Week 6: Martell Forest mission, M600 competency check

Field Report

Week 6: 9/29/2020, 10/1/2020

Week 6 objectives:  

• Successfully demonstrate ability to fly M600 missions as a group
• Get cleared to fly the M600s over Martell Forest
• Conduct first independent scheduled flight over Martell Forest 

Martell Forest mission update (refer to previous reports for details):

It is week 6 of the semester and the foliage is starting to show clear signs of changing colors. Last week was the first week of data collection and from here until the leaves are dropped will be crucial to collecting this data regularly. If any period of time is missed it could leave gaps in the data and the team would have to wait until next year to observe the phenomena again.

 September 29th, 2020:

Groups 2 and 4 reported to Martell Forest at 0930 to demonstrate competency on the M600. Group 4 unpacked the M600 and flew the first mission over the NE plot. Group 2 then stepped in and conducted the second flight of the day over the NW plot. 

UAS platform: 

System: DJI Matrice 600

Sensors: Zenmuse XT2 (RGB & thermal)

   Sony α6000

Infinity focus

Aperture: F3.5

Shutter: 3200

Flight 1 - Martell NE

Group 4

Takeoff: 0950

Landing: 1011

Alt: 500 ft

        Weather: Partly sunny, sun low on horizon

Flight 2 - Martell NW

Group 2

Jesse - PIC

Nick - FO

Cole - SO

Takeoff: 1033

Landing: 1051

Alt: 500 ft

        Weather: Partly sunny, sun low on horizon.

October 1st, 2020:

Groups 2 and 4 reported to Martell Forest at 0930 to demonstrate competency on the M600. Group 4 unpacked the M600 and flew the first mission over the NE plot. Group 2 then stepped in and conducted the second flight of the day over the NW plot.  

 Thursday was the first day group 2 was able to checkout and report to Martell Forest independently. Jesse and Nick reported to the lab at 0930 to check out the M600. The iPad was left uncharged by the previous group which pushed back the takeoff time to 1140. This will be reported to the previous group for them to note for next time. Group 2 reported to Martell around 1100 to perform missions over both the NE and NW plots.

UAS platform: 

System: DJI Matrice 600

Sensors: Zenmuse XT2 (RGB & thermal)

   Sony α6000

Infinity focus

Aperture: F3.5

Shutter: 2500

Flight 1 - Martell NE

Group 2

Jesse - PIC

Nick - FO

Cole - SO

Takeoff: 1140

Landing: 1204

Alt: 500 ft

        Weather: Partly cloudy, no wind

Flight 2 - Martell NW

Group 2

Jesse - PIC

Nick - FO

Cole - SO

Takeoff: 1213

Landing: 1234

Alt: 500 ft

        Weather: Cloudy, no wind

Post flight, the M600 was returned by Nick (Figure 6.1) and Cole later offloaded and processed all flight data upon returning to the lab.

Figure 6.1: M600 returned to lab on 10/1/20