Department of Defense to Use Drones in Managing Land Assets
A team of researchers received a grant that can help with land management of coastal military installations. The team is expected to show how an aerial view of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune can help with land management in coastal training areas. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) awarded $954000 to the Nicholas School of Environment at Duke University for the purpose of improving land management. The researchers are expected to study how commercial drones with high-resolution imaging can help monitor shoreline changes.
These changes come about from storms, erosion, and amphibious training. The team is also expected to track the progress of activities employed in managing the forests at training facilities along the coasts.
CONFIRM is the name of the 3-year project – Coastal and Fire Management – and is expected to begin before the end of 2018. The data from the research will help DoD launch reliable aircraft systems for fire or coastal management. With the use of these drones, response time will be faster, and it will be easier and safer to get an effective monitoring system at an affordable cost, stated David Johnston a director at Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab.
He also explained that drone monitoring is developing at a fast rate. But because there are no clear pathways for DoD to integrate these systems, the research will help develop better protocols and balance the policies that regulate its use. It will hopefully streamline integration across the DoD land assets nationwide. In its simplest form, the project will show how to incorporate commercial drones into DoD operations. They will focus the study on coastal erosion and fire breakouts.
There have been many advances in remote sensing in the past few decade and drones have become one of the best tools for surveying land-related matters. But it may not be as simple as it sounds. Using drones on DoD assets can be a bit complicated. This is because of how they manage their airspace. DoD has strict security guidelines on how drones are piloted.
The goal of the research team is to help integrate drone monitoring into Camp Lejeune. This is a critical training ground for the Marines and it is believed that at the end of the three years, the research will help develop universal protocols that will aid in effective and safe use of drones on military bases. Hopefully, the research will make it easy for the drones to monitor and track all operations.
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