Current and Former Students Use Sentaero 5 Drone to Map Damage

Censys Technologies, a start-up hosted on Embry?Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus, is utilizing its Sentaero 5 drone to assess the area following recent Hurricane Helene. This data will be used to measure damage and plan future mitigation efforts.

“It was horrible to see the flooding and damage that was done,” commented Matthew Davis, a current Embry Riddle Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) student and a member of Censys’s storm damage assessment team. “It felt great to get out and be able to do something to help.”

Hurricane Helene made landfall on September 26 as a Category 4 storm, ripping through Florida’s Gulf Coast. After it passed, Censys executed a five-day mission to assess street and infrastructure damage, debris, and flooding.  This was conducted by four ERAU alumni across two UAS teams.

Censys was granted a Special Government Interest (SGI) certification by the FAA for the mission, allowing its teams to conduct operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). This enabled them to complete tasks more efficiently and effectively.

“Providing post-storm mapping response for Hurricane Helene was a whirlwind of an experience,” explained Larry Leovan, head of government sales at Censys. “In total, we were able to capture 499 linear miles of roads, 20,507 images, 501GB worth of data in five days."

Senior ERAU UAS student James Deal was recently involved in a project that employed drones and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensing to evaluate various stormwater solutions in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This was later used to build flood models that could potentially generate preventative infrastructure designs.

“UAS are essential in any flood mitigation toolbox as an invaluable resource to gather accurate models through LiDAR and photogrammetry,” stated Deal. “These models are necessary to accurately predict the impact of future weather and allow for simulation and iteration of flood mitigation strategies at a low cost.”

Censys was founded by Embry Riddle alumni. Its Sentaero 5 drone has a range 7.5 times greater than typical fixed wing drones and has been trusted with BVLOS approvals more than 45 times. The design features high-tech sensors, cameras, collision avoidance, and stall prevention for improved safety.

FMI: www.censystech.com