Michigan State University Drone Loan Program (DLP) and Photogrammetry Processing Service (PPS)

What are the MSU DLP and PPS?

The MSU DLP is a service that provides access to NDAA-compliant drones and sensors for MSU research, teaching, and outreach (including business activities). The PPS is an online service whereby MSU users can submit overlapping images for processing and receive a complete dense point cloud, digital elevation model (DEM), and orthomosaic of the object or area within the overlapping images.

Both the MSU DLP and PPS are administered and managed by MSU RS&GIS with support from the MSU Office of Research and Innovation. These programs are at least partially in response to the following concerns and challenges facing drone-enabled research and services at MSU and beyond:

• Federal regulations restrict the use of foreign-made drones for Federally-funded projects. Regulations are becoming more stringent, with restrictions expected to increase in the coming years.

• Compliant drones and sensors are 2x - 5x more expensive than what has been used in the past, making it difficult for individual units to purchase the necessary equipment for their specific needs.

RS&GIS, with the assistance of the MSU Office of Research and Innovation, has invested in a fleet of adaptable and compliant drones and sensors to meet a broad array of current and future research, teaching, and outreach needs.

MSU Drone Loan Program - Platforms

When selecting platforms for the MSU Drone Loan Program, considerable thought was given to what is needed to support current and future research, teaching, and outreach at MSU and beyond. The MSU Drone Loan Program has a variety of drones for different applications, including long endurance, heavy payloads, broad sensor integration, and more.

Current platforms in the MSU DLP include:

Inspired Flight IF800 Tomcat

The MSU Drone Loan Program fleet currently includes 3 IF800 "Tomcat" drones. These are enterprise level drones capable of carrying up to a 6.6 pound payload.

Integrations:

• Sony ILX-LR1 (natural color)

• Micasense RedEdge-P Dual and Triple (multispectral)

• Gremsy VIO F1 (thermal)

The payload can be easily swapped in the field.

Flight time: ~30-35 minutes (with maximum payload)

Inspired Flight IF1200A

The IF1200A from Inspired Flight is a heavy-lift drone capable of carrying over 19 pounds. This makes is suitable for a wide range of applications including LiDAR, hyperspectral, GPR, and other geophysical systems.

Integrations:

• Sony ILX-LR1 (natural color)

• Micasense RedEdge-P Dual and Triple (multispectral)

• Gremsy VIO F1 (thermal)

The open-concept frame and standard mounting rails allow for nearly unlimited integrations.

Flight time: ~25 minutes (with a full payload) to >40 minutes (with small payloads)

WingtraOne Gen II

The WingtraOne Gen II is a fixed-wing platform that takes off and lands vertically (VTOL). As a fixed-wing craft, it flies very efficiently and can cover over 500 acres in a single flight (~60 minutes). This makes it suitable for large area acquisitions that would otherwise take multiple flights using a multi-rotor drone.

Integrations: The WingtraOne Gen II is currently equipped with a Map61 camera, which utilizes the same Sony ILX-LR1 60 megapixel sensor.

NOTE: It can also be equipped with a variety of other sensors, including multispectral sensors, such as the Micasense RedEdge-MX, although the MSU DLP does not currently include these other sensors.

Flight time: ~60 minutes

MSU Drone Loan Program - Sensors

To support current and future drone-enabled research, the MSU Drone Loan Program has a suite of NDAA-compliant sensors capable of collecting natural color, thermal, multispectral, and hyperspectral imagery. We are actively seeking to expand our sensor offerings to include LIDAR (topographic and bathymetric), geophysics (i.e., GPR, MBES), and others.

Current sensors in the MSU DLP include:

Sony ILX-LR1 Natural Color Camera

The Sony ILX-LR1 is a 61MP natural color camera capable of capturing very high-resolution imagery at even higher flight altitudes.

Integrations: IF800, IF1200A

Gremsy VIO F1

The Gremsy VIO F1 is a dual camera with thermal sensor. The optical camera is 8.51MP (4K video at 30 FPS) with 20x optical zoom and 30x super resolution. It also has a Teledyne FLIR Boson thermal camera with 640 x 512 radiometric sensor (60 FPS).

Integrations: IF800, IF1200A

MicaSense RedEdge-P Dual and RedEdge-P Triple

The MicaSense RedEdge-P Dual is an 11-band multispectral payload combining the RedEdge-P and RedEdge-P Blue cameras. Each of the 10 bands has a 1.6MP sensor. The MicaSense RedEdge-P Triple is a 16-band multispectral payload combining the RedEdge-P, RedEdge-P Blue, and RedEdge-P Green cameras. Multispectral bands of each camera are 1.6MP, with an additional 5.1MP panchromatic band that can be used for pan-sharpening the multispectral images.

Bands for the individual cameras are below with the central wavelength and wavelength width in parentheses:

RedEdge-P: Blue 475(32), Green 560(27), Red 668(14), Red Edge 717(12), Near-IR 842(57)

RedEdge-P Blue: Ocean blue 444(28), Green 531(14), Red 650(16), Red Edge 705(10), Red Edge 740(18)

RedEdge-P Green: Cyan 502(18), Green 550(12), Yellow 570(14), Red 678(14), Near-IR 754(10)

Integration: IF800, IF1200A

Headwall Co-Aligned VNIR-SWIR Sensor

The Headwall Co-Aligned VNIR-SWIR sensor is a hyperspectral sensor capable of operating at 400-2500nm wavelengths, collecting 340 + 267 bands (VNIR + SWIR). Data from this sensor is extremely large but can be valuable for a variety of research projects.

Integration: IF1200A