“The Aquatic Resources Management Student Association (Himasper), Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK) IPB University held a series of Aquatic Training Center (ATC) 2: Unveiling the Horizons: Comprehensive Program for Drone Operations, including Aquatic Mapping.”

Dudi Muhammad Wildan, SPi, MSi as lecturer in charge of Himasper IPB University said, “This activity is expected to stimulate interest and open the insight of students of the Department of Water Resources Management (MSP) IPB University in implementing technology for aquatic science and ecosystem management in Indonesia.”

This event is a collaboration between Himasper and the MSP Department of IPB University. Three IPB University MSP Department staff who have Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Remote Pilot licenses were present as presenters and instructors to share knowledge and experience with students.

The three instructors are Ikhwan Nurcholis, SPi, Haris Munandar, SKom, and Antoni, SPi. Apart from having a remote pilot license from the Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia, the three of them are also experienced in taking aerial photo data and making maps.

As an effort to introduce drone operations and in order to facilitate the implementation of activities, the instructor team introduced a web-based application called IPB Pilot (https://msp.ipb.ac.id/pilot-ipb). This application provides a bridge for training participants to learn more about drone operations that prioritize the principles of safety, discipline and responsibility.

In his presentation, Haris emphasized the importance of safety factors in carrying out flight missions. He also directed all participants to try the drone pilot simulator before flying the drone directly in an open area. All participants looked serious and enthusiastic about taking part in a series of activities, including conducting drone flight experiments at the Telaga Inspiration field.

“The opportunity to gain drone knowledge and training is quite rare,” said Fitrah Ramadan as Chief Executive of the event.

Regarding data acquisition, Ikhwan Nurcholis, SPi said that mapping using drones and flying drones are two things that are similar but not the same. Every remote pilot who has the ability to fly a drone may not necessarily be able to take precise aerial photo data for mapping needs.

“A remote pilot who carries out data acquisition is required to be able to operate the drone manually to prioritize safety factors if undesirable things happen,” he explained.

Antoni, SPi also conveyed several tips regarding processing aerial photo data into orthomosaic material. He said that a remote pilot would have added value if he was able to process the data he had taken into a base map. Of course, this will be very useful, especially in the world of work.

“Currently, the need in the world of business and industry (DUDI), ministries, the private sector and local governments for individuals who have mastery of data collection and map processing is very high.

“Considering that the management of an area cannot be separated from environmental-based spatial management, of course the latest image data is really needed when considering decision making regarding the management of an area,” he said.