Note: Do NOT fly within 2 hours of sunrise or sunset.

Thermal Imagery

All IR inspections require Obliques to be flown. For more information on how to capture Obliques, see here.

Ground Sample Distance

Image Resolution

640×512 pixels or greater.

Field of View

Horizontal field of view 30-50 degrees.

Gimbal Pitch

Perpendicular to solar modules. See this video for more information.

Overlap

70% front overlap (direction of flight) and 20% side overlap.

Image Alignment

The horizontal edge of the image aligns with the long edge of the solar rows.*
*See special instructions for fixed-wing drones

File Format

Radiometric JPEG (R-JPEG).
Metadata must contain GPS location, relative altitude, gimbal pitch, gimbal yaw, gimbal roll and timestamp. Do not include split IR/RGB imagery when uploading data to Raptor Maps.

Image Quality

Imagery must be free from motion blur.
Imagery must contain minimal glare.