Have you ever wanted to see the world’s largest tree from a drone? Some drone pilots are starting to take pictures of the great wonders of nature for practical reasons.
This tree, named General Sherman, is located in Sequoia National Park in California. And in May 2024, the U.S. National Park Service, in collaboration with several groups, including the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition, commissioned a drone flight to conduct the first health inspection of the trees.
General Sherman is 275 feet tall and approximately 2,200 years old.
The project saw the Freefly Astro Prime drone fly over the canopy. Throughout the flight, the drone carried a variety of sensors, such as a lidar payload, to detect changes in the canopy.
The health screening comes at a critical time for the study of the beloved giant sequoia. In the past four years alone, approximately 20% of the world’s giant sequoias have been lost. This is due in large part to California wildfires. But that’s not all. A species of beetle also invaded the tree and caused the entire tree to die.
This drone inspection ended with a fairly happy ending. The researchers used drone data to detect some degree of native bark beetle activity, but concluded that the amounts were not of concern.
“Drones give us the ability to expand these observations,” said Sam Prentice, a soil scientist and drone expert with the Forest Service.
Check it out here:
How to monitor forest health through drones
No, this project wasn’t as simple as just flying a cheap camera drone over a tree and checking it out. After all, the beetles are tiny, and their effects are often invisible to the naked eye. Given this, advanced drones have emerged that carry smarter payloads than basic cameras.
drones used: For this project, the pilot used Freefly’s Astro Prime drone. Astro Prime is a relatively new version of Freefly’s original commercial UAS platform. Astro Prime is NDAA compliant and Blue UAS approved.
Payload used: The drone is equipped with a variety of interchangeable payloads, including a Lidar scanner and an HD video camera.
Communication systems used: From there, the drone called into Doodle Labs’ mesh lidar radio. Mesh lidar radios establish a resilient datalink, maintain connectivity in a standalone environment and provide complete control of the drone. This allows high-bandwidth data to be transmitted reliably to the ground.
Get National Park Approval
Please note that mapping forests within national parks requires permission. Drone use is generally prohibited in national parks under 36 CFR 1.5. The rule prohibits launching, landing, or operating drones on lands and waters managed by the National Park Service (NPS).
To conduct an aerial mapping mission, researchers must obtain special permission from the NPS. To find out if you can designate a zone within a park, you can usually check with the park manager. Describes how to obtain special use permits if needed.
Violating the ban is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
What this project suggests is the use of drones in environmental science
“Astro prime’s capabilities and NDAA compliance status allow the U.S. Forest Service and other Department of the Interior groups to call on the platform for continued use in mapping and inspecting land much faster than traditional manual processes,” according to the statement. From Doodle Labs.
The U.S. Forest Service’s particular choice to use Freefly drones is also notable. Freefly is an American drone company. These products are designed, assembled, tested and supported by the Freefly team at our headquarters in Woodinville, Washington. Freefly products are much more expensive than DJI drones. The Freefly Astro Prime Drone with Sony ILX-LR1 camera is priced at $27,000.
However, the U.S. government’s decision to use the American-made Freefly drone for aerial mapping could be seen as a sign of growing interest in supporting domestic drone manufacturers like Freefly over their Chinese counterpart DJI. Politicians have recently raised concerns about potential security risks associated with Chinese-made drones. Freefly drones don’t have as widespread brand awareness as DJI, but this project represents a potential change.
