FAA Grants Pravia, LLC UAS Precision Ag Exemption

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Auvsi-News Pravia, LLC

Today the FAA posted a grant of exemption for Niceville, Florida-based Pravia LLC to operate the eBee Ag small unmanned aircraft system for precision agriculture applications for a domestic agricultural seed company.

“We are excited to be among the first to receive FAA approval to operate commercial UAS in the United States national airspace system,” says Pravia Managing Partner Tim Ray in an email to AUVSI. “Pravia will now be able to bring precision agriculture imagery and automated analysis services to smaller fields at a more affordable price thanks to the efficiencies gained with SUAS over traditional manned aircraft.”

The proposed operations will include biomass analysis and estimation, yield monitoring, leaf area indexing, and reporting of geographical data and overall crop health.

Pravia submitted a petition for exemption on Sept. 30, 2014 and the exemption will be in effect from Jan. 29, 2015 to Jan. 31, 2017 unless superseded or rescinded.

As in other exemptions, operations must be within visual line of sight with an observer and pilot with a private pilots license and a current medical certificate. The company must not fly faster than 54 knots and cannot fly at night. The operator must also receive an Air Traffic Organization-issued certificate of authorization for operations and request a notice to airmen between 48 and 72 hours prior to operation.

The company is currently working on imaging and automated analysis using multi-spectral and thermal sensors for the 2016 growing season.

Pravia is the third company approved for precision agriculture and the 22nd company to receive an exemption.

To date the FAA has approved 25 exemptions out of over 350 applications.

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SAFEGUARDING WHALES AND DOLPHINS IN COSTA RICA: UAS SYSTEMS

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Golfo Dulce, a narrow inlet on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, provides a rich habitat for cetaceans (whales and dolphins). It remains fairly pristine, since the many tourists who visit Costa Rica each year haven’t quite discovered it yet—which makes now a crucial time to investigate what the ecosystem needs to remain healthy. By understanding the behavior and tracking the abundance of the whales and dolphins in Golfo Dulce, we can ensure we have the information we need to best protect them when tourism starts in earnest in this beautiful, wild place.

For about a decade, we have gathered information on three species of cetacean in the gulf: the pantropical spotted dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin, and the humpback whale. Through our focus on these cetacean species, we want to understand how to preserve this beautiful marine ecosystem in general.

Earthwatch.org

DroneMapper Imagery Analyst – Data QA/QC, Rapid Field Processing, GCP Tool and more..

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Introducing DroneMapper Imagery Analyst! We've been working on this for a while now and it is getting close for prime time. Keep an eye out for more details in the coming weeks!

  • EXIF Geotag QA/QC checks.

  • EXIF Geotag Altitude checks.

  • Image RPY (Roll Pitch Yaw) filters.

  • Filtering of imagery with shapefile AOI (Area of Interest).

  • Filtering of imagery with hand drawn AOI.

  • Advanced PIP (Point in Polygon) filtering and features.

  • Imagery EXIF metadata tables and imagery preview.

  • Advanced GCP (Ground Control Point) tool and GCP mapping.

  • Rapid off-line field processing.

  • Cloud processing provider interaction. (DroneMapper & MyAgCentral currently)

  • Post processing, NDVI generation, Point Cloud interaction.

  • Off-line map mode, no internet connection required.

  • Should be a very nice compliment to existing mission planning and ground station software packages. (integration options)

    • We've completed a large chunk of the feature set and we are ready to start beta testing.