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That science is best left to the professionals and experts has been the conventional wisdom for decades, if not centuries. This is changing, however, thanks to some scientists, a whole lot of drone propellers, and groups of committed citizen scientists. Thanks to drones, people without scientific training can now contribute to scientific research in a number of fascinating capacities. Those contributions, however, aren’t without some unique challenges.

The Contributions

For the sake of transparency, it’s worth noting that this is not the first time that scientists have employed citizen scientists, and the information they gather, as important contributors to our collective scientific understanding. In fact, this has been taking place well before drones ever existed. Two good examples are involvement in the Cooperative Weather Service, which began in 1890, and the Christmas Bird Count, which started in 1900.Interestingly, drone-assisted research today is in similar fields. So far, the fields in which citizen drone-using scientists seem to have contributed the most are animal (including bird) information and climate research.

Perhaps one of the best realizations of scientists and citizen scientists cooperating was Australia’s “Epic Duck Challenge” in 2018, which involved a small army of volunteers setting up thousands of fake ducks on a beach to measure the accuracy of drone wildlife counts. Citizen scientists have used drones to study El Niño, record bird songs and populations, and study animal population movement as well as the effect of the noise of a drone motor on the populations beings studied. Drones have been used to observe erosion, monitor the behavior of sea turtles and whales, inspect the health of reefs, etc. In fact, the information provided by citizen scientists with drones can prove as helpful as data gathered by traditional scientists due to the wealth of information citizen scientists collect.

The Challenges

Not that the use of citizen scientists is wholly without issues. Those issues, however, are often not the fault of the citizen scientists. For instance, a group of climatologists engaged a group of citizens to use photography drones to record the influence of El Niño on the tides. Unfortunately, the climatologists failed to specify that they most needed images from high tide, limiting the usable data. There are also often separate FAA rules for professionals and hobbyists and distinguishing which of those citizen scientists are can be tough to establish.

There are also practical concerns. The fact that citizen scientists are everyday people means that they often may not have the specific equipment necessary for sophisticated scientific research. The use of drones for any research often requires complex mapping software to interpret data gathered by expensive drones. Whatever the challenges, however, the more popular and common the flying of drones becomes, the more often citizen scientists will be called up to lend a hand to the studying of our planet and the life on it.

About XOAR

XOAR is a recognized leader and innovator in the RC vehicle and drone industry and has been for over 40 years. That recognition is a response to the quality, efficiency, and precision of their manufacturing process. Their drone motors, RC propellers, and additional UAV products all employ leading-edge technology, the best material, supremely skillful engineering, and the top standards of manufacturing. Their expertise also includes propellers for LSA, industrial UAVs, ultralight aircraft, civilian aviation, RC airplanes, commercial applications, mid-to-large UAVs (including hexacopter and octocopter gear and parts), and more.

Bring your UAV to the greatest heights for your drone hobby or business, at Xoarintl.com

Original Source: https://goo.gl/Q6Nbc8