Autonomous drone patrolpatrols and event verification

• Fixed cameras still leave blind spots across wide areas.
• Verifying an alert on site takes time.
• Forests and heritage sites are hard to reach and hard to observe at night.

• DJI Dock 2 takes off, lands and charges automatically at the station.
• Matrice 3TD carries a 640×512 thermal camera, 28× zoom and a 12MP tele camera.
• Patrols follow waypoints, schedules and routes designed for the site.

• A mobile view that fills gaps in camera coverage.
• Supports event verification and nighttime thermal observation.
• Patrols scheduled around priority zones and risk levels.

Use cases

• Inspect heritage sites, forests and hard-to-reach areas
• Verify fire, intrusion or other AI camera alerts
• Survey sites and create maps to support conservation

Equipment and observation capabilities

• DJI Dock 2 is an automated takeoff and landing station; readiness after a command is about 45 seconds.
• DJI Matrice 3TD includes a 640×512 thermal camera (1280×1024 UHR), 28× zoom, a 48MP wide camera and a 12MP tele camera.
• Maximum flight time is listed as 50 minutes in windless conditions; a safe mission typically allows 35–40 minutes.
• Maximum control range is 10 km. An effective working radius of about 6 km allows for outbound and return travel and observation.

Response time by distance

Estimates include about 45 seconds for takeoff and travel at an approximate mission speed of 15 m/s. Flight conditions and on-site operations can change actual timing.

• 0.5 km: about 1.5 minutes; 1 km: about 2 minutes.
• 3 km: about 4 minutes; 6 km: about 7–8 minutes.
• 10 km: about 12 minutes of travel, but this is not the same as an effective round-trip mission radius.

Reachable area is not the same as area surveyed

Distinguish the area a drone can reach, the area scanned on one flight and the daily area covered on a schedule. Results depend on altitude, speed, image width, battery and priority zones.

• A 6 km working radius corresponds to a geometric reach area of about 11,300 hectares; it does not mean the whole area has been observed.
• One flight may scan an estimated 300–500 hectares at 80–120 m; confirm actual capability through site planning.
• Daily coverage depends on flight count and risk level; a single flight is not a promise to scan the entire area.

Four patrol routes

• A — Routine: waypoints along boundaries, paths, forest edges or fences.
• B — Priority periods: focus on high-risk zones during peak hours, with scheduled thermal imagery where appropriate.
• C — Night: thermal observation to verify intrusion or fire risk; a separate night-flight permit may be required.
• D — Event response: dispatch the drone to an alert coordinate for verification.

Adapt patrols to fire-risk levels

This is a planning reference and must be adjusted for legal requirements, weather, staffing and station capacity.

• Levels I–II: about 1–3 flights per day, focused on routine patrol and priority zones.
• Level III: about 3–4 flights per day, adding priority routes and suitable thermal patrols.
• Level IV: about 5–6 flights per day; spare batteries/drones or an additional station may be needed.
• Level V: about 8–12 flights per day under a rotation plan; two overlapping stations are proposed.

Controlled event triggers

• Prioritize events such as fire/smoke, restricted-area intrusion, excavation or fights according to the sector configuration.
• Require confirmation across multiple frames, a second camera or an operator before launch where appropriate.
• An operator remains the final decision-maker in confirmation mode; every launch or skipped launch is logged.