Pond Management Capstone Proposal

Pond Management Capstone Proposal

            The use of unmanned aerial systems to facilitate inspections using sensors is very cost efficient when compared to traditional manual inspection methods. I have a particular interest in pond and lake management. I currently work for a company called Pond Life Consulting and we also deal with a lot of bodies of water for golf courses. I have recently came across a company called GreenSight Agronomics and they specialize in image analysis for the purpose of TurfGrass to help golf courses make better decisions about their property. My past experience in pond management could assist in going further into golf course management as a whole. The goal at Pond Life Consulting is to keep ponds under control without damaging the greens and turf on the course. The problem we have when going to check for algae growth is constant tire tracks from our trailer destroying their perfectly cut grass and traveling far distances to accounts only to get there to find no substantial growth. My plan is to use a small unmanned aircraft system to fly over the ponds while using a multispectral camera to identify issues with vegetation growth on top of and even underneath the water. Identifying invasive species of plants and algae with the use of a drone would make our job and the job of the greenskeeper a lot easier and more efficient. If I could incorporate pond care inspection into GreenSight's and my company's business model I think it would make the turf grass service even more worthwhile for golf courses and save Pond Life Consulting a lot of money. I would be able to help reduce the operation of maintenance costs by keeping the vegetation in check.

            The project I plan to do will include multiple flights over a pond using an unmanned platform most likely being a quadcopter equipped with a RedEdge-M sensor to determine the amount of algae or subsurface plants present. Once I have determined the amount of plant life present I will then determine the amount of chemicals needed to completely eradicate the growth. Following this I will utilize my companies spray boat to disperse the predicted amount of chemicals needed to fix the problem. Within a few days as the algae or plants start to turn brown and decay I will make another flight to analyze the percentage of plants killed. Also when doing this follow up flight I will look for any fish kills that are present. Within a week a final flight will be conducted showing that the body of water is clear of any unsightly plant life on the surface or subsurface. If this is successful I would like to try out this procedure on bigger bodies of water using a fixed wing platform capable of flying for a longer endurance time.

You can view a PowerPoint presentation which briefly goes over the project proposal by following the URL below.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JbAeDkgVyU74XCf2bLdnRH0VfADSkiO3osUDVe_JgXQ/edit?usp=sharing