Blue River Goes Fully Mobile

 July 2010.  Blue River is now on 48hr call, fully mobile and ready to roll anywhere in the UK. The aim has been to bring both the workshop and post processing equipment to a site as well as all the Aerial Photography facilities. 

The equipment now also includes (when available) Northumbria University survey grade Trimble DGPS for very accurate georeferencing of sites. Normal aerial photography is 50m to 100m accuracy but use of this equipment in generating ground control points can improve that accuracy by a factor of over a hundred to sub-10cm accuracy.

APA-ACPO Exhibition Display 2010

 June 2010.  Blue River Studios was invited by Northumbria University to participate in the APA-ACPO exhibition (Association of Police Authorities / Association of Chief Police Officers) in Manchester.

Northumbria University is offering a blend of Crime Sciences, Forensic Sciences, and Laser Scanning and UAV imagery to the Police Authorities and considerable interest was shown in the sUAV for forensics purposes. 

Northumbria Police UAV demo

 On 24 June, following a dialogue with Northumbria Police, Blue River Studios demonstrated the background operation, flight and operational capacity of it's sUAV to the Air Support Manager of the North East Air Support unit.

With cutbacks affecting all public sectors, including the Police, the main focus of the visit was to examine the ways in which sUAV's can be employed to reduce expenses by employing them in rural searches and surveillance where the high level technology and skill a helicopter crew might not be needed. It was estimated in these cases that a 90% reduction in costs could easily be made by employing a sUAV rather than a Police helicopter. 

It was also established that large area, detailed photogrammtery could quickly be transmitted to Gold and Silver Command in a format and useability that a helicopter could never achieve.

2010 Wetlands Study

 In June Blue River Studios undertook the photography of a large area of wetlands on the North East coast of England for the Applied Sciences department at Northumbria University.   The imagery becomes part of a long term study into the biodiversity of pondlife, and how it is affected by aspects such as climate change, seasonal change and agricultural runoff.

2010 CAA Air Operator Licence Achieved

18 June 2010

Blue River Studios are proud to announce the results of the successful application to the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) to operate the fleet of Flying Wings for operational purposes. This new style of certificate clears us to operate, within UK limits, for a year. The requirement for certification has only recently become a legal requirement (Jan 2010) and has posed a major challenge for sUAV operators to achieve as we have been "fumbling in the dark" to work out what exactly is required.

Not only is the issue of our certificate a sign of our operational competence, we also received the accolade from the CAA of of having submitted a "Model Application that sets the standard for others"...... something to be indeed proud of.

2010 Blue River Studios Adopts New Technology

 Continuing on the development route to improve imaging results, we moved from "full house" aircraft to a new design in the style of a flying wing with no tailplane and the propellor at the rear. The allows us to take forward photography, operate from remote sites and handle rougher situations.  

The aircraft still employ the tremendous safety factor of being constructed primarily from foam, so any impacts have very little energy for either the aircraft or anything it might accidentally hit. The design also allows the carrying of a top quality digital camera as well as a high definition video camera. 

Continuing with the mobile/remote theme we are now able to launch from just about anywhere with our new "Zip" launch (bungee line) system, where the aircraft very quickly reaches a safety height and without requiring any ground take-off space.

2010 Breathtaking Resolutions in River Study

  Following the severe floods of 2009, areas surrounding Cockermouth suffered severe damage when the river flooded and many bridges were swept away. River routes changed and vast areas of gravel and sediment were deposited on farmland.

 Blue River Studios provided detailed aerial photography in three areas of interest - Camerton , Papcastle and Isel for researchers at  Northumbria University and Durham University. Current aerial photography of the sites using satellite and full size aircraft (National Emergency Research Council aircraft)  provided a resolution of  30cm to 50cm. Blue River Studios UAV technology managed to produce average resolutions of 3 to 5 cms, and on specific low level images 0.2cm resolution.

2009 Sierra Navada, Spain

Northumbria University makes an annual field trip to Trevelos in South East Spain. At almost 5000 feet it is considered the highest inhabited village in Europe. Because of its steep and rugged terrain and the result of a population shift, sustaining quality arable land has become a growing issue for farmers of these degrading terraces over the last half century.

We accompanied the last visit and conducted an aerial survey. 450 Images were stitched together and presented as reference material for future field visits and agricultural studies.

2009 (Ongoing): River and Sediment Change

Newcastle University - Mapping river change in the Upper Coquet (June 2009, ongoing)

A ten mile stretch of of the upper Coquet in Northumberland provides the richest and fastest rate of change of any river in the UK, according to Newcastle University.

Blue River Studios, in association with Northumbria University, have been providing aerial imagery (still and video) between 1000ft and 200ft, to assist with the research being carried out here. Resolutions down to less than 0.5 cm have been achieved, which allow the surveying of sediment deposits.

2009: Archeological Survey

Low Farnham and it’s local area has a rich history dating all the way back to the Bronze age. The Border Reivers, the Plagues and the Augustinian Convent at Holystone have all had major influence on the archeology of this area.

We were approached to conduct a low level survey of an area that had the evidence of a former garrison and Peel (bastle) tower. Indistinct from the ground, aerial photography produced exactly the results that the client required.