Every drone pilot is ultimately faced with challenging environments. Here are a professional’s top tips for flying a drone in wind, cold, and other problematic conditions.
The following is a guest post by Jason Steinberg, CEO of Scanifly: the only drone-based solar software dedicated to improving the efficiency, accuracy and safety of solar projects worldwide. DRONELIFE neither accepts nor pays guest posts.
4 environmental challenges every drone pilot can master
Today, drone flying is so automated that drone pilots don’t have to do much after taking off. Many aspects of drone flying can be tweaked between the free DJI Go 4 app, the app customizations of DroneDeploy, the self-flight functions of Skydio 2 and others. However, flying in difficult environmental conditions can result in poor quality photos and potentially harmful damage to your drone.
Here are tips for navigating the toughest conditions:
1. Flying in extreme heat or cold
At its core, a drone is an electronic device. When it comes to temperature, the main concerns you need to consider are battery life and heat tolerance.
Dealing with cold temperatures
On average, the battery of a drone drops by 1-2% for every 30 seconds of active flight time. In cold weather, that can jump to 10% per 30 seconds. One way to counteract cold weather is to take multiple batteries with you during a flight and keep the extras warm in a glove box so they don’t lose capacity in the cold. In addition, it is important to ensure that the batteries are replaced when they drop below 70% to avoid a massive drop in battery life and damage to the drone.
Dealing with extreme heat
Drones can operate in hot temperatures (for example, the DJI Mavic Pro and Phantom 4 list operating temperatures of up to 104 ° F), but the challenge is in the extreme heat inside your car and regulating the humidity. To maximize the usability of the drone, it is recommended to place drone batteries in a cool box to avoid damaging them from moisture.
Also, keep the flights as short as possible and recalibrate your parts – drone, camera, smartphones and batteries – regularly.
2. Fly around thick vegetation and trees
If you find yourself in a place with a lot of vegetation or trees, make sure you prepare properly in advance and show extra consideration on the day of the flight.
Preparation before the flight
The best preparation you can do is anticipate an accident. That means: bring propeller guards, spare propellers and, just in case, even a backup drone. Make sure you’ve set up GPS mode on the drone for easier navigation and enabled RTH mode so you can easily get the drone up before anything happens. Here is a short video that explains these considerations.
Set up flight
Find the most open place for takeoff and landing. Then set up a point of interest flight path on the building to be surveyed. Many drones, like the Skydio 2, have object avoidance integrated into their software in POI mode, which will help you a lot.
What to do in the event of a crash
First, find your drone. If you are concerned that it might fall (from a tree, for example), secure the area below so no one is injured. Then claim it back – either on your own or by calling a tree climber. Once you have it back, assess the damage to the propellers and the drone body yourself. If you have any visible damage, use your backup drone to complete any work and be sure to get technical support from the drone manufacturer (or the drone – Your company’s support desk, if available).
3. Flying in suboptimal lighting conditions
If you are flying in suboptimal conditions – either too light or too dark – there are a few things you can do to ensure you continue to get high quality images.
Apply filters as needed
If you’re working in full sun, which washes out your building, use a Neural Density (ND) filter, which basically acts like sunglasses for your drone camera. In low light, adjust the ISO value, the camera’s sensitivity to light. Usually try to keep it as low as possible as a high ISO can cause graininess. However, in low light conditions, increasing the ISO value can brighten the image. Here is a demonstration video of how to use these filters.
Adjust the bezel
The aperture indicates how much light the camera lets in. The more open it is, the more light the camera absorbs. On very bright days, close the bezel further to minimize incidence of light, and open it further on days with little light to maximize incidence of light.
Adjust shutter speed
The shutter speed determines how much light the camera “sees” when taking a picture. If you have a slower shutter speed (that is, the shutter is open longer during a photo), more light comes in, which makes it ideal for a low-light day. If you find that your pictures are washed out, try increasing the shutter speed to limit the amount of light that can enter your pictures.
4. Flying in strong winds
Wind conditions can be deadly to drones, especially since the average commercial drone weighs between 1-3 pounds and can be easily thrown into the sky.
Avoid strong winds and keep an eye on battery life
If you are just starting out with drones, it is usually best to avoid operating in winds above 10-15 mph. After getting familiar with drones, it’s pretty easy to work in winds up to 20 mph. The real problem, however, is not the wind speeds, but the gusts of wind: check the weather forecast for gale winds that could knock you out of orbit.
Also, keep an eye on your battery life, as flying back in headwinds uses a lot more battery capacity than flying in calm conditions.
Think of wind at different heights
The wind speeds vary greatly at different heights. You may have 5-10 mph winds near the ground that escalates to 80 mph once you’re 200 feet tall. When planning your flight, check both wind speeds at different heights (you can do this via the aviation weather center) and take into account the flight height for the building to be measured.
Hold the drone before taking pictures
After straightening the drone, take a few seconds to stabilize the drone before you start taking pictures. If the drone is wobbling due to wind, the images are likely grainy, blurry, or otherwise of poor quality making them unusable from a 3D modeling perspective.
People bridge the technology gap
While technology can’t solve every problem, good drone control can. Fortunately, the key to success with any of these challenges is easy to practice: while you should never fly if you are unsure of yourself flying, you can tackle all of these harsh climates after more experience with drones.
Jason Steinberg is the CEO of Scanifly and oversees the operational and financial aspects of the company. Scanifly is the only drone-based solar software dedicated to improving the efficiency, accuracy and safety of solar projects worldwide. Jason previously helped fund over $ 3 billion in renewable energy projects and businesses as a banker for CohnReznick Capital. Prior to that, Jason was the lead North American data researcher for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Jason’s first job in the industry was installing solar panels on rooftops in New Jersey. Jason is an FAA Part 107, CFA Charterholder, and NABCEP PV Associate.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional marketplace for drone services, and a passionate observer of the emerging drone industry and regulatory environment for drones. Author of over 3,000 articles focusing on the commercial drone space, Miriam is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam graduated from the University of Chicago and has over 20 years experience in high-tech sales and marketing for emerging technologies.
For advice or writing in the drone industry, email Miriam.
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