Tomah, WI Wetland Flights

On Tuesday, May 10th, the class met at a wetland area near Tomah, WI, just south of I-90 right before it met with I-94. Two flights, one with the Trimble UX5 and one with the DJI M600, were made to get a baseline set of imagery to observe vegetation changes in the future with more flights. The flights in the future will use the MicaSense RedEdge multispectral sensor so that vegetation health and type can be assessed with indexes and spectral signatures using other bands than simply RGB.

10 GCPs were laid out covering a wide area of the wetland. These were spread far enough that to reach some areas efficiently a truck was driven. Each GCP had its coordinates taken with survey grade GPS.

The UX5 overlap was set to 80% and the height was set to 400 feet. The fixed wing UAS is completely automated (no manual control takeover) and did the job in about 40 minutes. The craft can fly up to 50 mph and also in 30 mph winds. 

The M600 flew at 70 m. After this final flight, the GCPs were collected. Problems occurred in trying to fly this craft because the Pix4D flight planning software was crashing. Finally, the software worked and the M600 had a successful flight.

UX5 in its Case

UX5 Controller Showing Polygon Flight Plan

Trimble Made Custom Sony Sensor

DJI M600

DJI Box with RTK and Control Tablet

Northern-Most Section of the Study Area

Trimble UX5 Ready for Slingshot Launch