Overview
In this issue of Hammer's success stories, we spoke to Jan Theeven from Eagle Drone NL, a commercial drone services provider based in Netherlands, using Hammer since its very inception, for the past 1.5 years.
EagleDrone is a dynamic and versatile firm with expertise in a wide variety of drone applications. They have everything in-house: a complete ROC (RPAS Operator Certificate), the most modern equipment and software and a deep expertise in flying commercial drone missions. They have a firm belief in serving their customers with the best of what drone technology has to offer.
The Interview
Q. What made you enter the drone industry?
"I was looking for a new challenge, after a 14 year career in the Air Force. My Master's degree in mechanical engineering, a passion for aviation and the uprise of Drones made me decide that this would be a good business opportunity."
Q. Could you describe the services you currently offer and to whom?
"Multispectral analysis in agriculture, terrain mapping and 3D modelling of buildings.
Multispectral analysis in agriculture involves flying a Micasense RedEdge multispectral camera. This camera measures light reflectance in 5 narrow bands in the light spectrum and it can see how well plants are growing. These "reflectance maps" can be used for farmers to see what parts of their fields need some kind of attention.
Our mapping missions are usually targeted at producing high-res orthomosaics (e.g. nature reserves) and/or altitude information (e.g. landfills, to calculate remaining capacity). In addition to that, some of our customers with big stockpiles sometimes require a volumetric analysis.
Our building 3D modelling service is primarily meant for inspections. Creating a high-res 3D model and then uploading it into 4Dmapper gives clients great insights"
Q. What drones and cameras do you currently operate?
"We fly the Phantom 4 Pro and Matrice 600 with Sony A7R IV camera. The Phantom 4 Pro has a global mechanical shutter making it an excellent choice for mapping / 3D modelling use-cases. With the M600, we have amazing customisation capability and we fly it with our Sony A7R . Hammer's been extremely adaptive to our drones + sensor configurations."
Jan Theeven with the DJI Matrice 600
Q. What's been your most challenging drone mission?
"Mapping of 1200 hectares of a national nature reserve, after wildfires had done some serious damage. This mission was a challenge because of the sheer volume of data collected. A lot of data means a lot of post processing, which needed to be done in a smart way, to produce manageable chunks."
Q. What made you switch to Hammer?
"The versatility in missions and ease of use. Basically, Hammer combines all other flight planners into one, covering all possible mission types. No need to use multiple flight planners anymore; Hammer does it all! Besides this, customer support is amazing and unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. The team at Hammer is very open to suggestions and feature requests and they value customers’ opinions. We hope they keep up the great work!"
Q. What missions do you typically fly with Hammer?
"Single or double grid mapping (terrain) and vertical mapping (modelling of buildings)."
Q. What's the next big thing for your organisation?
"What's next for EagleDrone is - hopefully - the creation of an Ltd. with 3 other parties, which is already in progress. Combining expertise, equipment and knowledge will boost our business and attract bigger clients."
Q. How do you see the drone industry evolving?
"Drones have proven to be extremely useful and safe, so I can only see their applications increase. Extremely positive about the possibilities and we'll be there to provide the best in-class services."
Closing Thoughts
We're grateful to EagleDrone NL for sharing their story and look forward to supporting their operations into the future with adaptive flight automation. Together we believe that great services combined with modern technology and commercial solutions will shape the future of the commercial drone industry.
If you’d like to learn more about Hammer, please visit https://hammermissions.com or get in touch with us at team@hammermissions.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
- The Hammer Team