Research
Selected Research Examples
"A direct geolocation method for aerial imaging surveys of invasive plants."
Rodriguez III, R., D. M. Jenkins, J. Leary, and R. Perroy. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology (2024): 1-16.
"Automated Hyperspectral Feature Selection and Classification of Wildlife Using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles."
McCraine, Daniel, Sathishkumar Samiappan, Leon Kohler, Timo Sullivan, and David J. Will. Remote Sensing 16, no. 2 (2024): 406.
"Measuring the Adoption of Drones: A Case Study of the United States Agricultural Aircraft Sector."
Rodriguez III, Roberto. Eng 4, no. 1 (2023): 977-983.
"Aerial branch sampling to detect forest pathogens."
Perroy, Ryan L., Philip Meier, Eszter Collier, Marc A. Hughes, Eva Brill, Timo Sullivan, Thomas Baur, Nina Buchmann, and Lisa M. Keith. Drones 6, no. 10 (2022): 275.
"Herbicide ballistic technology for unmanned aircraft systems."
Rodriguez, Roberto, James JK Leary, and Daniel M. Jenkins. Robotics 11, no. 1 (2022): 22.
"Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Surveillance and Control of Invasive Plants in Remote, Threatened Ecosystems of the Hawaiian Islands."
Rodriguez III, Roberto. PhD diss., University of Hawai'i at Manoa, (2022).
"Spatial patterns of ‘ōhi ‘a mortality associated with rapid ‘ōhi ‘a death and ungulate presence."
Perroy, Ryan L., Timo Sullivan, David Benitez, R. Flint Hughes, Lisa M. Keith, Eva Brill, Karma Kissinger, and Daniel Duda. Forests 12, no. 8 (2021): 1035.
"Comparing interpretation of high-resolution aerial imagery by humans and artificial intelligence to detect an invasive tree species."
Rodriguez III, Roberto, Ryan L. Perroy, James Leary, Daniel Jenkins, Max Panoff, Travis Mandel, and Patricia Perez. Remote Sensing 13, no. 17 (2021): 3503.
"Perspective: Agricultural aerial application with unmanned aircraft systems: Current regulatory framework and analysis of operators in the United States."
Rodriguez, Roberto. Transactions of the ASABE 64, no. 5 (2021): 1475-1481.
"Examining the utility of visible near-infrared and optical remote sensing for the early detection of Rapid ‘Ōhi ‘a Death."
Perroy, Ryan L., Marc Hughes, Lisa M. Keith, Eszter Collier, Timo Sullivan, and Gabriel Low. Remote Sensing 12, no. 11 (2020): 1846.
"Enhancing invasive species control with unmanned aerial systems and herbicide ballistic technology."
Rodriguez, Roberto, James JK Leary, and Daniel M. Jenkins. In 2017 ASABE Annual International Meeting, p. 1. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, (2017).
"Assessing the impacts of canopy openness and flight parameters on detecting a sub-canopy tropical invasive plant using a small unmanned aerial system."
Perroy, Ryan L., Timo Sullivan, and Nathan Stephenson. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 125 (2017): 174-183.
"The evolving agricultural landscape of post-plantation Hawai ‘i."
Perroy, Ryan L., Jeffrey Melrose, and Sylvana Cares. Applied Geography 76 (2016): 154-162.
Experience and Services
Our team represents decades of combined research experience in Hawaiʻi, and have conducted and led significant research efforts and projects for county, state, federal , and non-profit organizations.
Together, we have published numerous scientific research papers related to advanced drone systems and operations, forest monitoring and health, species detection, invasive species control, agricultural applications and geographies, and conservation focused technological advancements. See below for examples of our research.
We believe we can develop, lead, or support critical research efforts involving drone technologies and applications in Hawaiʻi, and seek to partner with other local researchers and institutions to utilize our significant expertise and innovate drone capacities to forward scientific understandings directly benefiting Hawaiʻi’s natural resources and its communities.