Drone Opportunity - Diagnosis & Inspection of Eutrophic Lake Restoration Project

Drone Opportunity Template

Title: Diagnosis & Inspection of Eutrophic Lake Restoration Project

What is the Problem?: Small urban lakes are typically subject to large inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus, leading to eutrophic conditions characterized by periodic algae blooms.

Why is it a Problem?: Certain algae blooms carry toxic properties to people, fish, pets, and livestock; they may deplete oxygen levels, resulting in fish kills and septic conditions, with accompanying odors and mosquito problems.  They may devalue property.

How is it Now Being Addressed?: Reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to lakes is marginally effective, since “trigger levels” of these elements are extremely low, and met in almost all small urban lakes.  Chemical treatment is a current best practice in many situations.  Analysis of chemical composition of such waterways (to diagnose the problem and measure effectiveness of outcomes) is time consuming and expensive, and is not particularly useful for repeated analyses for algae bloom problems which may arise in a matter of a few days.

What Can Drones Do to Help Solve the Problem?  Drones, carrying multispectral cameras, can rapidly diagnose incipient eutrophication, and provide measurements of success of alternative treatment regimens.  Small drones may, in the near future, be capable of actually delivering critical chemical treatments to selected localized areas needing treatment, without full treatment of the entire lake, thereby saving costs, and reducing inputs of treatment chemicals to the overall system.  Drones can be flown repeatedly over sensitive areas, thereby providing rapid response to observed conditions.

What Will be the Benefit From Using Drones? Drone imagery may give early indications of eutrophic conditions, may be flown repeatedly for very low cost to assess emergence of problems and success of treatments.  Drones may become an inexpensive chemical delivery mechanism for location- and dose-sensitive areas.

What Should be Done to Enable Drone Use? Create a way forward for the use of drones over waterways, by commercial licensed, bonded, and insured drone operators, to diagnose eutrophication problems and measure success in treatment regimes.  Develop light-weight, remotely controlled, liquid or powder delivery mechanisms for delivery of chemicals.

NOTE: A current example of chemical treatment of a highly eutrophic lake is that of Lake Lorene, in the Twin Lakes section of Federal Way, conducted by AquaTechnex and described at: http://aquatechnex.com/?s=lake+lorene.  I am familiar with this application as I lived about a block from Lake Lorene for 8 years, and am personally acquainted with AquaTechnex from work I authorized for a community association in Ocean Park, WA. Note that the aerial imagery featured in the web site above are from Google Earth, taken about a year apart in the 2012-2013 time frame.  They could have been taken by drone.

Drone Opportunity - Gutter & Downspout Inspection

Experience with the use of a drone in a multi-building townhouse development in Lakewood, WA has led me to consider creation of an inventory of actual and possible uses of drones in other situations.  I have created a simple Drone Opportunity Template to compile the results.  This is the first of many... 

Drone Opportunity Template

Title: Gutters and Downspout Inspection

What is the Problem?: Gutters and downspouts in single and multifamily homes and commercial buildings adjacent to, or built within, wooded areas are subject to drop of, or wind-blown, leaves and needles, which plug them, requiring frequent cleaning.

Why is it a Problem?: Pluggage and failure to clean gutters and downspouts result in overflowing gutters, resulting in water damage to vertical walls, decks, and foundations, including, in some cases, seepage inside buildings, destroying carpets, furniture, and other property.   Constant dampness may produce dry rot or mold damage, creating adverse health effects, property devaluation, legal risks to inspectors, and difficulties in financing and selling the property.  Corrective action is often costly, time-consuming, and borne by the homeowner, contractor, and/or insurer.

How is it Now Being Addressed?: Owners and contractors must periodically diagnose and clean gutters and downspouts to keep them clear, resulting in costs of time and money.  Failure to recognize and clean plugged gutters and downspouts in a timely manner can result in the effects above.

What Can Drones Do to Help Solve the Problem?: By providing a stable platform for aerial photos, regular (or on call, for example immediately after or before storm events) aerial surveys of gutters and downspouts could replace physical inspection by homeowners, contractors, or property managers who typically use ladders to access difficult locations, reducing time for inspections from hours to minutes, and providing a permanent record of findings.  This would allow a prioritized cleaning program to be implemented.

What Will be the Benefit From Using Drones?:  A greatly reduced cost in time and money to inspect gutters and downspouts; a prioritized list of problem sites (thereby avoiding useless efforts to access and clean areas not needing cleaning); possible finding of other, related problems on the imagery (loose, sagging, or broken gutters and downspouts, roofing materials, roof penetrations seals, painting needs, woodpecker holes, vermin nests, etc.)

What Should be Done to Enable Drone Use?: Create a way forward for the use of drones over private single- and multi-family homes, and commercial and industrial properties, by commercial licensed, bonded, and insured drone operators, while protecting privacy concerns of residents, workers, and customers on the site.

Regulating Small Commercial Drones - A Way Forward

Useful commercial applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) are becoming evident – placing the FAA, charged with safely regulating US air space, in a quandary.  FAA relies on a 1991 policy, recently expanded, for exempting small, hobbyist drones, but the effect of its regulation to date is to ban commercial uses.

Studies have shown immense potential benefits from the commercial use of drones, ranging from farmland management, search and rescue operations, pipeline inspection, real estate management, medicine delivery, etc. 

It seems to me that the model long established for controlling two-dimensional space (highway and boat traffic) could provide a useful way of looking at managing three-dimensional space.

For example, boat and auto drivers are required to secure licenses (regular and commercial, motorcycle endorsements, driver education, etc.) and insurance (property damage, personal liability, collision, uninsured motorist, etc.) for operation of their vehicles, are permitted to only operate them in certain areas and in certain ways (exclusive domain exclusions, right side of the road, “rules of the road,” speed limits, “no wake,” etc.), and are supported by an infrastructure (local, state, and interstate highways; navigation channels, locks, etc.) largely managed by government.

The regulatory philosophy behind regulation of two-dimensional space is one of balancing the value of the activity against risk of failures and damage to persons and property.

Outright bans (or coercive regulations which have the effect of outright bans) on commercial drone operations is no more rational in a free society than banning commercial applications of cars, trucks, or boats. 

Yes, such regulation of drones (licensing users, requiring insurance, limiting location of operations, exempting certain classes, etc.) will impose hardships on some, and will result in some mistakes (highway and boating accidents are relatively common), for which owners, operators, insurers, or the general public will pay.  Where these controls prove to be inadequate, tort law provides additional protections to victims.  But, in the case of regulation of two-dimensional space, society views the societal benefits of such activities to be so much greater than the costs, that few question their validity.  Why should not similar means be devised to manage three-dimensional space?

Let’s not permit our inability to be perfect immediately keep us from getting a reasonable start.  For there are others who are eager to capture the technology if we fail to.

Demonstration of Drone-Based Imagery for a Homeowners Association

Below is a portion of a report I prepared for the Board of Directors of a local homeowners association in the Tacoma, WA area following a demonstration of the use of a drone for securing aerial imagery:

Background on Aerial Photography & Drones

The use of imagery (still photo, video, UV, infrared, side-looking radar, etc.) in urban planning and development has been extensively documented.  Recent development of technology to provide stable, unmanned aerial platforms (commonly called “drones”) to accommodate cameras and other equipment, promises to open up possibilities for useful applications for homeowners associations.

A Demonstration at ******** **********

Following a recent newspaper article about training of UAV owners, pilots, and potential users, I contacted the instructor, who demonstrated, on August 25, the use of a modestly priced UAV in ********, on Building **. Owners were informed ahead of time, and two attended the demonstration, along with two managing partners of a local property management organization.

Results

Applications which were clearly demonstrated included capturing of high quality still and video photography on issues of importance to ********:

1.      General inspection of the condition of roofs, gutters, downspouts, decks, roof penetrations, scuppers, etc.

2.      Identifications of damage to gutter and downspouts, with resolutions of a few inches, possibly due to leaning ladders, sagging, joints, dents, etc.

3.      Identification of areas where cleaning and/or repainting was needed on the tops and sides of the building

4.      Areas where plugging of gutters and downspouts by needles and leaves occurred, and where they were clean and clear

5.      Aerial extent of ponded water during and after storm events

6.      General extent and condition of vegetation (not included were devices (color infrared, etc.) capable of capturing imagery which would show dead trees, pest damage, dry conditions, lack of nutrients & fertilization, etc.

7.      Imagery confirmed 1) heavy needle loading of rear top gutters (88); 2) plugging of downspouts (88); 3) splash damage on inside south walls of flat roofs (88, 95); 4) vegetation damage (89, 93, 95, 96); 5) clean front gutters (89, 92, 93, 94); 6) accumulation of needles at edges of flashing around chimneys, against walls, and around ponding water on flat roofs (91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96); 6) concentration of needles at some of the scuppers (91, 93, 94, 95, 96); 7) condition of scuppers (88); 8) condition of chimney mortar and chimney caps (91, 93, 94, 95, 96); 9) condition of painted wall tops (92, 93, 94, 95, 96); 10) location of old cess pool or sump (95, 96). 

Comparative Results

Total air time of the drone used (a DJI Phantom II, retailing at about $1300, with gimbal-mounted camera) was about 13 minutes, to secure 7 still photos at 14 megapixel resolution, and two videos of clarity comparable to drone-based professional sports broadcasts and “Over Washington” shows.  Comparable inspections would have required two or more people with ladders, for several hours, to secure comparable information. 

Users

Possible users, in addition to our own (and other HOA) Boards for assessments of property condition and problem identification, include realtors whose clients may want a better image of roofing and second- and third-story paint, gutter, and downspout condition; inspectors who are paid to provide assurances to buyers as a condition of purchase; financial institutions and insurers, who wish to know the condition of properties they finance or insure; reserve study professionals who are greatly hampered in their ability to assess conditions of properties by inability to directly observe portions of the properties to determine condition and useful life of assets, etc.; and smart buyers themselves, who want the best information available on alternative personal, commercial, or industrial investments.

Contact me at Drone Solutions for further information, at dronesolutions@aol.com

Ken Karch

Welcome to Drone Solutions' blog.

Drone Solutions is a Washington State sole proprietorship specializing in solutions to everyday problems using unmanned aerial systems, commonly called drones.  The most often cited examples involve aerial photos (both still and video), and there are literally hundreds of demonstrated applications. We partner with drone suppliers, education and training institutions, and related management consultants to provide needed services to our clients.

The mission of Drone Solutions is to help individuals and organizations solve problems using drones.

Our vision is to be the preferred provider  for a variety of drone applications for a select group of customers.

We provide our services by helping clients understand the potential applications of drone technology, design experiments to demonstrate and carry out useful applications, develop relationships with drone providers to carry out drone services, assess the effectiveness of drone usage, and identify new applications of drones.

To easily access this blog, bookmark it at:

http://dronesolutions.blogspot.com/

I will try to make this blog as useful as possible to our clients and the general public.  I hope you like it.

Ken Karch
Owner
Drone Solutions
dronesolutions@aol.com