Suggestions for what drone would be best for a coastal flood organization

[jaja6009]

I have been tasked with trying to find the best drone for a coastal flooding organization.

I have a current 107 and have consulted with this organization in the past. They now want to get a drone to get photos/video of flooding in coastal areas.
The drone would have to have good wind resistance as alot of times the flooding is caused by low pressure systems and the wind blowing from a set point.
I currently have a Mavic 2 Enterprise Zoom and a Anafi Thermal as a personal drones but this organization would want to get its own.

So what it would need:

Good wind resistance
Good zoom camera
Rain Resistance
Able to operate in urban area with interference
Live feed
Possible mapping to show coastal erosion and maybe even estimate the loss of beach/sand with appropriate software

And please feel free to add what else anyone thinks may be needed for this project.


I know the DJI 200 and 210 look to be solid choices, but I want to see what others think.

Also how would a thermal camera be in regards to seeing flood waters at night?

I would be the main pilot, and we would apply for waivers for what we deem we need to.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BigAl07]

M210 is a VERY solid platform with a lot of payload (Camera/Sensor) options. It would definitely be a top runner but it's a QUAD and I like Hex or Octo platforms for redundancy and safety.

An M600 would be an excellent platform.

 

[LUIS MARTINEZ]

M210 is a VERY solid platform with a lot of payload (Camera/Sensor) options. It would definitely be a top runner but it's a QUAD and I like Hex or Octo platforms for redundancy and safety.

An M600 would be an excellent platform.

Second Allen's recommendation...with an XT and Z30.

 

[KLAX]

I use an M210 almost every day, but it depends on what problem you're trying to solve in my mind.
Coastal Flooding Organization.
Do they track flooding in known / unknown flood zones?
Interested in affects to vegetation, property, power lines, catch basin integrity, other?
What sort of distances are they considering? Couple of buildings, or an entire County?

For COTS platforms (fixed or rotary), very few are rated over 25-35 mph winds, and remain airborne more than 20-25 minutes. Regardless, your image quality may be affected adversely.
I've flown the M210 in the Permian with 30 kt winds, 45 deg temps and had decent inspection footage at 200ft, but you can tell it was windy.

Are you able to wait a few days after an event for aerial flood assessment?

If an assessment needs to be done within 12hrs of an event, I am assuming you're looking at large geographic areas, and potentially unstable weather (wind, rain, lightning, etc.).
This would point to using a manned aircraft, or large UAV with a BVLOS waiver (hard to come by), or lots of short hops (fly, move, fly) in more stable weather.

 

[jaja6009]

I use an M210 almost every day, but it depends on what problem you're trying to solve in my mind.
Coastal Flooding Organization.
Do they track flooding in known / unknown flood zones?
Interested in affects to vegetation, property, power lines, catch basin integrity, other?
What sort of distances are they considering? Couple of buildings, or an entire County?

For COTS platforms (fixed or rotary), very few are rated over 25-35 mph winds, and remain airborne more than 20-25 minutes. Regardless, your image quality may be affected adversely.
I've flown the M210 in the Permian with 30 kt winds, 45 deg temps and had decent inspection footage at 200ft, but you can tell it was windy.

Are you able to wait a few days after an event for aerial flood assessment?

If an assessment needs to be done within 12hrs of an event, I am assuming you're looking at large geographic areas, and potentially unstable weather (wind, rain, lightning, etc.).
This would point to using a manned aircraft, or large UAV with a BVLOS waiver (hard to come by), or lots of short hops (fly, move, fly) in more stable weather.

Do they track flooding in known / unknown flood zones?
It would be for monitoring prone to flood areas while they were flooding. But other uses could happen.

Interested in affects to vegetation, property, power lines, catch basin integrity, other?
Yes to effects to property, infrastructure and maybe in the future others.

What sort of distances are they considering? Couple of buildings, or an entire County?
The distances are going to vary as the program grows. For now certain areas would be monitored and the distances are going to need several launch points as a prominent stretch is around 7 miles.

Are you able to wait a few days after an event for aerial flood assessment?
It is more envisioned to show live flooding. The area constantly floods with tide cycles and weather patterns.

This would point to using a manned aircraft, or large UAV with a BVLOS waiver (hard to come by), or lots of short hops (fly, move, fly) in more stable weather.
The manned aircraft is out of the question at this time.
The organization could grow to include a much larger area and as it stands it encompasses several areas that are not necessarily connected.


For now the drone is envisioned as an "eye in the sky" like maybe a helicopter. It can should current normal flooding, but also flooding from storms and the after effects. I can also see a use for photos to see how the flooding is getting worse through rising water levels or just erosion that allows new flooding to take place.


When I was first asked about how to implement a drone into this organization, my first thought was a DJI 210 with its ability to easily swap out payloads, offer decent wind resistance and its outstanding range and ability to overcome connection interference.

 

[KLAX]

Do they track flooding in known / unknown flood zones?
It would be for monitoring prone to flood areas while they were flooding. But other uses could happen.

Interested in affects to vegetation, property, power lines, catch basin integrity, other?
Yes to effects to property, infrastructure and maybe in the future others.

What sort of distances are they considering? Couple of buildings, or an entire County?
The distances are going to vary as the program grows. For now certain areas would be monitored and the distances are going to need several launch points as a prominent stretch is around 7 miles.

Are you able to wait a few days after an event for aerial flood assessment?
It is more envisioned to show live flooding. The area constantly floods with tide cycles and weather patterns.

This would point to using a manned aircraft, or large UAV with a BVLOS waiver (hard to come by), or lots of short hops (fly, move, fly) in more stable weather.
The manned aircraft is out of the question at this time.
The organization could grow to include a much larger area and as it stands it encompasses several areas that are not necessarily connected.


For now the drone is envisioned as an "eye in the sky" like maybe a helicopter. It can should current normal flooding, but also flooding from storms and the after effects. I can also see a use for photos to see how the flooding is getting worse through rising water levels or just erosion that allows new flooding to take place.


When I was first asked about how to implement a drone into this organization, my first thought was a DJI 210 with its ability to easily swap out payloads, offer decent wind resistance and its outstanding range and ability to overcome connection interference.

This work is all about the data, and there are a ton of options to collect that data. The M210 is one tool in the tool box but might not work on phillips head screws . Would also propose using post processing software (PIX4D, among others) on your collected imagery to extract heights/depths/distances. You could basically "Model" the flood areas and show affected areas.


Have you seen this website / data set?


In O&G business, we utilize imagery to determine depths/heights of impounds around tanks. By artificially "filling" those spots with simulated fluid (color), we can measure and estimate/determine how much the impound can hold, and where the "breech" points actually are (low spots). This allows us to make repairs and maintain integrity of the impound.....without time & expense of survey crews.

We also use this technique along with photogrammetry to determine slope and water run-off for mining remediation work in New Mexico & other desert SW properties.

I would think this could work equally as well for coastal areas (car parking lots, sand dunes / berms, streets, walkways, driveways, walls, coastal batteries, etc.

 

[jaja6009]

Thank you for the great info from everybody so far! I have waited to see what kind of responses and ideas were posted here before I get back to the person who originally approached me. And Klax I have thought about the mapping aspect also. I will get back to this person and also give him a link to this thread so he can read the info himself too.

 

[R.Perry]

If you are going to monitor earth erosion or movement the Drone Deploy software is excellent. With the proper drone configuration you can get less that two centimeter accuracy both vertically and horizontally. Once you set up your flight you can save it and fly the exact flight each time and compare mappings to evaluate changes. It isn't cheap, but it does a great job, and their support is excellent.

 

[R.Perry]

You asked about flying in the rain, remember these are electric motors and electric motors don't like water.

 

[jaja6009]

Yeah the lack of ability to fly in inclement weather is a major minus. While we get plenty of flooding in my area in dry weather, the worse usually comes during storms.Drone Deploy is on my radar. Most of this UAS program will be obtained with grants, but I just want to make sure I can give this organization the best possible information. I have just started playing with mapping and 3D modeling. I have a lot to learn.

 

[PatR]

There are flight systems that can be flown in light rain but I’m afraid all of them are fixed wing, gas engine, in a tear engine pusher configuration. Not very small and quite expensive. The take off and landing phases of flight require launchers and nets if a runway is not used.