Hi all, I'm very new to drones. I have a cheap toy (Titan zero-x), but it might be time to buy something more serious. We've run into some issues on the farm that a drone might be able to solve. Unfortunately I know little about the drone market, or even if what I want is available.
Problem 1: Birds! Crows and starlings eat our grapes. They can cost us thousands of dollars a year. We have gas guns, and electronic bird scarers, but they're a real hassle, and require quite a bit of set-up and maintenance. If anyone has any objections to chasing birds with drones, the alternative is shooting or poisoning. I don't have the time to hunt birds all day every day, so we're back to scaring them. Think of the drone's function as a very modern scarecrow.
Problem 2: Mapping. It would be great to get consistent aerial mapping of the property to identify water/nutrient/disease problems and address them in a more targeted way.
For this to work, I'd need the drone to fly a set path, on a set schedule, regularly through the day, hopefully with a speaker attached to play intimidating noises at the birds (hawk screeches, gun shots, car horns, & Ride of the Valkyries obviously). But I can't monitor it all the time, so I'd like it to return to a dock, charge, and repeat. It would also need to perform in at least moderate wind.
As far as mapping goes, is there any drone or package not heartbreakingly expensive that has mapping capability and image compositing built in?
Many thanks,
Jamie C.
Problem 1: Birds! Crows and starlings eat our grapes. They can cost us thousands of dollars a year. We have gas guns, and electronic bird scarers, but they're a real hassle, and require quite a bit of set-up and maintenance. If anyone has any objections to chasing birds with drones, the alternative is shooting or poisoning. I don't have the time to hunt birds all day every day, so we're back to scaring them. Think of the drone's function as a very modern scarecrow.
Problem 2: Mapping. It would be great to get consistent aerial mapping of the property to identify water/nutrient/disease problems and address them in a more targeted way.
For this to work, I'd need the drone to fly a set path, on a set schedule, regularly through the day, hopefully with a speaker attached to play intimidating noises at the birds (hawk screeches, gun shots, car horns, & Ride of the Valkyries obviously). But I can't monitor it all the time, so I'd like it to return to a dock, charge, and repeat. It would also need to perform in at least moderate wind.
As far as mapping goes, is there any drone or package not heartbreakingly expensive that has mapping capability and image compositing built in?
Many thanks,
Jamie C.
