Challenging Environ - We sell happiness, but its hard work

Hi All

Here is my scenario:

Cocoa is a plant that grows under a canopy of coconut plams generally speaking. I am trying to map not just the 400Ha (1,000 acre) plantation, but also on an ongoing basis where our 400 plantation workers are.

The environ is hot and humid ranging around (30degrees & 70%humidity year round). The terrain is very hilly/mountainous and not easily accessible, by anything except on foot. The region has active volcanoes, and massive silt and soil erosion issues, due to the fact the land itself is very unstable makes it all the more challenging.

I thought thermal imaging would be handy for cutting through the palm canopy to pick up bodies, but was also thinking of the agricultural abilities for specific pest infestation (cocoa pod borer).

The issues are line of sight, will the drone be able to work where line of site is heavily obscured over a large area?

Will drone deploy be able work effectively to map the areas, where you have coconut palms covering the landscape?

What is the best drone to be able to use in this environ? pricing?

What camera would be best? any idea on pricing?

The concept of drone, is very appealing, and mapping it to reveal what is really happening with plantings etc… would be very insightful

Any help greatly appeciated

Hi there, I would suggest checking out DroneDeploy’s support docs: http://support.dronedeploy.com/v1.0/docs/ndvi-cameras-for-drones and Resource Center: http://resources.dronedeploy.com DD doesn’t have terrain awareness so you’ll need to fly at a higher altitude and determine which take off point makes the most sense as far as maintaining VLOS while avoiding a potential obstacle. I hope this makes sense.