by Kelly McKeon, Class of 2020
Clemson Mappers will launch an on-campus drone rental program Oct. 1. The Drones for Good program will make two types of drones available to faculty, staff, and students for non-sponsored research and hobby use.
“The applications of the drones range beyond photography and videography to precision agriculture and monitoring, architectural and construction renderings, mapping and terrain modeling, land surveying and habitat monitoring,” said Michael Summers of the Clemson Center for Geospatial Technologies (CCGT).
Participants in the Drones for Good program will be required to go through training and to become members of the Academy of Model Aeronautics, which costs $25 annually. Training is available to students for free through CCGT and will take place in their training lab, located in room 406A of Cooper Library. Training is expected to take between four to six weeks.
Two drones are available through the program: the DJI Phantom 3 and the Parrot Bebop 2. They can be used at off-campus locations as long as participants abide to FAA safety guidelines pertaining to approved drone airspaces. The drones can be picked up at the CCGT training lab.
The student-led organization, along with CCGT, created the Drones for Good program to “empower student inquiry, exploration, and advocacy with advanced technology and tools.”
The Clemson Center for Geospatial Technologies is a university funded department that procures and promotes technology that aids in geospatial data collection.
Clemson has specific drone flying safety policies. Learn more here.
For more information about the Drones for Good program, click here.
