Bugs don't attack healthy plants

It's not just flying cameras

I never heard of precision agriculture until I started delving into the UAS industry. I was working on defense related projects for the Middle East and my guy came back asking for an agriculture project and I couldn't just deliver Drones with cameras to find the bugs, I had to find way to kill the bugs. I heard that they were injecting palm trees with pesticides in Israel so that is what I was going to do. Then I was asked "Would you eat a date from a tree that was injected with pesticides?" The answer was obvious. Then I was told about a product that was primarily used to clean up oil and grease by separating the molecules in hydrocarbons. It makes them non-toxic, then I found out it kills bugs when mixed with water, reducing the tension on the water and softening the exoskeleton of insects so the water can penetrate and rupture their internal organs. It had been used effectively on the cotton bowl weevil but the client wanted to know if it was effective on Palm Weevils. I couldn't find Red Palm Weevils in the USA but there were South American Palm Weevils in San Ysidro California and Englewood Florida. The county entomologist in San Diego wouldn't let me kill their bugs and I couldn't get an intern from The University of Florida to test ECO-Agri Formula (Go to the lower right of the globalutc.com site) this colloid so I did it. Two landscapers help us find two Palm Weevils a large male and a small female and after spraying the male with a mixture of 60/1 he died in 45 minutes. Then the smaller female took 30 minutes to die. The next day they took us to an infested palm tree in some ones' yard I put on rubber gloves and dug into the crown of this tree and it as like soup, warm and goopy like I was field dressing a freshly shot dear. I retrieved 20 larvae and 15 weevils. We took them back to the landscaper's house and applied the colloid to the bugs.

One tough bug

The colloid had the same results on the adults as the day before, big bugs die in 45 minutes and small ones die in 30 minutes. Then we tested four larvae and right away they went into convulsions, they off gassed from behind their scull cap and their ass, they spit up dark tobacco looking substance, they started to darken in color but four hours later they were not dead. Then the landscaper lady said "What if they eat it?" and she took one of the larvae that hadn't we hadn't sprayed with the colloid and she sprayed a piece of palm tree with the colloid and let it nibble on it. The same thing happened, it convulse, it off-gassed out of the back of it's skullcap and it's ass, it spit up tobacco but in an hour and a half it was dead. That very minute Robin Giblin-Davis from the University of Florida returned my call from the previous day and I told him what had happened and his response was "I am impressed, those are tough bugs, they are borrowers, my best non-toxic solution is a beneficial nematode and it take five days to kill the bugs".

Spreading the word

I wrote up a newsletter and distributed including Dan Gerling the Red Palm Weevil expert in Israel. Shortly after I received a e-mail from Dan Gerling telling me he was going to be in Maryland. I scheduled a conference call with him and my witnesses and the next day I received a call from UC Davis telling me that he had called them and told them to look into this solution. I was then contacted by Christina Davis and she told me about her research on the Huanglongbing disease. Then she told m about Ted Batkin. She told me that I should get to know him. He is a fascinating guy, not only is he expert on everything to do with agriculture, he was a Vietnam vet, boat Captain on a mine sweeper. We hit it off! We meet at the opening of the CAL UAS test center grand opening located in Inyokern California just outside of China Lake Naval Weapons Test Center. I directed him to my source of the colloid, they gave him ten gallons to run tests on and he pushed it through the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and got it to the top of the stack and they certified it as "Exempt" due to no toxic ingredients. Then I had a former Navy SEAL buddy who has a lot of high level contacts in the Middle East and he pushed it through the Pesticide Regulation process in the UAE to be certified specifically use on the Red Palm Weevil. Now that Ramadan is over we expect certification very soon. From my reports they are very enthusiastic about the colloid in the UAE.

There are a lot of bugs to kill

Ted Batkin gave ECO-Agri Formula an endorsement as a non-toxic, indiscriminate insecticide, it kills all bugs, even the beneficial ones. I have used in on Stink bugs and it's been used on mites, nematodes and potato bugs but none have been certified with any of them. There are a lot of bad bugs Lauel wilt fungas spread by the Redbay Ambrosia Beetle, this disease has a deadly effect on Avocados, The South American Palm Weevil is the sister bug to the Red Palm Weevil and I was informed that the state of California has decided that since Mexico wasn't doing anything to stop the migration of the bug, it was fighting the inevitable so they stopped putting pheromone traps. I wonder if the California Department of Pesticide Regulation will recognize the results of the UAE's certification. Then there is the Deadly Kising Bug in Texas and Virginia that spreads the Chagas disease which can be deadly if not treated.

Other uses

I mentioned that this colloid is used to clean up oil and grease but it is also used in agriculture to soften water making is easier to penetrate hardpan and it also remediates the effects of over using nitrogen based fertilizers that cause hard pan. Because it is all natural, it is perfect for organic farming.

 

Bugs and Lights

Focus on what is hot

The UAS/Drone industry has gotten a lot of attention for a long time and with privacy and safety issues it will continue to garner attention. At first it got attention because of its effectiveness in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then about the same time the profits from General Atomics, Northrup Grumman, Insitu and Areovironment. Then there as outrage over killing American Jihadist without due process. Then there was a lot of anticipation over the six FAA test sites around the country. Here was a lot of excitement about the Texas Equuearch law suit and the appeal. There is a lot of excitement but we are not hearing excitement about commercial UAS enterprises. It’s a tough business when you’re business is not legal.

Well the markets where commercial UAS is targeting still need product, agriculture, surveying, security and oil and gas. GUTC has product that is marketable for these industries. For agriculture ECO-Agri Formula has widespread uses, from softening water and breaking down the effects of nitrogen based fertilizer to a non-toxic solution for killing bugs, all bugs. They cannot develop an immunity to it either.

Then there are LED Lights, how they relate to UAS applications? It help GUTC pay the bills until our foreign clients officially order products and the FAA finalizes the guidelines for commercial UAS operations. Through DX2 Broadcast we have direct access to 20 LED manufactures, pizza lights for DOT road crews, video walls, bay lighting and bar lights. Municipalities, churches, commercial buildings for retrofit or new construction. They save energy and last significantly longer that incandescent and no issues with hazmat if they break or need to be disposed of. I haven’t seem a market this hot since the mortgage and real-estate market from 1998 to 2006. It might just keep our lights on until these foreign markets order products and the FAA figures out what they want.

Hidden in plain sight

Hidden in plane site

I just read where on a web-site that posts UAS news and that a Drone school can’t fly. I know there are UAS operations going on all over the place, every day. So all I did was look up on the FAA site to see if I could find a list of authorized COAs and sure enough it is posted. Now the FAA is adamant about “No commercial unmanned operations” until they say so and I am not going to divulge the processes operators are able to get paid to fly their UAS but it seems pretty easy when you follow protocols that other have to get authorization. I am not going to spell out how you can get away with UAS operation via a non-for profit. I am going to explain how and who can operate, government entities, police, fire departments, US Forestry, USDA, DOT and branches of the armed services. Colleges and universities used to be able to get COAs but they were being sponsored by companies and that was in direct conflict with the FAAs ban on commercial unmanned operations. Now if the college or university can get the Department of Forestry, the local police or fire department, the USDA or a branch of the armed services to sponsor their COA, they can fly. It would seem that this would be easy for member of the ROTC to get one. That way the military would have experienced UAV pilots coming into the officer ranks. Then they could fly for all kinds of other research applications.

What I have noticed is that UAS operators who have permission either from the property owner requesting UAS services or municipalities who have control over the areas where UAS services are requested, don’t have any problems getting authorization to fly. It is possible for a municipality to need research that a college or university could conduct for them. This is not circumventing the FAA, it is just using the resources available to move the ball forward.    

The Culling has begun

The Culling has begun

Paul Dietrich a leading economist spelled it out to me a few years ago “Those companies that are marketing to the immerging market, have a smart corporate board making smart decisions and low debt with cash reserves are going to make it through this economy, everyone else is going to fall off a cliff”. That is exactly what is happening in the Drone/UAS business. The big fish are gobbling up the little fish and those companies who do not have the where with all to last are closing up shop. I’ve been through this before in 1994-1996 with the military downsizing in San Diego, again in 2008 with the mortgage and housing bubble and I am seeing the same thing now but is a condensed version. This business is barely getting off of the ground in the US and it is happening. However the one category that isn’t really addressed in the statement is viable product. Now I am finding that having capital can mean the difference of whether you have a viable product or not but it seems that the established companies with product inventory do not have the most viable products as I stated in my last blog post “Which is worse?”.

Part of it “The emperor’s new clothes syndrome” and the other is lack of exposure. You not only want to have the right tool for the job but you need everyone to know you have the right tool for the job. Let me try and break it down?

Firefighting

Gene Robinson of RPFlight systems uses the Spectra flying wing for search and rescue and firefighting. What makes this design optimal for observing wildfires is its lift, giving it the ability to just float on the thermal at the leading edge of the fire. Systems designed for forward flight don’t have the surface area to just sit there, floating on the thermal. Other systems with this capability are the UX5 by Tremble/Gatewing and the Zephyr II which are used mostly for agriculture. VTOLs can fly over a fire but you can’t shut them down and conserve on battery life.

Precision agriculture

This is where the VTOL capability has merit, flying low and slow with a multi-spectral camera measuring the overall health of crops, production estimates and detection of certain infestations. The ability to cover large areas is a concern but most farmers only want imagery over their whole field at the beginning of the harvest so they can determine the areas that are coming up slow so they can remedy the slow growth with better irrigation or fertilizer and be on the alert for infestations. Bugs don’t attack healthy plants so these week areas will be most likely area to get infestations first. You don’t need long flight capability if your just spot checking these trouble areas so VTOLs that fly low and slow are optimal. Multi-rotor VTOL is recommended for agriculture but a multi-rotor with stabilization so you minimize the vibration which distorts the spectral data from these cameras.

Surveying

This application is a balance between coverage and accuracy. Current technology leans toward manned aircraft for LiDAR due to the power requirements and battery weight. The greater the altitude the more area which can be covered but you sacrifice accuracy. Synthetic Aperture Radar is optimal for military application but there won’t be survey quality accuracy. UAS can get accuracy but flying low and slow limits the areas that need to be covered. The President of Tremble/Gatewing told me “UAS is perfect for that space that is too low for airplanes and too high for surveyors on the ground”. This is where you need a UAS to get accuracy under two centimeters, you don’t need to out of range of people shooting at you, if you are covering a large area and you have the time to get the job done. Then I would use an octocopter or a hexacopter which range in price from $250.00 to $4,000.00. In this industry you get what you pay for but you will be sold what you’ll pay for too. Do a thorough job of checking out the system. Gene Payson or Patrick Egan would be great resources to help you figure out what you need.

Oil and Gas

For GSR set up you need to have the contractor use a Panasonic Tough-Pad, not a Toughbook. The Toughbook is too large, a Tough-Pad will fit right in the nose of a Cyclops which only costs $5,400. You don’t need a camera unless you are flying FPV. For gathering GAMMA and geospatial data you need the capability to carry at least 20lbs and hover low to the ground once the geologist recognizes the geographic contour that indicates reserves under the surface and then the system needs to hover over that area and measure the GAMMA.

Communications relay

There is a real need for regional connectivity for remote areas. Google bought Titan UAS, the whole company, just for this purpose. There are companies out there which will accomplish this function. Long duration, days and weeks at a time. You have to really check out the system you are considering.

Know your niches

It’s just like anything else, not one size fits all. The right system for the job can make all of the difference and so can the wrong one.

Which is worse?

Is it circumventing the law?

I was having a discussion with someone who is a law school graduate and he took the bar but didn’t like it and chose administration. I was discussing the ruling by the first judge in the Texas Equusearch vs The FAA with the judge finding in favor of Texas Equusearch that their SAR operations are not a commercial operation because they are a non-for profit and the Spectra is not a drone but a remote controlled hobby plane. So when I asked him for his opinion on FFA, 4-H and Boy Scouts flying these small remote control aircraft for surveying and agriculture projects he told me “You are circumventing the law”. So the law puts commercial use of these unmanned aircraft in the same legal category as prostitution and using the weight of the law to give an unfair advantage to the established military technology providers and forcing research and development outside of the United States of America. What is going to take for someone to sue over that?

I was sent a text of an article out of the “Up and Soaring-UAS” Magazine and the first article is the University of Alaska getting a waiver to operate within five miles of the Fairbanks International Airport. The second article is the National Technical Systems Inc. getting a $1.4 million contract to build to payload pods designed to support 25lbs payload per wing. I would like to see them do that and keep the take-off weight below the 55lbs limit for small UAS.

The next article announces the introduction of the Lockheed Martin Vector Hawk. I would like to compare it head to head against the Spectra. It has VTOL capability but I wonder how long it can float of a thermal with the power shut off. It didn’t mention the price, I wonder if it’s less than $10,000?

Then there was a nice article about how much more safely the ScanEagle UAV can observe wildfires than a manned aircraft for fighting wildfires. It didn’t mention how well it can float on a thermal either.

Then there was an article about Northrup Grumman and Yamaha Motor collaboration on an unmanned Helicopter. Yamaha started making remote control mini Helicopters about 12 years ago. They even carry pesticides to spray for agriculture. There is no mention of the cost. I wonder why they didn’t collaborate with SCION UAS an American company that has been manufacturing autonomous Helicopters for 13 years.

The next article talks about how Sikorsky is going to develop an autonomous Black Hawk. Did I just mention SCION UAS? Enough on that. The next article mentions how The Center de Geomatique du Quebec is using a robotic aircraft to collect aerial imagery. Did I mention that commercial UAS operations are legal in Canada?

Then the last article on the page is about Freewave developing a wireless roadmap for UAS to operate in Class A airspace. That means flying in the same airspace as commercial airliners. I don’t remember reading anything in the FAA proposed guidelines allowing for that. Oh, they haven’t been published yet. There was no mention of the situational awareness capability developed by IPS/NexGen right now!

If is amazing how concerned some people are about circumventing the law by trying to stay within a judge’s ruling allowing for non-for profits to operate using a remote control plane when rules are circumvented for convenience and overpriced technologies that weren’t thought through for the applications they are intended are shoved down the industry’s collective throats.

This is circumventing common sense.   

It's better than sex

What other activity is only legal is you do it for free?

I came to this conclusion a while back but I was talking with a lighting contractor who is fascinated by unmanned technologies and she asked me “Is there anything that is illegal if you do it commercially and legal if you do it for fun?” I laughed and told her “Sex”. Isn’t that ridiculous? I figured out that the Future Farmers of America, the FFA would fall under the first judge’s reasoning that it doesn’t violate the FAA mandate of no commercial UAS operations. I call MAPPS to see if there were any organizations similar to FFA for students pertaining to geospatial and they told me 4H. Sure enough there are geospatial 4H groups all over the country. Then I talked to my brother whose birthday is today and I remembered that he was an Eagle Scout and there is an aviation badge and agriculture badge.

One of my SEAL buddies who is a professional UAV pilot has been telling me for almost three years “It is going to get like the cell phones where they give you the phone and charge you for the service”. I can see Trimble/Gate-wing, Hexagon Metrology, Optech and John Deer amongst other companies sponsoring Boy Scouts, FFA and 4H to fly for free and they provide the technology, airframes, sensors and cloud services to these kids and get this party started.

 

The FFA might have just backed into the drone business

Who is doing commercial UAS business?

Last week the ruling came down from the appellate court throwing out the law suit ruled by the previous judge that the FAA did not have the authority to order a cease and desist because Texas Equusearch being a non-for profit wasn’t operating commercially and the Spectra flying wing is a hobby plane. The appellate judge justified throwing out the law suit, claiming that because the FAA’s cease and desist wasn’t delivered properly because it was e-mailed, making it invalid and unenforceable, giving no ground for a law suit and the judge ruled that e-mail communications are not subject to judicial review.

So not being an attorney, there doesn’t seem to be any opening for commercial applications. If Texas Equusearch continues to use the Spectra and maintains there non-for profit status Gene Robinson can continue SAR operations. Until he gets a written cease and desist from the FAA.

So when the Benjamin Miller from the Colorado Mesa County Sheriff’s Department surveys the county landfill, he doesn’t get paid by them but he gets paid as part of his job and the entails flying a UX5 flying wing UAS. So what makes it any different than a farmer flying his own hobby plane with a GoPro camera over his field to see where his crops need more water or fertilizer? The FAA is claiming that unless he is going to consume that entire crop himself, it is a commercial operation. What they are saying is “Government and non-for profits are the only non-commercial use.” Does that mean if the local Future Farmers of America (FFA) collect the data it is okay? What if the farmer donates to that FFA group, is that okay?

There is going to be this kind of tit for tat and legal wrangling happening everywhere, until the commercial UAS guidelines are established but it looks like the FFA is in business.