Tuesday 24 October: Private sector, role and innovations

Overview

• Live webinar with senseFly and Moser Solutions at 2 PM UTC/4 PM CEST
• Alternative to drones - Article from Microsoft Research
• Exercise 2: Quiz 

​Live webinar with senseFly and Moser Solutions

Today’s webinar brings together two sides of a story. On the one side we have Jose Marchetti representing senseFly, a company that wants to make drone technology safer and more efficient. SenseFly’s drone solutions simplify the collection and the analysis of geospatial data, allowing professionals in surveying agriculture, engineering and humanitarian aid to make better and faster decisions.

On the other side we have Felix Moser, he is a Precision Agriculture Advisor who will share his experience of working in Mozambican orchards with the help of SenseFly’s autonomous drone eBee, the  Seqouia camera, and the softwares Pix4D and Global Mapper.  He will talk about the challenges encountered in monitoring 200 000 trees on a 1000 ha farm where data is periodically collected to  assess plant health and highlight the best solutions chosen for a successful project execution with tangible results.

Presenters

José Marchetti is the Regional Sales Manager at senseFly for Latin America and the Caribbean. He is responsible to support and develop the distributers network in the regions but also works on product presentations and collaboration with research and educational institutions.

Felix Moser is a Precision Farming Advisor and Renewable Energy Expert at Moser Solutions e.U. With 8 years of experience driving significant advancements in agricultural and industrial technology and energy programs, he now advises companies in their investment decisions in new technology solutions in South America and Africa. 

Helium balloons as an alternative to drones - Article from Microsoft Research

As many of you have already brought forward over the course of our learning activity, drones are still quiet expensive. But there are also other restrictions that could hinder the use of drones in rural areas, such as the limited possibilities to charge the dronse battery or the limitations imposed by regulations of a country or area where you would like to use the drones.

Manohar Swaminathan from Microsoft Research shared with us the following article: "TYE: A low-cost long-term aerial imaging platform" in which the research team presents Tethered eYe, a platform for large-scale high resolution aerial photography which consists of an insturmented aerial camera mounted on a tethered helium baloon.  TYE is envisioned as a practical and low-cost alternative to drones (such as quadcopters and fixed wing drones) for aerial images. Would you like to know more about how helium balloons can offer an alternative to drones?

Download the research article here.

Manohar Swaminathan (also known as Swami Manohar) joined MSR in Dec 2015. His primary research interest is in virtual and augmented reality technologies. Currently he is focused on applying these for empowering visually impaired persons. His other interest is in the use of IoT and cloud for large scale impact in emerging markets.

Exercise 2: Quiz