Need advice on searching for mission person

[Kalimouse]

I am looking on advice and ideas on searching for a mission person. Here are the details.

Matthew weaver went missing over 2 years ago at Rosa's overlook in topanga, California. If you research the name you will find alot of details about the case. The area is very steep and covered with brush and trees. I was asked to help searching about 6 months ago, after repelling 3 times a week down the cliffs, I figured a drone would be more effective, so I obtained my part 107 license and have purchased 3 drones. A phantom 3 advanced, a mavic pro, and just last week a mavic 2 zoom.

I have been flying manually down the cliff but with all the obstructions it makes it difficult to see the ground. I purchased a samsung 360 camera because I came up with the idea of putting it on a pole and using the drone to push it through brush to see closer to the ground. Has anyone done this before? I first tried using wire but started to get the pendulum effect and wasted alot of time trying to steady it and it was obviously going to get stuck when I got close to branches. This led me to a pole being a better option or perhaps a inspection camera. I wanted to use a 360 camera to get full coverage of the area in one shot.

I would like to automate the process for the drone to go to the location , drop down, pull up and fly to the next location. The weight of the pole and the camera would limit flight time, so automation would maximize the process.

Another idea was to get the mavic propeller cage from dji to fly safely closer to the ground between the obstructions. I have watched a few videos and if anyone has a opinion on the effectiveness of this product please let me know.
Thank you, I am open to ideas and assistance.

 

[Flycaster]

Anything "going into the bushes/brush/trees" has a chance of getting caught/snagged.
whether it's line/wire, or a stick. And yes, the pendulum effect. That's even another certification for rotary wing (helicopter) pilot.

I think you would be best served by going IR and or Lidar. More money, but safer for the equipment, and probably faster searach coverage.....

 

[Kalimouse]

I have been looking at lidar on and off, even some dyi versions. Is there a certain one that you would recommend?

 

[Flycaster]

I would not have a clue. I've just seen them advertised (DJI just came out with the Lidar module for their Enterprise version of the Mavic GenII.

My first guess would be buy off the market, ready to go/mount. Then later maybe a DYI. One can build up a hex or and octo, and fit it with the payload, but that requires alot of detail work for final payload, motor/esc/prop combinations, to acheive the flight time that would be productive.

I think a turnkey solution would be best way to go at first.

 

[Kalimouse]

thank you will look into it

 

[Flycaster]

Good luck and I hope you get a system that works for you!!

 

[Deleted member 114292]

I am looking on advice and ideas on searching for a mission person. Here are the details.

Matthew weaver went missing over 2 years ago at Rosa's overlook in topanga, California. If you research the name you will find alot of details about the case. The area is very steep and covered with brush and trees. I was asked to help searching about 6 months ago, after repelling 3 times a week down the cliffs, I figured a drone would be more effective, so I obtained my part 107 license and have purchased 3 drones. A phantom 3 advanced, a mavic pro, and just last week a mavic 2 zoom.

I have been flying manually down the cliff but with all the obstructions it makes it difficult to see the ground. I purchased a samsung 360 camera because I came up with the idea of putting it on a pole and using the drone to push it through brush to see closer to the ground. Has anyone done this before? I first tried using wire but started to get the pendulum effect and wasted alot of time trying to steady it and it was obviously going to get stuck when I got close to branches. This led me to a pole being a better option or perhaps a inspection camera. I wanted to use a 360 camera to get full coverage of the area in one shot.

I would like to automate the process for the drone to go to the location , drop down, pull up and fly to the next location. The weight of the pole and the camera would limit flight time, so automation would maximize the process.

Another idea was to get the mavic propeller cage from dji to fly safely closer to the ground between the obstructions. I have watched a few videos and if anyone has a opinion on the effectiveness of this product please let me know.
Thank you, I am open to ideas and assistance.

The real problem with LIdar and other vision sensors is the compute power to process it. It's along the lines of a self driving car and you can see where the state of the art is with that. Even with 256 core NVIDIA GPU's.
You can take a look at this, but it is nowhere close to your task:

PX4 Vision

www.holybro.com

 

[Meta4]

I am looking on advice and ideas on searching for a missing person. Here are the details.

Matthew weaver went missing over 2 years ago at Rosa's overlook in topanga, California. If you research the name you will find alot of details about the case. The area is very steep and covered with brush and trees. I was asked to help searching about 6 months ago, after repelling 3 times a week down the cliffs, I figured a drone would be more effective

It sounds like a drone is very unlikely to be much use at all in this scenario.

 

[TTP]

I am looking on advice and ideas on searching for a mission person. Here are the details.

Matthew weaver went missing over 2 years ago at Rosa's overlook in topanga, California. If you research the name you will find alot of details about the case. The area is very steep and covered with brush and trees. I was asked to help searching about 6 months ago, after repelling 3 times a week down the cliffs, I figured a drone would be more effective, so I obtained my part 107 license and have purchased 3 drones. A phantom 3 advanced, a mavic pro, and just last week a mavic 2 zoom.

I have been flying manually down the cliff but with all the obstructions it makes it difficult to see the ground. I purchased a samsung 360 camera because I came up with the idea of putting it on a pole and using the drone to push it through brush to see closer to the ground. Has anyone done this before? I first tried using wire but started to get the pendulum effect and wasted alot of time trying to steady it and it was obviously going to get stuck when I got close to branches. This led me to a pole being a better option or perhaps a inspection camera. I wanted to use a 360 camera to get full coverage of the area in one shot.

I would like to automate the process for the drone to go to the location , drop down, pull up and fly to the next location. The weight of the pole and the camera would limit flight time, so automation would maximize the process.

Another idea was to get the mavic propeller cage from dji to fly safely closer to the ground between the obstructions. I have watched a few videos and if anyone has a opinion on the effectiveness of this product please let me know.
Thank you, I am open to ideas and assistance.

Look at my Thread:
My new Bumpcage

My new Bumpcage

My new protective equipment for my M2P, Bumpcage. An equipment intended for use in inspection and photography up close in cramped spaces, or like me and hopefully someone else, uses it to fly among trees and higher up among the treetops. The advantage of having equipment like this is that a...

mavicpilots.com

Can was an option for you.

 

[muabg]

I am a part 107 certified insured operator with over 10 years of commercial drone experience, and I live a few miles from Rosa's Overlook, and I have multiple aircraft. Please PM me if I can be of assistance

 

[Terry777]

That's some crazy stuff buddy. it seems that's a well dodgy corner of the world! Be careful, very careful! Wouldn't be me!
I hope you find him sooner rather than later...

Good luck

 

[passedpawn]

I am looking on advice and ideas on searching for a mission person. Here are the details.

Matthew weaver went missing over 2 years ago at Rosa's overlook in topanga, California. If you research the name you will find alot of details about the case. The area is very steep and covered with brush and trees. I was asked to help searching about 6 months ago, after repelling 3 times a week down the cliffs, I figured a drone would be more effective, so I obtained my part 107 license and have purchased 3 drones. A phantom 3 advanced, a mavic pro, and just last week a mavic 2 zoom.

I have been flying manually down the cliff but with all the obstructions it makes it difficult to see the ground. I purchased a samsung 360 camera because I came up with the idea of putting it on a pole and using the drone to push it through brush to see closer to the ground. Has anyone done this before? I first tried using wire but started to get the pendulum effect and wasted alot of time trying to steady it and it was obviously going to get stuck when I got close to branches. This led me to a pole being a better option or perhaps a inspection camera. I wanted to use a 360 camera to get full coverage of the area in one shot.

I would like to automate the process for the drone to go to the location , drop down, pull up and fly to the next location. The weight of the pole and the camera would limit flight time, so automation would maximize the process.

Another idea was to get the mavic propeller cage from dji to fly safely closer to the ground between the obstructions. I have watched a few videos and if anyone has a opinion on the effectiveness of this product please let me know.
Thank you, I am open to ideas and assistance.

I'd suggest flying above the stuff that will eat your drone. The things you've mentioned above sound risky.

I'm assuming this is a recovery and not a rescue, given it's been 2 years. I.e., a dead body.

I'd put a thermal camera on the drone. It'll show objects that retain heat differently than the ambient rocks and trees. You'd want to fly shortly after sunset, as things start to cool. Or, right after sunrise. There are fairly inexpensive ones that couple to an iPhone. I have one from FLIR, and a dedicated old iPhone. It is a pretty neat device.

You might also try looking at night, with a flashlight of some sort attached to the drone. Assuming your person was wearing running shoes, you might see the reflective patches when the light passes by.

 

[Kalimouse]

I'd suggest flying above the stuff that will eat your drone. The things you've mentioned above sound risky.

I'm assuming this is a recovery and not a rescue, given it's been 2 years. I.e., a dead body.

I'd put a thermal camera on the drone. It'll show objects that retain heat differently than the ambient rocks and trees. You'd want to fly shortly after sunset, as things start to cool. Or, right after sunrise. There are fairly inexpensive ones that couple to an iPhone. I have one from FLIR, and a dedicated old iPhone. It is a pretty neat device.

You might also try looking at night, with a flashlight of some sort attached to the drone. Assuming your person was wearing running shoes, you might see the reflective patches when the light pas

I'd suggest flying above the stuff that will eat your drone. The things you've mentioned above sound risky.

I'm assuming this is a recovery and not a rescue, given it's been 2 years. I.e., a dead body.

I'd put a thermal camera on the drone. It'll show objects that retain heat differently than the ambient rocks and trees. You'd want to fly shortly after sunset, as things start to cool. Or, right after sunrise. There are fairly inexpensive ones that couple to an iPhone. I have one from FLIR, and a dedicated old iPhone. It is a pretty neat device.

You might also try looking at night, with a flashlight of some sort attached to the drone. Assuming your person was wearing running shoes, you might see the reflective patches when the light passes by.

yes it is a recovery, the family needs closure, I am a friend of the father and he has really been going through some serious issues about it. I am going to do some research on the Flir, I remember reading about the differences in temp and how it has been used for this type of operation.

I purchased the drone cage from dji and got it yesterday. It might be a viable option, just burns the batteries and puts strain on the motors more than I would like.

 

[Salty Sam]

I wish you good look in your search. Infra Red would probably not be of much help as if the person has been missing for 2 years probability is you are looking for remains. Although Lidar may have more success, trying to buy a Lidar system, software and expertise to use it is significant. Suggest you see if there are any services with Lidar capabilities that you may hire and have them set up a proper grid pattern.

God bless

 

[passedpawn]

I wish you good look in your search. Infra Red would probably not be of much help as if the person has been missing for 2 years probability is you are looking for remains. Although Lidar may have more success, trying to buy a Lidar system, software and expertise to use it is significant. Suggest you see if there are any services with Lidar capabilities that you may hire and have them set up a proper grid pattern.

God bless

Maybe I wasn't clear above when I suggested thermal IR (typically, this is long wave IR, 7000nm). The idea here is that materials have different heat capacities. This can be used to differentiate a soft organic (and dead) material from hard rock.

To do this, you need a temperature change. This happens just after sunrise, when the sun starts heating earth, and just after sunset, when the sun's heating is done and objects begin to cool. A dead body would change temperature at a different rate from the surrounding rock and vegetation (in theory), and thus you'd be able to see this with thermal imaging. I can walk across the floors of my house, turn around and see my footsteps on the floor because of this slight temperature difference.

Might not work, just throwing the idea out there.

 

[Waldo Pepper]

I would video the entire search, review at home from a larger screen. That’s what I do when searching for lost drones or for research purposes.

hope this helps
Paul

 

[NLOL]

I think: if there was a body to be found, buzzards would have found it. They hunt by scent - extraordinary creatures. Likely, either there is no body there, the body is concealed/covered, the body was quickly and thoroughly scavenged. If scavenged, cloth remains; exposed; bones too - scattered - single bones not a whole skeleton. A bear or cougar could have cached the body - now hidden and hard to find.

I suggest, for an aerial survey, the colors worn be determined, an appropriate filter to emphasis that color be used and the suspect area be flown/photographed many times using varied flight patterns/headings. Hyperlaps is likely better for this than video. I assume cadaver dogs have searched the area, they seem a better search tool than a drone. If there is any water in the area, search it thoroughly; log jams, undercut banks, beaver ponds, etc, merit thorough examination by trained/expereinced people

Lastly, of course, review all personal activity and financial records to determine if any money/asset might have been saved/converted for a planned disappearance.

 

[Kalimouse]

I think: if there was a body to be found, buzzards would have found it. They hunt by scent - extraordinary creatures. Likely, either there is no body there, the body is concealed/covered, the body was quickly and thoroughly scavenged. If scavenged, cloth remains; exposed; bones too - scattered - single bones not a whole skeleton. A bear or cougar could have cached the body - now hidden and hard to find.

I suggest, for an aerial survey, the colors worn be determined, an appropriate filter to emphasis that color be used and the suspect area be flown/photographed many times using varied flight patterns/headings. Hyperlaps is likely better for this than video. I assume cadaver dogs have searched the area, they seem a better search tool than a drone. If there is any water in the area, search it thoroughly; log jams, undercut banks, beaver ponds, etc, merit thorough examination by trained/expereinced people

Lastly, of course, review all personal activity and financial records to determine if any money/asset might have been saved/converted for a planned disappearance.

Its a very complex location that is too steep for handlers to allow their dogs to search. Law enforcement didn't use flir until after 3 months of him missing. They only used a spotlight when they found his car at the top of rosas overlook. You should checkout FINDING MATTHEW WEAVER on youtube to see the location I am trying to search to understand the difficulty level.