not hold the capability to do so the process of collecting data can turn out to be a tedious job.
• Heading over the step four! This is when one actually flies the drone. Good drones can be operated from distance likewise they help in capturing data too. The drone pilot can actually take advantage of a clear weather and one can free time for their rest projects. Yet it becomes easy as one can take a flight in the morning if the conditions permit and then come down and process all the data at a go.
• The later part of the job basically happens on the computer when one processes the drone data using various software’s. One has to make sure that the aerial drone data is majorly compatible with the software and compatible at the same time to produce efficient outputs as well as the required information. Now to process the data, only certain parts of it is used for collection of information and sharing the same too. Inspection, auditing, planning, reporting and reconciliation and the processes carried later on.

Why is stockpile management better with drones?

One of the important works that is carried out by the mining drones is that the accurate measurement and the volume data of the stockpile. Now in traditional methods that used to take place, a rough data was used and the work was generally carried out later.  In today’s times hundreds of data points are basically collected with the help of drones use in mining, which also includes super steep slopes, even rough topographies and sometimes regions that are completely invisible from the ground. The drone that is basically flying at a huge height, makes it a point that the data is collected so accurately and with finesse that while processing one understands, how the stockpile looks, what is its volume, and where can it possibly be shifted. It is the drone technology that makes it possible to plan realistically and keep an accurate record for all the future inspections as well as reporting all the raw material on the earth by producing DTM and DSM. Hence, this definitely turns out to be a good catch in the drone technology and hence this speaks volumes and confidence and can make a good bid.  As more as 350 to 1000 data points were previously collected by the traditional GNSS survey, whereas, now more than infinite points can be collected to provide data which cannot be overlooked. Here it reduces the amounts of underground environmental risks, we can eliminate such regions with drone technology and ground truthing can be avoided. It is only because of the drone technology that a site is stable and has the least amount of risks, which are also exposed to the workers. Now that we have understood that ground technology stepping into mining is not only fruitful but it is also going to be extremely helpful to produce accurate data as well as for the people working in the mines. Let us understand how drones basically help in reporting outputs as well as in the process of audit.  Drones used in mining has basically helped in maintaining transparency standards as well as going above and beyond in asking help from the government bodies. One can provide whatever data is been asked for with extreme transparency and with the compliance of a few clicks. At the same time, if you look at both the pros and cons, the pressure to be transparent is slowly and steadily growing. Drones in mining are not just going to help in providing accurate data or being transparent but we are also going to be accountable for providing the proof of responsibility. For example, one can be ready to prove that the work is happening within the agreed protocols and precisely around the regulations that had been cited. All of this happening exactly at the tip of your fingers with the help of drones.

What are the main drone data outputs? 

Today with the help of drones and the newer technologies that have stepped on, we can create wonders in providing data in all forms. Providing data outputs like orthomosaics, point clouds, digital surface models, digital elevation, models, contour maps, and train, imagery, and videos one can now make sure that now that they are using powerful tools of their own, mining can be carried out with extreme ease.

What is the best mine drone?

Wingtraone and Ebee are drones with super durability and efficiency. These are the ones that are generally preferred while capturing data related to mining. Yet in the past few decades, it has also been noticed that drones have been used for mining-inventory, surface mining, stockpile management, many more things that have not been thought of. Yet the latest case studies suggest that the use of drone technology in today’s use has not only made mining as a field easier, but it has opened doors to broader perspectives and change the way people were thinking about the entire mining process. In the comments down below, tell us what you think our extremely customer friendly drones and drones that can be used in mining. Now, I do not just name drones on a very random basis!! Make sure that the drawing fits in the para metres of durability, efficiency, accuracy, ease of use, and the country’s regulation policies. Happy capturing!!

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The construction industry struggles with high levels of inefficiency regularly. Projects of larger areas take 20 % more than the expected time to complete and over 80% are overboard than the estimated budget.  Compared to the other sectors the construction industry involves large amounts of work-force, working on the ground. Even though there are significant long-term benefits, there is zero embracing of the newer digital technologies involved in the sector. This increases the amount of risk involving factors and threats to the people in the workforce.  In the past few years, drones in construction have been compelling to newer trends. Drones in the construction industry are the reasons there are drastic changes in this sector. 

How Are Drones Used in Construction?

Here are the 8 reasons that drones in the construction industry are changing the industry: -

• Tracking equipment’s- 

Equipment tracking on the construction sites has become a tedious task. This gets covered when drones in construction are sent to capture images and scan the areas of construction sites which makes it easier to understand what instrument is kept where. This is one of the important uses of drones in construction.

• Planning of projects

Planning becomes easier and 20 times faster when scanning the entire region is done with the help of a drone.

• Valuable trail of documents

This data helps in the creation of a valuable trail of documents and viewing of the same without the physical presence of a particular person on the field. At times the managers or workers, make it a point to go through this data to understand the progress which is happening on the site without visiting the place in real.

• Security Surveillance

Drones used for construction help in providing job site security and securing storage pieces of equipment, whose aerial photographs aerial scanned during the process.

• Personnel Safety

Back in time, humans or workers used to climb up hazardous regions to check for manual measurements of construction sites. This has completely been eliminated ever since construction site drones are successfully sent to do the needful. Drones in construction are sent at higher elevations to keep a check on the current progress and the data is then compared with the earlier scanned images to check the progress.

• Structure Inspection and Photography

The process of the land survey that is done by the construction drone. This eliminates the possibility of human errors. Volume, height, area, and calculation that is done with the help of processing software after collection of construction drone data helps in giving accurate measurements of the side which reduces any possibility of errors.

• Catering re-development projects

A new trend of a redevelopment project that has been stepping in, in the newer times it is also a work carried out by construction drones. The data that is collected by the drones involves, demolishing an old building and dumping the same chunk at the new site. This data is further processed with the help of the volume calculation method that is too done with the help of construction drone scanned imagery.

The Edge of Construction Drones

Apart from all this, an important concept that needs to be taken into consideration during a construction project is the proper monitoring of waste. The same is carried out by drones in construction at regular intervals. Drones in construction industry have effectively worked in making the life of all the people on the field extremely easy.  This not only involves the workforce that is basically seen on ground but it also includes the managing committee and the people who bid for the contract. Construction site drones basically helps in the entire bidding process and make the proposal unique and professional. This involves the data that is sent in various formats. Orthomosaic drawings, digital elevation, models and point clouds of various construction sites. Data is sent for the bidding process and this is exactly how the professionals earn major chunks by providing accurate information of the land that is surveyor and which is to be gone under construction. After the construction process has been incurred, drones on construction sites can be sent for a flight which basically inspect instantly for rooftops and especially thermal drone cameras that can detect water leaks.  The use of drones in construction is a majorly done work for the correct installation of projects and its equipments. The data that is collected by drone is generally in the format of images or videography. This data is later processed and 3-D models are made out of them, which basically helps in reducing progress shots of the region. The shots can be later used as a matter of marketing purpose to basically sell the region or the constructed plot at a higher price.  Drones in construction industry are not only being used for providing engaging and accurate data for the process but they have also been successful in tracking the safety and security of each and every worker. This basically involves tracking of the workers helmet, his tracksuit and other equipments that can also pose a threat if they are left unattended. These techniques basically help in making the people on site aware about their belongings and also help in tracking any kinds of threats or problems that can pose a threat in the near future. The construction industry has always been following the age old methods that are traditional and pretty much human based and adoption of drone technology all of a sudden by the newer generations is making the work easier but the process is a bit difficult. The older generation people or the workforce is completely unaware about the new technology, find the usage of drone helpful but difficult to adapt to it. Yet drones have successfully made it a point to make the entire work easier and convenient as well as user-friendly so that the use of drones in projects of acres and acres of land can be acquired with the help of the drone data and can be processed using different softwares. A drone on the job side is not only just used or accessed by the drone pilot, but in construction work it is used by the superintendent, technology, manager, project managers, project, executives and general managers and even C level workers.  Ever since the advent of drone technology in the construction has completely changed, lives of people. It has also been helpful in progress tracking and communication as well as in pre-construction and site planning. Drones are not only used during the core construction but they are also used before and after.  A complete detailed guide and survey of the entire land takes place before a single change is done to the field. It is the construction industry that has been using dozens of drones and has been the fastest growing commercial adopters of aerial data which come from the construction drones. Apart from mining, agriculture, surveying and real estate construction industry uses drones for about 239% since the past entire decade.  According to an article of January 9, 2017 report, it is estimated that drone industry will have a market value of around $20.5 billion by 2025 with an estimated 6.3 million units being sold. According to drone deploy blog June 7, 2018 it is clearly stated that the construction industry is the fastest growing segment of the drone industry surging to 39% over the last year. The FAA Report of 2018 clearly stated that the end of 2017, there were around 1, 10,604 drones registered with their industry which went up to 150% from 2016. 

Types of Construction Drones

Now the question rises- which type of drones are generally used in areas that cover large sides of construction? Drones can be as small as the size of a palm, or they can be as large as a military sized aircraft, carrying hundreds of pounds. Apart from survey, keeping a check of the equipments, maintaining security building a proposal that is worth gazillion pounds an important task of the drones is to be a bid by the laws and rules as a regular aircraft and be attention to the additional rules and regulations as well as adhere to the same. Flying in any region that is not in the construction region can cause legal issues for the builder. According to a 2016 Mackenzie report, aerial vehicles like that of UAVs commonly referred to as drones will dramatically and drastically improve the accuracy and speed at which construction projects are completed in the near future. A dramatic decrease in the manufacturing cost of technology has dropped the prices of professional grade drones for construction, those with mountable, lightweight HD, camera and other survey equipments to as little as $700. This technology investment alone can dramatically improve service side, visibility, progress report and inspection processes. Drones in the past decade have also proved a point of instilling client confidence because of which there have been more and more projects that are been given to companies that are have to do and technology. The accuracy and the perfect measurement of the data that is been processed collected from the drone has made it a point for investors to invest in a lot of drone related work. The amount of time that has been saved in various number of unique ways has basically increased the amount of the construction projects over the entire country. Time is one of the most valuable commodities at the job site. Many clients in the construction industry report drones to get faster and deliverable data. Significantly faster than any other methods and their counterparts monitoring of sides over a long period of time also allows for better management of side and preventing large amounts of problems. As we talked about the same earlier reduction of risks and the safety and security that has been taken care by the entire drone technology. The construction industry has also made it to a point to reduce the amount of accidents that have been taking place in the construction areas. Workers find it even more safer and secured to work in dangerous regions with the thought in the back of the mind that the entire site is been scanned and any problem in the near future can be easily detected. Also read:-

• Drones for Utilities
• Drones in logistics

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India is an agrarian economy and agricultural sector contributes a major share in the country’s GDP. Apparently the hands on farm ratio to that of the abundant lands in extremely inadequate. This increases the pressure to give optimum results. The increased need of machinery and lack of human power has boosted the drone technology in agriculture. Unlike the other machines drones don’t require continuous human interference. Likewise, machinery used in agriculture is human driven. Drone technology on the contrary doesn’t require continuous human interference. This is where the concept of saving valuable time and making best use of resources comes into concern. 

Drones in the Indian agriculture industry

Drone technology in agriculture has paved its way over the decade. Drones have made the process of harvesting, sowing, and spreading of fertilisers easier. Drones have changed the concept of humans on the farm. One need not need to far fetch things and spend time in frequently monitoring the farm when drones can do the needful. Drones in agriculture are majorly used for two purposes-

• Surveying the Agricultural Fields
• Spraying the fertilisers, planting seeds and many more activities to reduce the efforts of man.

Surveying helps in figuring out precise data about the farms. This produces high resolution images that are suitable for accurate decision making and help make inspections accurate. Determining of crop conditions and their suitable time of growth can be well inspected by drones. Pre-determination of crop failures, livestock management, regular checking of crop health and preparing the crop of weather glitches is the best of the features drones can offer. Huge hectares of land require huge amounts of people spraying fertilisers and pesticides. This is a time consuming task and can take up ages for completion. Hence, it can be swapped by drones to reduce the efforts and efficient competition of the task. Apart from this planting of seeds, 

• sorting 
• And packing are all the different jobs of drones in farming.

The Use of Agri-Drones is rising!

In India Drone technology has upgraded and boomed since the past few years. The interests of people has been more driven towards technology that helps save time and works in larger quantities. The use of drones has been expanding in agriculture ever since government has stepped its foot in it. Since 2020 the Government of India has granted permission to the earth sectors to perform researches on the field. According to 26th January 2022 the government and official bodies also granted the certification scheme for agri drones to fully function in spreading fertilisers and pesticides on large size farms.  Applications of drone technology in agriculture are also seen in varied fields. These include-

• Checking the crop health
• Livestock Management
• Soil and Depth of the field and its analysis by agri-drones
• Plantation analysis
• Monitoring Growth
• Crop Monitoring
• Geo-fencing of drones in farming
• Crop Spraying by specialised agri-drones
• Avoid Chemical Use and its overuse
• Preparing  for future weather glitches

All these applications of drones in farming and usage of drones in agriculture have accelerated the processes in the country. About the usage of drones in the agriculture industry, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had really wise words to say. In his speech on ‘Kisan Drones’, (specialized agri-drones) and the growing economy towards the side of the drones, on February 19, 2022. He stated that the confidence that has been instilled by drones in the minds of the farmers expresses the rising capability in the usage of drones in agriculture and provides effective leadership; as he flagged hundred Kisan drones.  He also stated by describing the entire sector of drones in agriculture is very novel and an exciting initiative.  This is the start and the entire agriculture industry is eventually taking shape. The upcoming culture of start-up industries has successfully proved a point that drones will be making the other agricultural industry and the farmer’s work easier and more effective as compared to the traditional times. The number is into hundreds, which will rise up to thousands and lakhs and employment opportunities will also rise on a massive scale.  He stated that there should be no impediment in the sector of drone’s development and drone technology. A country like that of India could really sore up to heights per year with the advent of drones usage in agriculture. The policies were rightly initiated and reformed according to the convenience of the drone pilot as well as in supporting the agricultural industry. Until last few year it was mostly associated with the defence sector back but in recent times, it is seen that the spreading of into construction and mining into agriculture and are providing better results to people as they do not waste time on apprehensions as well as he also talked about the advent of drone industry for the young talent and move forward with a changed the mind-set of the people. On saying this he also ensured that the government will henceforth give priority to technology and innovations in the budget and policy-making where new or ideas can be taken into consideration. Farmers can be taught the use of drones and start using high-capacity drones for transportation of raw materials or produced in finished goods like vegetables, fruits and flowers to markets and least amount of time which can also cut down the transportation, cost and health and boosting their daily wage.  The initiative of the drone technology in agriculture is nothing but commendable and up to a vibrant Start up that has been looked upon and given importance to. According to Frost and Sullivan on their article on usage of drones in agriculture they averred drone technology in India and the usage of agri-drones in the market will grow at 38.5% compound annual growth rate and the total amount of income gained through the source would be around one $121.43 million by 2030. According to the World Bank, India is set to be the largest producer of pulses and spices and around the second largest producer of rice, wheat, cotton sugar cane, tea fruits, barley, vegetables, oilseeds, jute, millets, and coffee. Among all this, it has a round 10,950,000 km² is of land that is used for cultivation and out of which majorly 63% is the region that is completely dependent on rain for their growth while 37% is irrigated land. In such cases, it is heavily needed for an external supervisor or some device that basically tells you 

• what month is suitable for crop cultivation, 
• what is the right amount of pesticides and fertilisers that need to be spread 
• What is the growth rate of the crop as well as checking of regular crop health? 

This is actively participated and taken care by the drones. When scanning of large hectares of land can be done and merely minutes and the data can be also provided in 3D models and accurate estimation of the same in MS Excel. This entire process basically can be divided into two sections which involves growth drivers and growth restraints. There are various pros and cons of the situation that basically make the entire drone technology pretty much difficult to set its roots in the field of agriculture. One of the major growth drivers are-

• Good amount of yield rates that have been driven by replacing manual, spraying of pesticides and fertilisers by drones.
• Employment opportunities in small towns and rural areas where young minds are basically taught how to fly drones.
• Decrease in price of drone use in agriculture, has slowly and steadily started to increase and this has also reduced the price that it takes to spray and sensing the imagery.

The growth Restraints are-

• Lack of drone technology and awareness about the same remote regions of the country and regards to the entire concept of drones in agriculture.
• The major problem here is that majority of farmers in the country work farms that are very small in size. Hence, use size of drones cannot be used for spraying that are generally used in the other regions. Similarly, usage of smaller drones in such areas also proved to be difficult because the cost of drone operation cannot be borne by the farmer. Hence manual operations are preferred more than the drones.

Generally, the major problem that is seen at large and the entire drone technology and agriculture in India is that the rules and regulations or not in favour of people flying drones plus the people due to lack of knowledge tend to stop the drone pilots from flying and conditions where the information needs to be extracted so that it can save the farm.  The DGCA, directorate general of civil aviation has decided to upgrade and update their rules on drone flying which has also help in the entire spraying operations by a total of 50% of the total market share. The labour that is involved in the agricultural applications in the country is majorly the unskilled labour for the application and flying of the drones. Will take a good quality of time. This is one of the other disadvantages that has majorly been seen in the drone technology. Industry in the country is that sowing operations by drones are lesser as compared to the spring operations. This is because sowing has limited use year and plus it gets difficult in regions where you have multiple crop growth, and in paddy regions. Looking at the , the pros and cons as well as the drones use in agriculture it can be concluded that since the past few years, the application of drones in the various sectors has started being accepted by the people. Various start-ups have been established the entire country which basically provide a boon to the entire industry by scanning and providing accurate and exact data. In a push from the government agencies and the amount of money that has been invested in the drone technology, especially in the agricultural field can help in providing better results. The upcoming future. The drone technology being an emerging field in all sectors. It is necessary for private individuals as well as venturing capital list to invest in the sector so that it can receive a boom and can also help in contributing better results for the agricultural industry. Because it this is the right time to invest in this emerging technology, which has actually helping agricultural activities perform their work at ease. It is said that the drone industry is currently at the nascent stage. Hence, a continuous as well as consistent push from the government sector is required in terms of permissions and fundraising processes that can help the technology flourish in terms of expansion in different sectors and also in providing favourable environment in creating employment opportunities. To summarise the earlier we can clearly understand that in a country like India which is majorly focused on agriculture; with the help of drones we can make that sector even stronger and efficient. Also read:-

• Drones for Utilities
• Drones in logistics