With drone use ever increasing in the agricultural sector, a key player in the industry - Sphere Drones - has a platform it promises will arrives ready to work within 30 minutes.
Sphere Drones has a mobile drone platform that enables collection of aerial data with a click of a button, across any terrain and in very remote areas.
Called HubX, the rugged platform arrives ready to work in 30 minutes, so businesses can capture aerial data on site and deliver the data back to the office with the click of a button.
The all-terrain, solar-powered and internet-enabled HubX promises to break down the barriers of Drone-in-a-Box (DiaB) deployment for farms, as well as mine sites, utilities, and emergency services. It also has in-built redundancies to ensure businesses will keep flying in remote areas and network failures.
A recent Federal Government study estimated expanding drone use to create a major economic boost for Australia, with savings to businesses expected to reach up to $10 billion across the next 20 years.
The significant cost savings through the use of drones is having the greatest impact in the mining sector, as well as agriculture, forestry, construction and fisheries industries.
There are now more than 700 people each month in Australia being trained in drone operation and 98 companies gaining licenses, with close to 10,000 drones currently operating commercially.
Sphere Drones chief executive officer Paris Cockinos said HubX has been developed entirely at Sphere Drones' Sydney headquarters for use by miners and utilities to streamline the most time-consuming surveying tasks, saving them thousands of hours and millions of dollars in the process.
"We have already attracted interest from our existing and new clients in Australia and overseas looking to either complement their own operation of drones or looking to Sphere Drones to manage their remote drone operations," he said.
High-profile clients of Sphere Drones include Yancoal, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Mining Group, Glencore, Roy Hill, Woodside Petroleum, Thiess, Sydney Water and Agriculture Victoria.
Adrian Wall, survey superintendent and chief remote pilot at Yancoal's Mt Thorley Warkworth site said with the evolution of HubX, he could see its potential to streamline a surveyors work-loads, reducing their time in the field, plus increasing data collection frequency through the automation of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) operations.
"HubX includes everything you need to roll out a BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) operation, it's innovative, turnkey and portable which can help businesses like ours meet their daily operational requirements," he said.
To date Sphere Drones has helped more than 11,000 clients - including 3000 corporates - in the sale or rental of drones, parts and accessories, software, training and support for airborne and underwater drone operations.
"Sphere Drones provides the game-changing benefits of drone technology to save costs and provide more efficiencies to miners and other organisations," Mr Cockinos said.
Paula Thompson
Paula Thompson is ACM's National Machinery and Ag Tech writer. She has been an agricultural journalist for more than 20 years. Prior to her current role, she was a reporter with the Stock Journal, covering livestock markets and the grains industry.
Paula Thompson is ACM's National Machinery and Ag Tech writer. She has been an agricultural journalist for more than 20 years. Prior to her current role, she was a reporter with the Stock Journal, covering livestock markets and the grains industry.
