“Surveillance” has become a bit of a taboo topic in modern times due to its misuse with tracking cookies, advertising IDs, user profiles and more all being used in abundance, which pollutes the serious discussions that can be had around it.

Surveillance through drones is such an important topic that it can’t be tied up in this net, especially given the important work that DJI enterprise is doing all around the world and in South Africa.

Frequent readers would have seen our first story on DJI enterprise and the extremely capable and compact DJI Mavic 3E and DJI Mavic 3T, but let’s dive a bit deeper into how these and similar drones are used for important surveillance work.

As a reminder the Mavic is an extremely flexible platform for businesses and governments to tackle crucial problems at a moment’s notice. At a scant 221 X 96.3 X 90.3 millimetres (LxWxH, folded without the propellers), these drones are made for frontline action thanks to their portability through size, and speed with a max ascent speed in Sport Mode of eight metres per second.

Combine this with countless accessories, payload options (1.05 kilograms of takeoff weight) and rich software offerings, the DJI Mavic 3 can tackle surveillance sore spots like crime. We’ve already seen how the thermal imaging camera of the DJI Mavic 3T has proven itself in other countries, and South Africa is no exception.

We can envision thermal imagining being of particular importance in surveillance of crime as the country is continually plunged into darkness through loadshedding, leaving police at a disadvantage that thermals can address. Even when there is no loadshedding several parts of the country are still without light due to infrastructure problems or the simple fact that some cases take officers far from cities and towns.

Outside of active crime scenes there are more mundane situations where drones simply work better, such as the important beating industrial heart of the country in the form of factories. Security of these factories usually involves complex CCTV systems and security guards patrolling the premises, especially at night when the factories are closed.

With drones flying the same route overhead – basically doing the work of patrolling guards and CCTV surveillance at the time – it’s a bit of a shock that more factories haven’t already adopted this solution.

While the topic of surveillance and security usually leads to discussions of criminality, there is another area which is just as important: food security. All around the world crops are beset by adverse weather, insects, rodents, plant disease and even a simple lack of optimisation in practices that could have lead to better yields otherwise.

Once again DJI enterprise drones are leading the charge. From fighting against black spot disease in citrus in Japan to labour optimisation in Asia’s largest mango farm, similar DJI drones are working hard to bring farming into the modern area with surveillance and then informed action.

These kinds of solutions can start with DJI Mavic 3 drones here in South Africa so if you, your business or your politician would like to bring any of these important surveillance fields into the more advanced era, make contact with one of DJI’s local enterprise partners below:

• Hennie’s Drone Repair and Training orders[at]hdrt[dot]co[dot]za,
• TeleEye jacques[at]GoUAV[dot]co[dot]za,
• Africa Drone Kings vice[at]africadronekings[dot]co[dot]za.