LandWISE Conference Presentation -Trimble’s UX5

The UX5 is Trimble’s new Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) for aerial mapping and imaging. It can cover 200ha an hour, getting 5cm pixel resolution images used to generate 3D images of the terrain. Farmers can determine crop heights and generate topographic maps and models for land levelling and drainage applications.

The UX5’s camera captures near infrared to allow vegetation index calculations to enhance crop scouting and helps detect pests, diseases and nutrient issues. The image resolution means considerable detail can be seen giving agronomists a tool to see parts of plants.

We have been watching development in the UAS/UAV/drone space and see these machines as one of the next leaps in agricultural technology. We note the aircraft is only one part of a complex puzzle. The camera is another and GPS referencing yet another.

But it is turning data into farm management information that gives the value so the analysis software and knowledge of how to get benefits from these new tools are the critical aspect to us. And we always want to know how a new product integrates with the other tools in use on the farm. With spatial data that means the farm map, the tractor, the planter, the fertiliser spreader, the harvester and everything else too!

The UX5 will be presented at LandWISE 2014 and delegates will get to see it in the flesh. We are very interested to know how farmers and their support crew perceive it, what they think its first uses might be.  This will be a great opportunity to seek more clarification.

Here’s a link to whet your appetite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuzh9XCIins