Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) are at the forefront of new and evolving digital tech and are harnessing this innovation to advance their research and the livelihoods of people around the world. Exploring the ever-evolving and always-exciting tech space, USask researchers are finding new ways to leverage growing technology like drones, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and quantum computing. From commercially available digital technology to the most advanced hardware and software possible, USask researchers, scholars, and artists are pushing the boundaries of what is possible through ever-evolving innovations.
Eye in the sky: Using drones for efficient and effective research
The quality of high-flying drone technology is advancing rapidly and USask researchers are using it to soar higher than ever before.
Alex Cebulski, a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Planning, with supervisor Dr. John Pomeroy (PhD) based at the Coldwater Lab in Canmore as part of USask’s Centre for Hydrology, uses drone-based lidar (light detecting and ranging) to assess theories of snow storage in needleleaf forests in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
His research focuses on snowfall interception and ablation in forest canopies — or how much snow gets caught in trees or makes it to the ground, and then how that water returns to the atmosphere or to streams.
“It’s important from a water balance perspective,” Cebulski said. “Understanding how snow accumulates across time and space and across different future climates as well ... is crucial to understanding water resources and the energy balance across the snowy forests of our country.”
Cebulski — with support from drone pilots and technicians working for the Global Water Futures Observatories facilities funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Major Science Initiatives — conducted fieldwork as part of his PhD research to measure snowfall accumulation in needleleaf forests. That involved a quadcopter drone with a custom payload equipped with a lidar sensor that simultaneously shoots and measures reflections of 100,000 laser pulses per second to provide precise measurements of surface elevation. The system was developed with support from Western Economic Development Canada and the CFI.
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