Following his service, he was recruited by General Atomics to oversee engineering teams working on several cutting-edge Predator and Reaper military drone projects. Seeing what was about to come in the small commercial drone market, Dan founded Modus Robotics, where he was able to use his skills in aviation and remote sensing to help companies transform drone-driven data into actionable business intelligence.

Daniel also has a background in tactical imagery and satellite remote sensing, making him an expert in Light Detection and Range (LiDAR). In fact, he just launched a free course to help drone pilots learn about LiDAR called LiDAR Basics, and his company’s website offers an entire library of free LiDAR resources you can peruse if you’re want to learn more about the topic.

We wanted to sit down with Daniel to learn more about LiDAR, LiDAR-equipped drones, and how he first started working with drones—read the interview to learn what he had to say.

—
Begin Interview

What is LiDAR?

LiDAR is light detection and range—it stands for a principle.

At its essence, what you’re doing with LiDAR is the same thing as RADAR or SONAR. You send the signal out, it bounces off something, and you time how long it takes to return.

That’s essentially what LiDAR is. The big difference between LiDAR and RADAR or SONAR is the precision. With RADAR you’re using these very, very large waves that crash into something and come back, and it’s the same thing with SONAR.

Because LiDAR is so precise, it yields incredible resolution and precision—when you’re using light, or more specifically, a laser, you’re using photons, so it’s very, very precise.

https://vimeo.com/277115593

Check out this intro to LiDAR video created by Modus Robotics

Is LiDAR better than photogrammetry?

They’re both excellent, and they’re both necessary in different scenarios.

I think the debate about which is better is just based on who can afford what. Comparing the two is comparing apples and oranges. With photogrammetry, light is generated from somewhere else and reflected, and the camera captures it. But with LiDAR, light is generated by the LiDAR sensor itself, so you know the precise distance and angle from the sensor.

What I recommend is to use LiDAR when you need measurable data quickly. Use drone photogrammetry when you need spectral or color information. I use both, using LiDAR as the base layer for BIM (Building Information Modeling) and GIS (Geographic Information System), and then draping the photogrammetric imagery over the base layer. The commercial drone market seems to think this is a new thing, but we have been doing this for years. It is proven technology. In the end, keep your processes simple, and you will be more efficient and make more money in the long run.

We hear much talk about accuracy these days. What level of accuracy do you think is important when using LiDAR, or does it just depend on the specific application?

I think most people don’t understand what they mean by accuracy these days. For instance, in both photogrammetry and LiDAR, we see many people in the market claiming their products provides millimeter level of accuracy.

But when we talk about accuracy, there are two types of accuracy, relative and absolute. As you certify either criteria of accuracy, that certification has to be qualified and quantified. So let’s look at examples of each type of accuracy.

Relative accuracy is the integrity of the object that you scanned—the photograph. As an example, if you’re looking at a house and you know that the door ledge is 36 inches and it shows up on your scan as 36 inches, well, then you can say it has high relative accuracy.

The other kind of accuracy is absolute accuracy, which is certifying each point’s geospatial location in reference to the earth. So let’s use the same door ledge from the previous example. How accurate are the points at the corners in reference to a known position on the earth’s surface? We know that the door ledge is precisely 36 inches long, but what if those points are 2 feet higher than the actual ground? We can say it has 2 feet of absolute error.

This may not seem like a big deal but absolute error uses vertical measurement, so this means your door could be 2 feet above the pavement. So how does it match with other scans or drawings? Being able to match your product with other products is what gives it value.

I think many people get these two types of accuracy confused, and it’s crucial to understand the difference for certain kinds of industrial work. If you’re doing civil engineering work, relative accuracy is the most important thing.

However, in the geodetic world, or in the world of mapping and GIS, absolute accuracy is critical. So it’s important to define your terms and understand what kind of accuracy you’re talking about, and why it matters for the specific type of work you’re doing.

Can you walk us through how LiDAR is being used in the field? Let’s use the construction industry as an example.

LiDAR data is so flexible—it has many uses and products in the field. Its applications can be broken into three primary segments: mapping, vegetation, and structural modeling. One of the most obvious use cases is in pre-construction, when you’re evaluating the land to see if it’s suitable for building.

Using the traditional method, you would send out a team of surveyors to take a survey. For a small area, this requires a group of three or four all day. Most times they use differential GPS, a highly accurate GNSS base station, and a radio positioning sensing stick, and record a series of points they call survey lines. Using this approach, they can get about 80 to 100 points a day—usually, a survey line is drawn along these points, and each point is separated by 500 yards.

So after they pick these exact points and create these lines, there are still 500 yards gaps between each point, and typically a surveyor will do an interpolation to fill in the differences to account for these gaps.

Using traditional methods, this product, from order to deliver, takes three weeks. Now let’s look at LiDAR.

With LiDAR, whether it’s ground-based, mobile, or aerial, you’re getting thousands of points along those survey lines. You’re getting the terrain. You are getting the vegetation. You are collecting the structures. With the new sensor and drone technology that’s available, you’re just getting so much more precision.

To make this concrete, where a surveyor might typically provide 50 points per acre, a drone equipped with LiDAR can produce 450 to 500 points per meter squared.

So, for using LiDAR in construction, you now have all of this incredibly precise data.

The next thing you do with that data is input it into a program and strip off all the vegetation and manmade features so you have the bare earth, creating different layers for vegetation and other criteria so we can review it later if we want.

Then we use the equivalent of machine learning to identify different patterns and classify them. So we get to go through and do quality control for these classifications—that’s what usually takes the most time.

In the end, we’re able to generate different renditions of the earth’s surface, all of which are highly precise. You can use this information to do things like go into different contour levels of the earth’s surface, or do shade analysis—how light hits the earth surfaces. Alternatively, we can do flood mapping to determine how water’s going to run off the land. All of this is possible with the data collected.

So it took the surveyor three weeks to generate a map with elevation contours and precise locations of key features. With LiDAR we have the base product in 2 hours and comparable products in less than two days. Plus aLiDAR analyst can recreate 3D visualization models, volumetrics, feature identification and change detection in a fraction of the time.

All of this is crucial for construction. An error costs lots of money to fix it. Back when I was 19, I worked as a layout engineer for a construction outfit and dug a very long ditch in the wrong place, and it cost one hundred thousand dollars—literally—because of my mistake.

So with LiDAR drones, we could have done a daily LiDAR survey, and by the next morning we would have the survey data and compare LiDAR data from the CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) drawings, preventing expensive mistakes and providing real-time program management business intelligence. That’s priceless.

How does your background in the military inform the work you do now, helping companies use technology to make their operations more efficient?

The first real job I had in the military was as a tactical imagery analyst for Naval intelligence.  I worked for a three-star admiral and gained a ton of experience studying other nations’ capabilities just from pictures—and it’s funny, because in many ways that is still what I do today. Through that work I developed a deep appreciation for making a decision based upon data and measurable facts.

I built imagery programs that monitored and tracked other countries’ capability via imagery. The program was so successful that it was adopted by all the armed forces, and I was awarded a naval officer commission and slot to become a pilot.

In flight school, 9/11 happened, and that changed everything. I was rushed to a squadron in Japan, and shortly after that, we invaded Afghanistan. For the next four years, I was all over Southeast Asia working in support of the war on terror—flying helicopters, tracking down smugglers and pirates, providing humanitarian aid, performing search and rescue . . . you name it. It was a hard four years. Just tons and tons of flying and doing really neat stuff, and not very much sleep.

Being a pilot, I was able to see the other side of the intelligence equation. As a tactical imagery analyst, I would download what a satellite or pilot gave me. Now it was my job to plan and collect information. It made me very effective, since I knew what information was needed.

From there I was again given a choice about what do next, and I ended up going to Top Gun and becoming a helicopter weapons and tactics instructor. I did two basic things. One, break down and teach young pilots how to solve problems, communicate, and lead dynamically in real time. Two, figure out how to actually use all the new technology in the field, such as satellite communications, airborne shared tactical displays, and some very cool high powered sensors.

One of the things you realize in that kind of training is that, in some instances, we have too much technology available—the technology is so sophisticated that it’s hard for a human being to actually use all of it. So how do you plan with all this technology? And I think that’s what’s starting to happen in the drone industry right now—we have a ton of amazing tech, but people are asking, “OK, cool, but what do you do with this?”

Which is why we created Modus Robotics: to make technology simple, so small businesses can be successful.

Often, what I find is that companies don’t know what their primary objective is. They buy software because of marketing or a perceived capability of what they think they can do, not based upon need and return on investment.

I’ve worked with the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, and it’s usually just the same as what I do now for private companies. When a client first shows up, we spend a lot of time clarifying what exactly their objectives are. Then we match process, the technology available to achieve it, and your return on investment. In the military, we call that mission success.

How did you first get into working with drones?

I was at the height of my career in the military, and I lost vision in my left eye.

It was temporary, and I did regain vision in that eye eventually, but that kind of thing is a career killer. In aviation, your physiology is so important. So while waiting to get approved to fly again, I managed a new helicopter program—figuring out how to man, train, and equip $350 million in high tech helicopters for 13 squadrons of over 2,000 people.

Part of my position was overseeing the Navy’s brand new helicopter drone, Fire Scout. We had to figure out from the ground up things like: Who was going to fly it? Was it safe? What were the operating limits? What could it do?

It’s so important to emphasize that this isn’t a toy airplane—Fire Scout is the size of a police helicopter without a pilot. We were landing them on the back of moving ships in an area the size of half a basketball court.

After that work, I was asked to join the Army special forces and sent to the Middle East, where I ended up overseeing several sites between Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other locations.

We had several drones as part of our operations. My first day on the job, I opened and started to study the drone’s operator manual, as any good pilot would do. It was 10 pm at night when the operations door opened up and a kid who was about twenty years old told me, “Sir, there’s nobody here, and we have an engine out in one of our drones.”

I told him, “Just do your in-flight engine restart procedures.” I’m still reading the manual. I hadn’t read the part in the manual yet that tells you this is not possible for this particular drone, but based upon my flight experience, it was the first logical thing to do.

He said, “We don’t have air restart. We can’t restart in the air.”

“Oh, okay. Well, where are you?”

“Downtown Baghdad,” he said.

This was not good.

I walked into the ground control station, and luckily the interface that I saw was something that I was familiar with, and sure enough, we are in the middle of Baghdad. We ended up gliding safely outside of the city and landing it. Then I was told that there was they planned to leave it out there because it’s just a drone.

“Bullshit,” I said. “We go get it.”

So we went out at 2 in the morning with two helicopters and retrieved it, which was not an easy task. To retrieve it, I had to step on both wings literally, duct tape it, and throw it into the back of the helicopter.

That was my first day in Iraq.

What did you do next to get things up to speed with the drone program there?

We were still learning back then, and we were losing many aircrafts due to pilot error. That was not going to continue under my watch.

So the next thing I did was to shut down my site for two weeks for drone training. The most significant part of this training was not visual flying but adopting flying by instrument procedures and operational risk management. We didn’t lose any more drones after that. In fact, we had a perfect safety record, which is unheard of.

Something you might not know is that all of my units overseas were co-located with airports. To increase safety, we developed instrumented flight procedures for drones, and we increased the airport’s flight efficiency by 25%.

Previously the air traffic controllers and pilots didn’t know where the drones were, which led us to do instrumented procedures, so everybody knew where he or she was, and this dramatically increased safety.

Want to learn more about LiDAR? Check out Daniel’s Intro to LiDAR Training Course here.

The post How LiDAR Is Being Used in the Field: An Interview with Daniel Hubert, Founder of Modus Robotics appeared first on UAV Coach.

We’re also covering a drone light show Guinness World Record won over July 4th weekend, a video about the DJI Dock, Airspace Link making its API open so other apps can offer LAANC services, and a flying car that could prove instrumental for drone type certification.

Now let’s get to those links!

DJI Air 3 + DJI RC 2 and DJI RC-N2 Controllers Appear in FCC Filings

Lots of leaks have come out recently about the DJI Air 3, including its price and its dual camera system, which reportedly comes with a wide-angle and a telescope lens. A related leak is that the Air 3 will be released with two new controllers—the DJI RC 2 and DJI RC-N2. Adding credibility to the leaks, the Air 3 has now hit the FCC database along with both of the new controllers. Based on everything we know, it seems likely that the Air 3 will hit the shelves any day now.

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Sky Elements Sets Guinness Record with July 4th Drone Light Show

Credit: Sky Elements

Drone light show production outfit Sky Elements produced a whopping 40 drone light shows over July 4th weekend. As if that wasn’t enough, the company secured a new Guinness World Record for one of those shows. The record was for “the largest sentence formed with the most number of drones in a single display.” The sentence was made with over 1,000 drones, forming the words “Happy 4th of July 2023” (as shown above). Last year, Sky Elements pulled a prank on the city of Dallas by forming a QR code with light show drones. The code led people to a video of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”—a prank that’s known as a Rickroll. Follow the link below to see a video of the record-breaking Sky Elements drone light show.

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DJI Hosts Training for the DJI Dock

The DJI Enterprise North America team recently held a comprehensive training session for DJI Dealers in preparation for the commercialization of DJI Dock. Throughout the training, participants achieved proficiency in deployment, configuration, mission planning, and more. pic.twitter.com/nnfs0B8n2f

— DJI Enterprise (@DJIEnterprise) July 5, 2023

DJI rolled out the DJI Dock along with the Matrice 30 in 2022. Although the M30 saw quick adoption after it launched, we haven’t heard much about the Dock since it came out. Now DJI seems to be getting ready for a commercial push for the Dock. One major part of its preparation was a recent training session held for DJI resellers to get them up to speed on how the Dock works, including training on deployment, configuration, and mission planning. Watch the video above for a short overview.

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Airspace Link Shares API for Enabling LAANC Services on Other Apps

Credit: Airspace Link

LAANC provider Airspace Link recently made it possible for other apps to offer LAANC access using its technology. LAANC is the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability, and it allows drone pilots to get instant airspace authorizations. AirMap recently stopped offering LAANC services, leaving Aloft, Airspace Link, and Wing’s OpenSky as some of the last remaining LAANC apps available. By opening its API to developers so they can incorporate Airspace Link into their apps, Airspace Link is helping spread LAANC capabilities to more people.

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Car that Drives and Flies Could Help Advance Drone Type Certification

The ASKA A5 is the first eVTOL that can both drive on the ground and fly. It’s about the size of an SUV, and a prototype of it was first showcased earlier this year, at CES 2023. Unlike some passenger drones we’ve seen, the A5 flies with a human pilot. But why does this fly-and-drive vehicle matter for the drone industry? Because ASKA is currently pursuing type certification with the FAA. Type certification is a hot new topic for both drone and taxi drone manufacturers, since it’s the path toward standardization and freeing up common use of their technology. Many drones and taxi drones are also technically new types of aircraft, just as the ASKA A5 is. If ASKA can achieve type certification for a new type of aircraft and demonstrate how the A5 can integrate into the national airspace, it could provide a model for other drone companies showing how type certification and integration can be achieved.

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Make sure to sign up for our free weekly newsletter using the button below so you can get our weekly newsletter every Saturday, with this roundup and our other featured stories from the week.

The post Drone News Roundup: DJI Air 3, RC 2, and RC-N2 Appear in FCC Filings, Sky Elements Sets Drone Light Show Guinness Record, and More! appeared first on UAV Coach.

We’re also covering a story about a teen drone pilot helping to save two people whose SUV fell into a sinkhole, a drone light show in which drones formed the Stanley Cup in the night sky, an extreme wind surfing wipeout captured by drone, and two new laws proposed by congress that have significant implications for the drone industry.

Now on to the links!

DJI Mini 4 Pro Shown in Leaked Test Flight

The original leaked photo of the #DJI #Mini4pro. This doesn’t look like a prototype covered in stickers like the other leaks, but a finished product.
At this moment we can only speculate on a release date. pic.twitter.com/3tKVMUHYMv

— Jasper Ellens | DJI Flight Club (@JasperEllens) June 28, 2023

Jasper Ellens has become a reliable source for DJI leaks over the last few years. In this tweet, we see a photo of what industry insiders claim is a Mini 4 Pro—a drone that hasn’t been discussed much, if at all, when we hear chatter about what DJI might have in the works for 2023. And there has been a lot of chatter. All the past leaks and rumors have centered around the Inspire 3, the Mavic 3, a new Matrice, and an Air 3. Three out of four of those drones have already been released this year, and the Air 3 looks like it will be released soon. But now it looks like DJI might have yet another launch planned for this year—the Mini 4 Pro. Most likely, we’ll see several more leaks come out for this new version of the Mini Pro before too long.

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Teen Drone Pilot Helps Save Couple Whose Car Fell into a Sinkhole

A teen drone pilot named Josh Logue was recently flying his drone in Brighton, Colorado to look at damage done by flooding. While in the air, he spotted something strange—a dark spot on the road. When he flew closer, he saw that a sinkhole had opened in the road, and an SUV was upside down inside it. Two people were trapped inside, and water from a nearby canal was rising, filling the overturned SUV. Logue rushed to the site with a neighbor to help. Firefighters soon arrived and cut through the SUV to free the people, who were able to escape. If Logue hadn’t spotted them from the air, it’s unlikely they would have survived.

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Extreme Wind Surfing Wipeout Caught by Drone

Think windsurfing isn’t that tough? You might think differently after watching this video. Shot by drone, we see 3x world windsurfing champ Marcilio Browne take a massive wipeout in this footage while competing during the 2023 Fiji Surf Pro at Cloudbreak. (Don’t worry—Marcilio is reportedly just fine now.) Watch the video for an up close look at just how intense wind surfing can be.

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Stanley Cup Made of Light Show Drones

Vegas made a Stanley Cup of drones last night…what a world (via @JesseGranger_) pic.twitter.com/ALStisNFNj

— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) June 18, 2023

The Vegas Golden Knights recently beat the Florida Panthers to win the 2023 Stanley Cup. An incredible 200,000 people turned out for the victory parade celebrating the win at the Toshiba Plaza in Las Vegas. As part of the celebration, the team put on a drone light show in the skies near the parade, with drones forming the Stanley Cup and the Golden Knights’ logo to commemorate the moment.

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Two Laws Proposed by Congress Have Big Implications for the Drone Industry

Image source

Two laws proposed by congress could have a major impact on the future of the drone industry. One, called the National Drone and Advanced Air Mobility Initiative Act, proposes funding for several key initiatives aimed at helping grow the drone ecosystem in the U.S. These include a Network of Drone and Advanced Air Mobility Research Institutes, drone pilot workforce expansion to integrate drones further into the U.S. economy, and the creation of a center of excellence for counter-UAS (CUAS). The other, called the Safeguarding the Homeland from the Threats Posed by Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act, seeks to “enhance our nation’s ability to counter the security threats posed by . . . drones.” Measures included in the Act include the renewal and expansion of authority to counter rogue drones, helping ensure the “federal government is better prepared to defend against maliciously or recklessly operated drones.”

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Make sure to sign up for our free weekly newsletter using the button below so you can get our weekly newsletter every Saturday, with this roundup and our other featured stories from the week.

The post Drone News Roundup: DJI Mini 4 Pro Leaked, Teen Drone Pilot Helps Save Two Trapped in SUV, and More! appeared first on UAV Coach.

The annual conference is one of the biggest commercial drone events in the world. And since the pandemic forced several in-person drone events to shut down—some for good—Commercial UAV Expo has emerged as one of the best drone shows to attend in North America.

The conference will be held at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, NV from September 5-7.

You can get $100 off a Full Conference Pass or a FREE Expo Pass ($150 value) by using code ‘SAVE100’ at checkout. Keep reading to see our list of the top 9 reasons to go, or visit the Commercial UAV Expo site to register now and lock in that discount.

1. The Most Attendees Ever

Last year, 232 exhibitors and 3,405 people attended Commercial UAV Expo.

This year is shaping up to break both of those records, with conference planners anticipating 4,000 attendees and 250 exhibitors.

Pulling people in from 75 different countries, the event will truly be a global meeting place for all things drone-related.

If you want to see the latest drone technology, walking the exhibit hall and seeing all the newest releases from 250 (or more) of those exhibitors promises to be a highlight. Not to mention rubbing elbows with thousands of other drone professionals, enthusiasts, and experts!

Want to see who will be exhibiting? Here’s a list of all the exhibitors attending Commercial UAV Expo this year.

2. Vertical-Specific Drone Education

Already work with drones and want to get better at what you do? Or looking for ways to use drones in your work, and need some pointers?

Commercial UAV Expo is a great place to level up your drone knowledge.

The conference program this year will offer talks in nine different key drone verticals. Here’s the full list:

• Construction
• Drone Delivery
• Energy & Utilities
• Forestry & Agriculture
• Infrastructure & Transportation
• Mining & Aggregates
• Public Safety & Emergency Services
• Security
• Surveying & Mapping

View the full 2023 conference program.

3. The Keynotes

Where is the drone industry at this moment? And what lies ahead?

Get personal perspectives from the top thought leaders, visionaries, and innovators in commercial drones during keynotes at Commercial UAV Expo this year.

Here’s a snippet from one of last year’s keynotes, featuring Skydio Co-founder & CEO Adam Bry and Commercial UAV Expo’s Jeremiah Karpowicz.

See the full list of 2023 speakers here.

4. Special Workshops and Events

Every year, Commercial UAV Expo puts on special events in addition to the main lineup of talks and panels.

Here are this year’s top workshops and events:

• Photogrammetric Mapping with UAS—led by ASPRS. Learn more here.
• LiDAR Mapping with UAS—led by ASPRS. Learn more here.
• “Pitch the Press” Event—hear the questions press members have about the top 15 products and solutions on display in the exhibit hall. Learn more here.
• Exhibitor Showcases—hear about the latest drone technology from exhibitors and see it live. Learn more here.

5. University Roundtable Discussion

Drones are mainstream now. And that means more and more universities are looking into training students in how to use them.

Image source

Here’s the session description from Commercial UAV Expo:

As more universities are looking to implement new UAV programs of study or keep already established programs up to date with the latest UAV applications, faculty and administration are left to set standards, determine best practices, stay within regulation, and more.

This interactive roundtable is open to anyone involved in an academic role who wants to discuss and learn from others on topics such as: program & curriculum development, preparing students for the workforce, liability & insurance, qualifications for instructors, and student recruitment & assessment.

We’re especially excited for this session. It should be incredibly helpful

Learn more about the roundtable here.

6. The DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Summit

Presented by AIRT, the Public Safety Summit is a co-located event that takes place over two days during Commercial UAV Expo.

The Summit features programming designed to educate and prepare first responder UAS program managers and remote pilots at every experience level for public safety UAS operations.

Here’s an excerpt of the Summit description from the Commercial UAV Expo website:

DRONERESPONDERS brings together an incredible group of professionals from around the Americas to explore successful strategies for building and managing public safety UAS programs. You’ll hear actual case studies and explore after-action reviews of how various departments have used unmanned systems to help save lives and protect property.

If you work for a public safety agency and have been wanting to get up to speed with how to use drones, this event is a great opportunity to jump start your knowledge for using drones in your work.

Learn more about the Summit here.

7. Networking

Where else can you rub shoulders with over 4,000 people who work with drones?

If you’re looking for work, to hire a drone pilot, to partner with another drone hardware or software company, or just to grow the list of contacts you have in the drone industry, Commercial UAV Expo is a great place to do it.

Credit: Commercial UAV Expo

Attendees at Commercial UAV Expo this year include people from top drone-related companies, government agencies, and some of the biggest companies in the world.

Commercial UAV Expo hasn’t released the names of those attending for this year, but you can check out last year’s list to get a sense for who might be there in 2023.

8. Live Outdoor Flying Demonstrations

Want to see the latest drone technology on display—not just in an exhibit hall, but actually in the air?

This year you’ll be able to see drones from some of the top drone companies in the world fly live at Commercial UAV Expo during the conference’s outdoor flying demos. Watch the video above to get an overview of the demos from last year.

This year, demonstrations will be performed by Autel, Frontier Precision Unmanned, and Skyfront.

Learn more about this year’s live demos.

9. Las Vegas

Las Vegas isn’t just about gambling.

The city is also home to some of the best restaurants in the world, as well as top live entertainment of all kinds of genres, including music, comedy, and stunning dance performances from shows like the Cirque du Soleil.

Every time we go to Las Vegas we end up finding new artwork, new performances, and new places to eat. If ambience is important to you, Commercial UAV Expo’s location has it in spades.

Visit the Commercial UAV Expo website now to learn more about the 2023 conference.

The post 9 Reasons to Attend Commercial UAV Expo 2023 appeared first on UAV Coach.

Check out these shots from the project:

Photo credit: Clifford Pickett

Photo credit: Clifford Pickett

Photo credit: Clifford Pickett

We were impressed by the scope of the project and the quality of Clifford’s work, so we wanted to talk to him to learn more about how he got the job, how he priced it, and how he went about planning and executing such a big project.

—

Begin interview:

How did you get the SUNY job?

Persistence, is the short answer.

The back story is, a while back I came across this beautiful castle in Westchester, New York just a few miles down the road from where I live.

I looked it up online, and I didn’t see too many aerial photographs of it, so I tried reaching out to them but wasn’t able to get ahold of anyone.

So I photographed the castle during a couple of sunrises, and sent them an email with some of the images, saying I’d like to work with them.

They replied right away, and they loved the images. And since then they’ve been a long-term client.

Fast forward a few years, and SUNY was going to hold a conference at that castle and someone from SUNY contacted me to see if they could use my images of the castle to promote the conference. So that was my first introduction at SUNY.

Some time later they were planning a large reunion at SUNY, and they wanted to do a big celebration. There was a lot of new architecture, and they’d done a lot of cleaning and really made the campus look great, and they wanted to document things as they were.

And that’s how I ended up getting hired to do this project.

Photo credit: Clifford Pickett

Tell us about executing this project. How did you plan for it?

Big picture, I wanted to make sure I had extra time in case things went wrong.

When you work with aerial, the landscape is critical. And with the SUNY project being tied to the timing of the fall foliage, I knew that we were looking at a little bit of a lottery—between travel and weather, possible fog, which we did have, and how long the leaves stay on the trees, there’s always a chance you might miss your window.

In a controlled environment, when you’re working in a studio and you’re bringing in your lighting, that’s different.

But when you’re working outside, it’s important to have a little bit of leeway and give yourself longer than you think you actually need for the shoot.

So I made sure to have extra time built into my schedule, just in case. I went up a few days early, and built that time into the proposed budget.

In the end, I was able to deliver more than they had initially expected, even though the first day on shoot was overcast, foggy, and raining.

Photo credit: Clifford Pickett

How did you approach pricing for this project?

My approach to pricing can vary depending on the specifics of the project, but in general I like to price everything up front as a single package: the cost of transportation, lodging, my time on the day of shooting, and the images themselves.

This means that the upfront number I present might seem high, especially if someone has never hired a professional photographer before. But it also means that I’m being completely transparent about pricing, and there won’t be any hidden costs that will pop up later.

And this is what I emphasize when going over the packaging price. I also like taking this approach when working with a large institution like SUNY, where payment is usually subject to bureaucratic procedures, and it’s easier to just get permission to pay once for a pre-approved amount.

The real value here is that, once that price is agreed to, I’m promising to take care of everything else. They don’t need to find me lodging or transportation, or worry about a per diem or separate reimbursements. It’s all included.

Is that how you usually price things?

I do typically approach pricing like this, in lump sum, because I think it’s just a lot more practical.

I don’t like how some people throw in add-ons to a project, and essentially present a client with one number up front, knowing that the project could cost a lot more by the time it’s done.

I’d rather just work with clients so that they can understand the value up front, and give them the price for the full package without anything hidden in the pricing.

Of course, pricing does vary by location. In New York City, for example, work will cost more than in other locations in the U.S.

Photo credit: Clifford Pickett

[Want some more info on how to price your aerial services? Check out this thread on our community forum.]

Talk us through your sales process. How do you find new clients, and how do you close deals with them?

I like to reach out to the decision maker in an organization and try to set up a meeting. If I can get an introduction that’s great, but it’s not necessary.

I always make sure to research the potential client before that first meeting, whether it’s a hotel, a commercial property, or a university.

I look at what they already have in terms of photography, and what it looks like they need. This really helps you get a feel for the scale of the work they might want, and a rough sense for what their budget might be.

Obviously, it’s going to be a different package for a small seaside motel, than for a large resort in a popular tourist city.

I also make sure not to talk about pricing until I meet with the potential customer. Meeting face to face has an x factor that is really important. I’ve always found that’s it’s important to meet in person before you talk numbers.

Usually I’ll take a few shot ahead of time, or I’ll put together a private page that I can send to the decision maker. I’ll explain to them this is the work I’ve done, and if I have the time I will do some shoots of sunrises or sunsets a day or two before. I’ll also explain what I’d like to do for the project, and this gives them something in their hands, and it gets me a foot in the door to have a conversation.

After we’ve talked and I get a better sense for what they want, that’s when we can figure out pricing. But I don’t go into a meeting with a set price in mind—it really does depend on the scale of the work, the scope of the project, and that conversation with that decision maker.

All of this is so much better, and more successful for both the customer and me, than just a cold email saying, “Hey, here’s my price structure, and you can take it take it or leave it.”

What drones do you fly, and what cameras do you use?

I fly a Phantom 4 Pro and a Mavic Pro. I work with the cameras that come with those two models, and with several other cameras as well.

The post How to Get Hired for, Price, and Execute a Large Scale Aerial Project: An Interview with Professional Photographer and Videographer Clifford Pickett appeared first on UAV Coach.

Florida ProFly currently focuses on mapping for industry, property development, excavating, and mining. They provide maps and data to their clients, and are currently expanding into agricultural mapping.

Given Rachel’s success, we wanted to pick her brain about how to start a drone services business, and find out what she would tell others who want to break into offering commercial drone services.

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Begin Interview

How did you first get involved in drone services work?

The simple answer is that it found me. I grabbed onto the idea of flying drones and I turned it into a new career. I was losing interest in my career of publishing and printing and wanted to make a change.

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I’d been flying drones as a hobby for some time, and already had experience with RC hobbies as far back as childhood, with airplanes, cars, and so on.

I have been very fortunate to have worked at Smithsonian Magazine and at National Geographic Society in Washington DC. At both places I was a print production manager—they were two really phenomenal places to work.

Through that work I gained an expert level skill set with regards to software applications, graphics, photography, and all the computer skills that you need to be able to do drone services work.

In 2015, I did something crazy and moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands. I jetsurfed, swam with sea turtles, and flew drones. The Islands are where things really took off with my skills as a drone pilot. I created a new job for myself that is exciting, creative, and changing every day.

While living in the Virgin Islands I worked to master flying, and since then I’ve taken baby steps to get to where I am now, to be a real professional drone services provider.

When I passed my Part 107 test that was awesome! I was the first official drone pilot in the U.S. Virgin Islands. UAV Coach helped me get here today. So, thank you Alan.

How did you build up your drone pilot skill set to the point where you felt comfortable taking on customers?

Flying drones started out as a hobby—I was still working at National Geographic when I started flying.

But when I moved to the Virgin Islands, I really buckled down and started developing my drone skills.

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I just decided, “This is what I want to do,” and I created a new career for myself. First I focused on developing my mapping skills, really mastering them, as well as mastering flying itself.

It was a good place to do this, because St. Thomas is mountainous, and flying and mapping in different terrain and elevations is challenging.

So I would practice with the drone, getting different kinds of shots, and making maps and models. I practiced every week, often on the golf course and out over the ocean. I practiced until I understood exactly how to do the maps, exactly how to make the models, and how to make them perfect.

Drone services are about providing perfection. At least it is to me. Having a touch of OCD helps too.

How did you start your drone services business?

I came back to Florida after hurricane Irma and Maria last year. I started the business right away and I got my team together. I called people that I had worked with in Washington and Maryland who I knew I could trust, and who I knew had complementary skills to my own.

My team has a skill set from previous careers that adds value to the business. The combined amount of knowledge we have, including computer skills, photography, film editing, color correction, graphics, marketing, sales, construction, building, and architecture, plus what we’ve learned about the drone industry itself—it’s pretty impressive.

All our previous professional careers and combined skills are making this work. You have to have the right team and I have that, which is really special.

Right now we’re working on rolling out agricultural mapping with some amazing data packages as a new offering. Helping us understand how to do this is one of our team members, who actually grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.

Knowing how agricultural professionals think and what’s important to them is vital to making this new endeavor work, since understanding what a farmer needs will dictates the potential value of what we can do for them.

How did you go about getting your first clients?

People have a theory that when you open a business, you’re supposed to immediately start getting customers and immediately start getting clients, but we didn’t do that.

Instead, we opened up a business and spent time crafting our end products. We made absolutely sure we could deliver what we were saying we could do  at the highest quality. Whether it’s an aerial photo or a map, you need to deliver the best product you can to your client.

Being able to explain to your clients the specific value you can offer with your drone services, and how that value will directly impact their business, is what you need to be able to do. People generally know what drones do, but you have to be able to anticipate their needs and questions before you start talking to them, and this requires preparation.

So we created and tailored everything we do for industry people, agriculture people, construction people, and so on, and we spent months creating data packages and end products for each of those types of industries before we even started trying to get clients.

You really need to be very organized. In addition to creating a business plan, you must have lists and charts and plans for everything concerning your drone business. Protect yourself, and make sure to document things just as a real airplane pilot would, and any business owner would.

After all the T’s were crossed and I’s dotted, we started getting our first clients through our connections in the community. Word of mouth gets things going and that’s what will keep you going. So, don’t make mistakes, and foster good relationships right from the start.

We have a very nice office in Daytona now, which is our base of operations. Our office location allows us to give presentations to potential and existing clients. Plus we have a cargo van in the back garage that is our mobile drone van and a really large rolling advertisement at the same time.

Why did you do all of that prep work before launching your business?

The difference between running a drone services business and a retail store is that, with retail, you can just open up and start selling things.

But if you think you’re going to open a drone services business and start offering those services, you’ve got to make sure that you really know everything you have to know about what you’re offering. Plus you have to have a multifaceted team with an understanding of the people you want to do work for.

You can do any kind of marketing that you want, and you might get some clients, but you’ll only attain a certain level of success if you don’t focus on your offerings and the quality of your drone work. Make your maps and models something people want and find valuable so they come back for more.

Because your drone services business is basically going to be within a radius of your location at first, many of your first clients will be from word of mouth. Keep that going. That’s how you build your base.

What kinds of services do you currently offer?

Up to this point we’ve done mapping for property development, mining, excavating, large areas of land, and we’re starting to break into agricultural mapping now.

The word mapping has a lot of little tangents—there isn’t just one kind of mapping. You really have to tailor your mapping skills for who you’re working for.

For instance, when you map for an excavating company, you’re not just providing a map. That company will want the data to go with it, too—for instance, temperature readings of mulch piles, elevation data, or cubic volumes.

When you map for the different kinds of industries, you have to understand their needs, and what other data points go along with the map and into the map. If you don’t have the computer skills and the knowledge to create the data package to go with your map, you really don’t have a lot to offer them.

You and your team have to figure out what you can offer, how to present it, and what the value is for your drone product. Clients won’t return unless they see value.

Also, be aware of your state’s laws. Some states actually have laws that say, “If you are not a licensed surveyor, you can’t provide a measurable map.” Every state has their own wording and interpretation.

Do not claim you can do things like surveying unless one of your team is actually a licensed surveyor. Keep in mind that surveyors went to many years of school, as did all the engineers out there, in order to claim those job titles.

The best way to handle this is to find one a surveyor who will work with you, which is actually not as hard as it might seem since people are really into the idea of using drones.

[Related read: Drone Surveying—An In-Depth Guide]

What advice can you give to others out there trying to get their own drone services business off the ground?

Only promise what you can deliver.

When it comes to building a drone services business, I believe that taking baby steps is crucial. You have to be able to fully understand what it is you’re doing, what it is you’re offering, and to be able to do those things perfectly.

Bottom line, there’s not a lot of room for error with drone services.

So make sure to do your planning—have all your paperwork right, your contracts right and tailored to the construction industry, or to agricultural services, and so on.

As an example of your approach to rolling out new services, what are you doing to get ready to offer agricultural mapping to new customers?

We’re about two-thirds of the way into tackling agricultural offerings.

Right now, as we’re starting to rollout agricultural mapping, we’ve first found a small handful of farms and ranches to start with as beta testers.

But before we even got into this beta testing phase, we did a tremendous amount of research about precision agriculture. We’ve looked into not only sensors and the outputs that farmers need, but also into how a farmer thinks and how they view the rest of the world.

Typically, farmers want to be told right out front what the cost and potential value is. They don’t want a sales pitch, they just want the information.

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And what it comes down to in precision agriculture, from the research we’ve done, is that drones can help the farmer detect something in time to make a correction. That’s the value proposition, and that’s what farmers want to hear up front.

The correction that can be made might be for an irrigation problem, for a plant disease, a drainage problem, weather damage to a part of your crop, an infestation, a weed problem, soil erosion—the list goes on.

You could even have a small mechanical problem on one of your tractors that’s costing you in efficiency, and not know it until you have that aerial perspective—farms have a dozen tractors sometimes, and one of them could have a little problem and be messing up the corn rows as they’re working. When you’re on the ground, you wouldn’t notice something like that.

It’s all about providing value to your clients using your drone skills and knowledge.

Most importantly, have confidence in yourself and in your flying, and always keep safety and privacy your primary concerns. Remember, the public is watching all of us, and so is the FAA.

The post Building a Drone Services Business that Will Last: An Interview with Rachel Gilmore, Founder of Florida ProFly Drone Services appeared first on UAV Coach.