Drone Swarm Operations

What is Drone Swarm Operations?

Autonomous seed dispersal, NDVI scanning, and terrain mapping. This guide covers when to use it, the best first action, best practices, common mistakes, and concrete next steps.

Content

Purpose

Drones extend human reach over difficult terrain, enabling seed bombing at scale, multispectral imaging for plant health, and rapid survey of newly constructed earthworks.

When to Use

• When seeding large or inaccessible zones
• When plant health assessment requires aerial perspective
• Before earthwork construction for baseline mapping
• After major interventions for progress verification

Best First Action

Verify ArduPilot waypoint file against current Land view GeoJSON. Check battery, GPS lock, and wind before launch.

Best Practices

• Map flight routes before any launch.
• Carry manual RTH (Return To Home) override.
• Fly NDVI missions at consistent sun angle for comparable data.
• Store all flight logs in History with photo attachments.
• Use lowest effective altitude to maximize image resolution.

Common Mistakes

• Flying seed-bomb routes without verifying drop interval matches seed density targets.
• Comparing NDVI images taken at different sun angles without correction.
• Neglecting to verify GPS lock before autonomous waypoints.

Next Steps

• Open Tasks for drone-related missions.
• Open Land to verify flight zone boundaries.
• Ask Bonsai for seed bomb recipe optimization.