41 unmanned systems
inside
August/September 2016 ugust/Septe August/September 2016 August/September 2016 be August/September 2016 0 August/September 2016 6 August/September 2016
ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY.
BY THE
NUMBERS
10.1 million
The number of acres
burned by wildfires in
the U.S. in 2015, which
was a record year for
forest fires.
Source: National Interagency
Coordination Center (NICC)
"MOST OF THE TIME
you're either way high
in an airplane, or you're
on the ground looking
up."
David Price, manager of
forest planning operations,
Michigan Department of
Natural Resources, on
using drones to find insect
infestations in treetops
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
This scattershot approach can work for some
species of tree, like jack pine, especially if the
seeds are cheap and can be blanketed across
a piece of land.
DroneSeed takes the opposite approach.
The first step in the process uses a mapping
and surveying UAS to locate the exact "micro
site" in which a seedling will thrive.
"We're not just randomly dropping seeds,"
Kozak said.
DroneSeed eliminates areas too close to
roads, waterways, other trees and buildings.
"From there, we can take characteristics of
the environment to find sites that are ideal for
planting. If we just eliminated (from consider-
ation a spot with) a large rock…we may deter-
mine that shadows from that rock may create
ideal conditions for a young tree to grow up,
and choose to plant a seed there."
After the mapping drone does its job, the
service drone takes over. Armed with a pay-
load of proprietary seed pellets—each a mix-
ture of fertilizer, natural pest deterrents, and
the seed—and a compressed air gun, the drone
fires a pellet into the ground at 350 feet per