Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems to Enhance Applied Research Visualization at Lakeland College

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This proposal requests NSERC support to purchase an unmanned aerial vehicle system (UAS) equipped with image acquisition and processing technologies. A UAS is the combination of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plus camera payload and image processing software. UAS tools have received widespread uptake by police agencies globally as tools for crime scene visualization, search and rescue, and tactical operations. There is huge potential for these tools to advance precision agriculture by providing timely, non-invasive surveillance of crops allowing a high degree of management intensity at a low cost. Satellite and aircraft-based imagery can provide considerable information about a crop. UAS will allow this data to be collected more frequently and at high spatial and temporal resolution. Lakeland College focuses on applied research and using technologies in real commercial operations. This research tool will add an important dimension of data to our multi-year economic evaluation of crop management intensities project with industry partners along with many other agriculture research projects. Lakeland's initial applications of this versatile research tool will focus on agricultural opportunities, but we recognize its applicability to a wide variety of the college's other core areas of research interest including energy, fire and emergency services, and environmental sciences.