By Sydney and Alice
Today we had a presentation from the Northampton Police Department about their special drone unit. This presentation focused on the various ways drones can be used to protect the community, such as providing detail about fire positions, suspect positioning and tracking, and quick accident reconstruction to provide court evidence. The police department presented us with three of their drones, which varied in shape, size, and use. Unfortunately, due to the unpredictable and ever-changing New England weather, the planned flight demonstration had to be canceled until further notice. Therefore, we broke for an early lunch, damp and devastated. In the afternoon, we did some indoor flight practice, as it was predicted to rain more in the afternoon. We used the Droneblocks application to code our flight missions. The application, however, did not work well indoors because the walls and blockage of the GPS signal interfered, causing one of the medium-sized drones to crash into a wall. Fortunately, the drone and its propellers were damaged quite lightly. Once the skies cleared and our drone was confirmed okay, we decided to go and fly outside. We took full advantage of this time to practice flying the phantom and Tello drones, using different types of controllers. Additionally, two of the students flew a drone over the nearby dam and took some interesting photos. All in all, we had a productive day of lectures, learning, and hands-on experience with our drone fleet.
Northampton Police Department
Investigative police work using thermal imaging
Arson scene
Tellos in the gym