Fire ants not only sting and cause discomfort to its victims, but they also have a larger impact on health, the environment and economy, and social and lifestyle the community.
Using drones for fire ant detection
Detecting fire ants by drone is a simple and effective method. To detect fire ants, drones use a number of payloads to detect signs of fire ants in the area.
- RGB payloads can visually detect signs of fire ants, either seeing a trail of ants walking along the surface or seeing the nest.
- Thermal payloads are able to detect the heat signature of the fire ants as they are walking along the surface, making it easy to find the nest.
- LiDAR payloads take a slightly different approach by creating a 3D map of the area of interest, allowing swarms or ants and nests to be found.
Using a combination of the mentioned methods above often provides the best results and allows the fire ants to be found in the shortest amount of time.
Benefits of using drones
- Fast response - Drones can quickly be deployed in an area of interest, capture the required data, and allow a response team to get in and remove the fire ants.
- Higher quality data - A drone is able to fly above an area suspected of having fire ants and quickly detect signs of them using a combination of payloads, including RGB, thermal, and LiDAR.
- Greater coverage - Drones can cover a lot more area in a short amount of time compared to manual methods.
Image: Beaudesert Times