Drone manufacturer senseFly has launched its new eBee SQ fixed-wing agricultural drone. The unmanned aircraft system (UAS) is built for the Parrot Sequoia multispectral camera and can cover up to 10 times more ground than small quadcopter drones, according to a senseFly press release.

“It represents a platform-proven upgrade for those who may have been trialling drone technology — for example by flying quadcopters over their crops — including those who already own a Parrot Sequoia­,” says senseFly’s CEO, Jean-Christophe Zufferey. “By upgrading to the eBee SQ, these operators gain a professional-grade, easy-to-use system that can cover many more acres in a single flight.”

The eBee SQ is an advanced agricultural system that is designed to take professionals such as crop consultants, growers and researchers from drone to action, simply and efficiently. It builds on the success of senseFly’s popular eBee platform, which has recorded more than 300,000 successful customer flights to date over seven continents.

The arrival of the eBee SQ provides Parrot’s Sequoia­ camera with its very own drone. The eBee SQ combines the benefits of precise crop imaging with large ground coverage and is fully compatible with existing agricultural workflows.

Once the drone’s images have been processed using a solution such as Pix4Dmapper Ag/Pro software or cloud-only solutions such as MicaSense ATLAS and AIRINOV’s, the Sequoia’s broad spectral data enables numerous vegetation indices to be computed including NDVI, NDRE, MCARI and CCCI. The resulting index maps can then be employed to assess factors such as a plant’s chlorophyll levels, a key indicator of crop health.

The eBee SQ can fly for up to 55 minutes on a single battery charge. This performance enables it to cover up to 500 acres  in a single flight at 400 feet above ground level.

The eBee SQ’s supplied planning and control software, called eMotion Ag, is compatible with Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) and ag machinery. eMotion Ag was developed with expert input from agriculture service provider AIRINOV, whose team of agronomists has worked with more than 5,000 farmers across France and beyond.

The eBee SQ is available for purchase immediately via senseFly’s global network of distributors. It is available with the Parrot Sequoia in a bundle, or without Parrot Sequoia for existing owners of the camera.

About senseFly

senseFly develops and produces aerial imaging drones for professional applications. The automated data collection tools are employed by customers around the world in fields such as surveying, agriculture, GIS, industrial inspection, mining and humanitarian aid. senseFly was founded in 2009 by a team of robotics researchers is now a specialist in professional mapping drones.