Best practices for Muckpile drone flight for Fragmentation analysis

Post blast drone flight and data collection is relatively simple. You can get started almost immediately after the dust has cleared from the blast.

We recommend using autopilot software for flight planning “Maps Pilot”.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/map-pilot-for-dji/id1014765000?mt=8 https://www.dronesmadeeasy.com/Articles.asp?ID=254

The drone mission planning software should have the following settings:

• Define the drone model you are using (to estimate flight time and battery life)
• Set the drone camera angle to 90° (perpendicular to the ground)
• Set the imaging overlap to 80% (reduces optical distortion)
• Set the mission flight altitude between 75ft-200ft (23m-60m)
• If possible, fly the mission at noon ±2 hours (minimizes long shadows)
• We recommend flying a GRID pattern using any autopilot flight planning app

Define a geofence that surrounds the muckpile area, once this is complete an estimated flight time (5-15 minutes typical) will be displayed in the flight planning app.

If the flight conditions are acceptable and clear to start, connect the device to the drone remote control and launch the mission. The drone will autonomously fly the mission and return where it started once complete. Upload the images to Strayos platform to generate the 3D model for further analysis.