HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONESFOR
BUSINESS
PART 1: SELECTING THE RIGHT
DRONE STRATEGY
 Contents
CONTENTS
Introduction 2

Getting Started 3

Understand the regulations 4

Outsource or own the drone? 5

How to ensure your drone can capture the data and quality your 6
organisation needs

What spares will you need? 8

What type of flight experience do you need? 9

Conclusion 10

Appendices 11

1
 INTRODUCTION Contents
There are clear benefits of using This guide is intended for

drones in business today. But the businesses or individuals who are

range of options and considerations looking to use drones on worksites

can make it look difficult to get and should help you to select the

started. right partners and tools to make

your drone operation successful.

If you know the basics about the

regulations and you have a good Its based on Propellers practical

idea of what your organisation experience working with drone

wants to achieve, choosing the right operators and the people who use

drone strategy is simple. their services on mines, quarries,

landfills and construction sites.

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
2
 GETTING STARTED Contents
Government regulations, company This guide will go into a lot of detail

processes and the layout of your around these factors in order to

worksite are the main factors that give you an idea of how you can get

will determine the drone the most out of the drone you

technology you should select. select, but the checklist on page 11 is

a quick way to determine what you

The specific technical features of a will need.

drone will only be a significant

factor in a few situations.

The first question: does your

country allow you to use a drone at

all? As 2017 begins, many countries

have legal frameworks that

regulate commercial drone

operations.

In many cases, operating a drone

commercially means passing a test

or registering for a license from

aviation authorities. Depending on

how much effort this requires, you

might choose to outsource drone

flights to a specialist operator.

If the regulations allow you to

operate a drone yourself, the model

you select will primarily depend on

the location of the site you are
aerially surveying, the type of data
you require, and how that data will
be used by the enterprise.
"The type of airspace your site sits
within will determine whether you
can purchase a drone yourself or
will need to engage a certified drone
operator instead."

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
3
 Contents
UNDERSTAND THE REGULATIONS

While the rules for operating a Keep in mind though that even if

drone for commercial purposes you can operate the drone, if your

vary from country to country, they site is close to an aerodrome or

generally define the weight of the otherwise falls within a restricted

drone that can be used and the airspace, you will either require

height it can fly, and the airspace it special permission or not be able to

can operate in. operate the drone at all.

Most countries require some sort of However you still have the option

certification, although some of engaging a drone operator who is

countries like Australia and Canada certified to operate in restricted

allow drones 2kg or less to be airspaces, which is usually still cost

operated commercially without effective and has a number of other

certification. In the USA, the recent benefits.

release of Rule 107 by the FAA has

made it easier to legally operate a

drone commercially.

"If the regulations or other

reasons discourage you from
purchasing a drone, utilising
the services or a certified
drone operator is the best
option."

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
4
 Contents
OUTSOURCE OR OWN THE DRONE ?

Outsource: Certified drone operators Commercial drone service providers

are usually experienced with the are required in most countries to

flight process and the relevant hold Public Indemnity and Liability

operating and safety regulations, insurance policies. Using their

which saves you the effort of services means you dont have to

training your own staff and having take your own policy, which can be

to buy and maintain your own costly and especially if you are not

drone hardware. planning frequent missions.

Where your site is large (over 50 ha Insource: If you do choose to buy

or 120 acres), has frequent very and operate your own, you can now

high winds, or some other challenge get commercial grade drone

for typical drone operations, technology for a consumer price.

engaging a drone operator will Pro versions of popular consumer

reduce the risk of the survey drones like the DJI Phantom 4

mission failing, saving you the costs include high end camera,

of a failed mission or having to redo performance and stability while

it. remaining easy to fly.

Even in less challenging Industrial grade drones like the DJI

environments, specialist operators Matrice are more customisable

can reduce the overall risk of without costing that much more.

operations, and get better data from

your drone by optimising the flight

and camera settings and choosing

the right time of day to fly.

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
5
 HOW TO ENSURE YOUR DRONE CAN
CAPTURE THE DATA AND QUALITY
Contents
YOUR ORGANISATION NEEDS

Just like when selecting enterprise Sensor Resolution: Selecting a

software or a laptop, the business camera with a high resolution

requirements should always drive (megapixels) will positively impact

the what drone technology you the quality of your mapping and

choose and not the other way modelling data.

around. If your main requirement is The higher the megapixels, the

to acquire images, then the camera more detail on the ground is

is going to be the core component of captured. Aerial imagery quality is

your drone. Its a good idea to think measured by Ground Sample

of the drone as a flying tripod. Distance (GSD) which is the

number of centimetres of real

What type of sensor? Buying a world in each pixel, with a lower

prosumer drone with an integrated number (e.g.: 2cm) indicating higher

camera like the Phantom 4 Pro is quality. As an example, the

probably going to meet the difference between an image of a

requirements of most use cases. If house with a GSD of 5cm and 30cm

you need more complex data, like is the difference between seeing the

infrared or LIDAR, you will need a individual roof tiles or just the roof

model like the Matrice that allows itself.

you to swap different components

in and out.

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
6
 HOW TO ENSURE YOUR DRONE CAN
CAPTURE THE DATA AND QUALITY
Contents
YOUR ORGANISATION NEEDS

Sensor Lens: A camera lens with a point clouds or elevation models,

wide angle will capture a larger you will also need to use Ground

surface area per image, but at the Control Points (GCPs).

cost of resolution and

photogrammetry quality. A fast GCPs are physical objects with an

(1/1000 second or faster) shutter independently verified geolocation

speed will minimise the distortion that can be recognised in the image

that is unavoidable when taking by the photogrammetry software

photos whilst travelling at high for validating the true spatial

speed. position of that image. As the below

example shows, not using GCPs can

Positioning and Data Accuracy: As result in seriously degraded data

well as high resolution, each image quality.

needs to have its geospatial position

accurately recorded. The

photogrammetry process that

creates maps from images uses that

positional data to assemble each

image in its right place, a bit like

building a jigsaw puzzle. This can be

achieved in a couple of ways:

With Photo Geotags: The drones

internal GPS unit will record its Using Aeropoints for Ground Control:

location as photo is taken. Unless While setting up GCPs has

your drone is a high end traditionally required first

commercial model equipped with a physically marking the location and

RTK unit, the geospatial data you then having its geolocation

will be getting will not be sufficient coordinates measured and recorded

for anything beyond basic by a surveyor using a high-end GPS,

orthophoto maps. Propeller Aero has developed

AeroPoints - smart ground control

With Ground Control: If you need to points that have an inbuilt GPS, and

accurately measure distance, area, can be deployed within minutes.

volume or gradients; or generate

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
7
 Contents
WHAT SPARES WILL YOU NEED ?

Any experienced drone operator The next most critical item in your

can tell you about a time a survey spares set are a propellers. As the

was aborted due to component component that moves the most,

damage or failure. Propellers, they are subject to significant wear

batteries and other components are and tear. It goes without saying that

subject to not only wear and tear without functioning propellers,

but also the risks involved in being your mission (not to mention your

transported to often remote and drone) will not get off the ground. If

challenging locations. your selected drone model offers

spare propellers with a quick-

Not only should the ease of making release function, this will minimise

field repairs using common spares down time during field repairs.

be taken into consideration when

purchasing a drone, but your Other spares to consider include

budget should also include charging units (especially when

provision for spares. If you plan to combined with a battery hub that

regularly survey multiple sites, then can simultaneously charge up to 4

you should consider a set of spares batteries), remote controllers,

for each of those sites. It may cost propeller guards, camera and/or

more upfront, but will save you a camera filters, gimbals and data

lot more by avoiding unnecessary storage cards. The guiding principle

wasted time travelling to a worksite in selecting spares should be to

and then not being able to fly. ensure that every planned mission

is completed successfully (outside of

Each field spares set should at a adverse weather conditions).

minimum consist of spare batteries,

which also have the advantage of

extending the missions flight time

in order to capture a larger area or

richer data. If you select a drone

that has a return to base function,

you can fly half the survey on one

set of batteries, swap out the

batteries and the drone will resume

the survey where it left off.

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
8
 WHAT TYPE OF FLIGHT
EXPERIENCE DO YOU NEED?
Contents
The drone flight experience for a fly at similar speeds to fixed wing

commercial operation needs to be drones, though their ability to fly

decided by different factors than slower can result in higher quality

you would use when buying a images. They do this by combining

drone for fun. You need to think of slow flight with fast shutter speed

your drone as a hovering camera to compensate for motion induced

tripod, meaning that stability is far blurring. If you can fly at 10 m/s

more important than aerobatic with a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a

capability. second, your drone will have moved

1cm while the shutter was open. If

Comparing the benefits of you can set the shutter speed to

fixed-wing versus multi-rotor 1/2000 of a second, that distances

drones is a common discussion in would be only 0.5cm.

the drone industry. As this guide is

focused on selecting a drone for site Keep in mind that while taking the

surveying, only multi-rotor drones above approach will produce better

are recommended for a number of quality data, it will be more of a

reasons. drain on your batteries, giving

another reason for having spares

Firstly, multi-rotor drones offer and a charger.

more stability than fixed wings,

especially when controlled by less

experienced pilots. Obstacle sensing

systems such as the one found on

the DJI Phantom 4 Pro, detect and

avoid objects such as trees, people

and even other drones. As they

dont require a runway, they are

also easier to launch and land

safely, especially when equipped

with an automated return to base

functionality.

The latest multi-rotor drones like

the Phantom 4 and Matrice 100 can

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
9
 CONCLUSION Contents
Ultimately, the drone you select will However, selecting the right drone

come down to personal preference is only a small, albeit necessary,

and the evaluation experience. By part of utilising this emerging

using the criteria outlined in this technology to benefit your

guide to compare different models enterprise. The greatest impact will

and brands, you should have the be in how the data your drone

confidence that your selection and collects is presented, analysed and

any required supporting business shared. Part 2 of this guide will

case has benefited from real-world show you how to fully maximise its

commercial experience. benefits.

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
10
 APPENDICES Contents
APPENDIX 1: DRONE REGULATIONS
AND SELECTION CRITERIA

APPENDIX 2: RECOMMENDED
ACCESSORIES AND SPARES

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH

DRONES FOR BUSINESS (PART 1)
11