{"id":32,"date":"2018-03-27T19:59:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T19:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/?p=32"},"modified":"2018-08-01T00:42:28","modified_gmt":"2018-08-01T00:42:28","slug":"drones-aid-forestry-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/2018\/03\/27\/drones-aid-forestry-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Drones aid forestry research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bogdan Strimbu<\/strong> heads the Management, Algorithms and Remote Sensing Lab (MARS) at Oregon State<\/a>. Most of his research involves sitting at a computer and pouring over data, but recently, he\u2019s been able to fill a niche in his field with his beloved \u2018birds,\u2019 a nickname for his collection of drones.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople love drones because they are fascinated by flying,\u201d Strimbu says. \u201cGod didn\u2019t make us with wings, but now we can fly as we want with a first-person view. We can see what the cameras see right away, like a bird. It\u2019s a miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, Strimbu has a few drone-based projects, but word about the \u2018birds\u2019 has leaked around campus, and now his lab is assisting other researchers who need to see things from another perspective. They\u2019ve worked with the Department of Ecosystems and Society, the College of Engineering, and the University Research Forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s refreshing when we have a drone flight,\u201d says masters student Scott Heffernan<\/strong>. \u201cI mostly work in front of my computers, so it\u2019s nice to get outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heffernan\u2019s own project uses radar data from the Sentinel-1 mission in Europe to model ambient canopy moisture on a stand level. The projects will eventually help managers make better decisions about how to manage for fire threats.<\/p>\n

Ph.D. student Chu Qi<\/strong>\u2019s thesis is extremely theoretical, as it is focused on applying computer vision and deep learning techniques in forest inventory and operations. Qi holds a master\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering from Oregon State University, but was lured to the College of Forestry by Strimbu and the promise of working with drones. He uses his mechanical experience to repair the flying machines after their inevitable accidents.<\/p>\n

Using his skills in forestry appealed to him because of the pollution problem his home city in China faces. He believes he can reduce the cost of labor when it comes to measuring \u2018difficult\u2019 forest attributes, such as taper.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m successful at developing my algorithm, you will be able to fly a drone over a stand, and the computation of stem volume and diameter will only take a few minutes,\u201d Qi says. \u201cIt will be much faster than LiDAR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qi says the accessibility of drones is what appeals to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few years ago, this wasn\u2019t popular,\u201d he says. \u201cAir companies could see things from the sky, but now, as a normal person, I can gather information from the sky easily and cheaply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strimbu agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very good time to fly for research,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s also very easy because of new, relaxed regulations in 2016. The biggest challenge our lab faces is lack of resources. I don\u2019t even tell my students how many requests I get to do other work for faculty because it\u2019s too overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strimbu\u2019s lab will continue to do their best to keep up with demand and to feed the passion they have for flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to help give everyone a different perspective,\u201d Strimbu says. \u201cGetting higher helps you look at things in a new way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bogdan Strimbu heads the Management, Algorithms and Remote Sensing Lab (MARS) at Oregon State. Most of his research involves sitting at a computer and pouring over data, but recently, he\u2019s been able to fill a niche in his field with his beloved \u2018birds,\u2019 a nickname for his collection of drones. \u201cPeople love drones because they… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":33,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110163,1292536],"tags":[109828,214862,872,1758,1398,23,155,523,142],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-focus","category-research","tag-college-of-forestry","tag-drones","tag-engineering","tag-forestry","tag-oregon","tag-oregon-state","tag-oregon-state-university","tag-research","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}