LiDAR drones are fairly new as the units have become smaller and lightweight. But LiDAR is not new to surveyors and engineers. They’ve been using ground-based and airborne LiDAR scanning units for years.
The good news is LiDAR drones are great for scanning small areas like building sites and getting in hard-to-reach areas like under bridges. In this way they provide a significant cost advantage over aircraft or helicopters with LiDAR units and have the greatest margin potential as a service for the Inspection / Monitoring market.
You can get trained and become a Certified LiDAR Technologist (CLT) through ASPRS. A CLT is technician who performs routine LiDAR collection support and first-level data processing integrating established plans and procedures. Find information on that here.
Skill 5 – Spectral Imaging
I put this here last because, as I mention earlier, it’s not clear whether drones provide a significant cost savings to the buyer vs. the same service provided by manned aircraft for the Precision Agriculture market.
There are ROI studies being done now, but most people who provide this service will tell you that farmers aren’t willing to pay much for this service. Why spend $4 to $5 per acre for you to fly a drone overhead and deliver a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) map unless there is a clear return on that investment? Some will – like growers of high-margin crops like fruits and nuts – but most won’t. Again, this is a competitive market that demands a lot of knowledge about precision agriculture and remote sensing techniques.
I would to hear your thoughts on these skills. Send me your comments or write us [email protected].