Bruno Basso, an MSU professor of geological sciences, will be using the university's first unmanned aerial vehicle to gather precise crop data and help farmers improving nitrogen and water management.
Michigan State University's first drone is a microdrone md4-1000, a four-rotor helicopter that measures just over a meter from rotor shaft to rotor shaft. It is equipped with a high-resolution radiometer, a thermal camera and a laser scanner that's capable of taking centimeter-precise measurements from the air.
"You're able to distinguish basically single plants," said Bruno Basso, a professor of geological sciences.
It's plants that he'll be monitoring, agricultural fields. The drone, he said, can cover 50 acres in about 20 minutes and gather the sort of information that would allow ...