1. Using Drone Technology in Variety Testing and other Extension Research
Dr. Joel Ransom, NDSU Extension Agronomist
Darin Eisinger, Research Specialist

2. Getting Started Getting FAA UAS Pilot Certificate:
for practice test questions & study guides
Pick out a drone and get it registered
Start Flying!
Get lots of practice
Bring home, if possible, extra practice time: your kids will love it!

3. What we have currently DJI Phantom 4 (Lil Hal) with Sentera NIR Camera
Positives:
VERY user friendly
Fly from phone or tablet
Easy set up/takedown
Low cost (relatively speaking)
Negatives:
Annoying pop-ups while flying
No-fly zones
Difficult/impossible to integrate many types of cameras
No gimbal on NIR camera

4. What we have currently ATI AgBot (Hal) with MicaSense RedEdge
Positives:
Flexible platform for integration of multiple sensors
Replacement parts inexpensive
Negatives:
High initial cost
Steep learning curve to fly
Visual flight only
Very sensitive components

5. MicaSense RedEdge with gimbal for level flight

6. What we’ve used them for:
Crop Sensing: Corn hybrid trial
NDVI Image made using ArcMap
Raster Calcuator
Orthomosaic RGB Image
from MicaSense
And ArcMap shapefile of plots with ID

7. What we’ve used them for:
Crop sensing: Soybean Variety trial

8. What we’ve used them for:
Crop Sensing: Wheat trial

9. What we’ve used them for:
Scouting:
Fertilizer strip?
Drought stress
Goss’ Wilt

10. What we’ve used them for:
Promotional photos:

11. “We must constantly look at things in a different way. ” Mr
“We must constantly look at things in a different way.” Mr. Keating, from Dead Poets Society

12. Other uses and future plans
On-Farm research
Adding a SlantRange multispectral camera on a DJI Matrice 100
Adding thermal imaging camera to AgBot
Using various vegetation indexes to compare hybrids & varieties

13. Recommendations
Drone platform less important than having a quality multispectral camera
Where and how you get your data analyzed and stitching done comes down to cost and time
Phantom 4 has been great for scouting fields quickly and efficiently and for producing promotional materials
AgBot flexible platform for multiple cameras

14. Misc. drone related links:
-UAS test help site
MicaSense camera website
-Open-sourse software for RC crafts
-AgBot builder
-Where to fly, by DJI!
-battery care is important!
-Likely will need stitching software
-Thermal cameras
-SlantRange multispectral camera
-Sentera Multispectral cameras & software