Austin Carpenter, sales manager for Clear Creek & Associates, returns to Feed & Grain Chat to highlight drone testing programs for emergency response, the use of AI for agricultural inspections and spot treatments, and recent FAA regulatory changes and compliance.
Transcription of Feed & Grain Chat interview with Austin Carpenter, sales manager, Clear Creek & Associates
Today, I'm joined on Zoom by Austin Carpenter, sales manager for Clear Creek & Associates. Previously, Austin shared on Feed and Grain Chat the benefits of using drones for bin inspections. Today he's here to shed light on the future of drone technology and regulations. Hi, Austin. Thanks for joining me today.
Carpenter: Hi, Elise. Thanks for having me.
Schafer:: Now, are there any upcoming drone tech advancements you're excited about or that you've seen in other industries that could be applied to the feed and grain industry?
Carpenter: Recently, they've started with this box item. It's a drone box that sits in a corner of a metropolitan area. If somebody calls in for a 911 call, they dispatch the drone right to that area prior to police arriving, so they can tell what's going on there. If it's an active shooter, if there's a car accident, they get a better sense of what's happening on the scene prior to law enforcement arriving. And these are test cases going on right now that are fascinating, and it's exciting to see the technology taking off in a way where it's helping people.
Schafer:: What about technology like AI and machine learning — are there ways they can enhance the data that drones capture?
Carpenter: I'll start with the the field option for farmers. They're flying drones over fields, capturing data, doing inspections for insects, for weeds, and then they can actually dispatch a drone to spot treat those areas around the field. That's one of the technologies existing today that's being done. Depending on what drone it is, the same drone could do both items. So that's a fascinating technology out there. Beyond that, it's evolving. The AI side of things and the amount of data that can be collected by the drone, it's processing things so much faster now than we were able to before.
Another example is the infrared technology. You can fly a drone up, you can look for hotspots, hot areas, so if you have equipment that's getting extremely hot, now there are ways you can fly a drone up and capture that. If you tie that into an AI platform, it could process that data faster and notify somebody that, 'Hey, there's a problem.' And that would be useful on some of your older facilities that aren't necessarily tied in with a PLC system or all the safety sensors.
Schafer: Well, they're fascinating things to look forward to. Now, with any aviation equipment, there are rules and regulations. Are there any anticipated changes in drone regulations that operators should be aware of?
Carpenter: So, the first and foremost, if you're flying a drone for anything other than fun — which they define fun as enjoyable — if you're checking your gutters to see if they're clogged, that's the opposite of fun. That is the definition of requiring your Part 107 license, which is an FAA exam. So, if you're flying it, if you're watching this video and you're planning to fly for work, I would recommend getting a Part 107 license, so you can learn all of the rules.
But a couple of rule changes lately are that any aircraft over 250 grams and under 55 pounds are required to have a remote ID beacon. A lot of drones have that built in. Some of them do not. If they do not, then you're required to buy a module that can go on your drone and send out that information. And that allows police, allows anybody in the area, airplanes, all of that, the ability to know who's flying the drone, who's in the area, and it's more of a safety thing. That's a requirement that came out from the FAA. Also, they've made it easier now to be able to fly over people, that's another one. You can go online, request a permit or a waiver, and then you can fly over groups of people. This is something that changed recently due to anyone who had requested a permit in the past had not had an accident or recordable, so nobody had ever gotten hurt, and they decided to adjust to the the rules for that.
Schafer: Well, thank you for your insights Austin. Appreciate your time. That's all for today's Feed & Grain Chat. If you'd like to see more videos like this, subscribe to our YouTube channel, sign up for the Industry Watch Daily eNewsletter or go to feedandgrain.com and search for videos. Thanks for watching, and we hope to see you next time.
