Case study / Rural Alberta / Thermal screening
Thermal aerial search support over rural and bush terrain
Heat signature search across farmland, bush and rural property, locating missing dogs and a cow and returning them to their owners.
The challenge
Ground searchers cover a small area slowly, and heavy vegetation hides an animal from a metre away. Time matters, and in cold conditions it matters a great deal. What ground teams need is a way to clear open ground quickly and to see into cover they cannot walk through.
The site
Farmland, bush, treelines and rural properties, with search areas set by where the animal was last seen and how far it could plausibly have travelled.
Equipment and method
Mavic 3T thermal search flown as systematic coverage of the priority area, working with the people already searching on the ground. Search points are coordinated live and the launch position relocated during the mission as the priority area shifts.
Airspace and safety
Rural airspace, with flights planned around light conditions since thermal contrast against cold ground is what makes a heat signature readable.
Deliverables
Live coordination with the ground team, positions of heat signatures worth investigating, and imagery of anything located.
Result
Missing dogs and one cow located and returned to their owners. Large areas are cleared far faster than ground crews manage alone, with searchers directed to the signatures worth walking to rather than covering ground at random.
Project statistics
- Aircraft
- DJI Mavic 3T
- Terrain
- Farmland, bush, treeline
- Coordination
- Live with ground team
- Relocation
- Launch points moved mid mission
- Best conditions
- Cold ground, low light
Named references are provided during scoping, so you can speak directly to a client who has run this kind of work.