WYOMING – Attention, all drone users! University of Wyoming is holding a two-day seminar this week that you won’t want to miss.
Much has changed since the UW held its inaugural Wyoming Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Symposium in 2016. Recent developments in drone usage, along with technology challenges, acquiring data and legal issues, will be among topics at the upcoming symposium at the University of Wyoming.
Sessions are Wednesday-Thursday, May 30-31, at the UW Conference Center, 2229 Grand Ave.
“We’re excited to host the second biannual UAV Symposium, where experts from industry, government agencies and academia will come together to share updates on recent developments and trends in unmanned aerial vehicles—and their opportunities and challenges for various applications,” says Paddington Hodza, acting director of UW’s Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center (WyGISC), host of the event.
Ramesh Sivanpillai, research scientist with WyGISC, says experts and users of drone technology will share experiences on developments in hardware and software, along with applications in agriculture, geology, photogrammetry, communications and many more.
“Since the first symposium, numerous advances have taken place in drone and sensor technologies. We’re looking forward to talks on advances in areas of natural resources, energy, environment and others, along with new ways to collect and process drone imagery,” Sivanpillai added.
Drone specialists from government agencies, private companies and academia in Wyoming, Colorado and beyond will provide insights about drone data acquisition and processing. Additionally, Hexagon Geospatial Inc., Aerial Solutions of Wyoming and other companies will showcase their products and services.
Droning on: Advice will cover just about everything
Cameras and sensors on board drones acquire images and videos, providing valuable information for agricultural producers, foresters, hydrologists, geologists, meteorologists, city planners, real estate agents and others. But, collecting images is more than deciding what drone model to buy and how much to spend, Sivanpillai says.
“One has to carefully plan for the amount and type of images to collect, obtain adequate resources to post-process those data and, most importantly, stay within the legal requirements while these UAVs are in the air,” Sivanpillai said.
Overall session topics across the two days are safety and legal issues; advances in hardware and software; applications; and a panel discussion of the Federal Aviation Administration remote pilot certification examination.
Javier Leon, senior lecturer and physical geography program coordinator at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, presents the Wednesday luncheon keynote address, “Drones in Environmental Sciences: A Quick Tour of Promises, Lies and Future Applications.”
Jeff Sloan, a cartographer with the Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center with the U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado, will present the Thursday morning keynote address, “Role of UAVs for Collecting Remotely Sensed Data.”
Gregory Crutsinger, founder of Scholar Farms in California, presents Thursday’s lunch keynote address, “Current and Future Challenges of Vegetation Mapping Using Drones.”
Individual presentation topics include building custom drones for crop dusting and monitoring thermal plumes; legal issues; recent advances in hardware, flight controller software and using artificial intelligence for autonomous UAVs; how UAVs are changing farming; photogrammetry applications with drone imagery; and comparing unmanned aircraft vs. satellite imagery in plant invasion monitoring.
