Overview

Our geoscience courses have benefited from plenty of course development, especially lately as we have moved online and virtual. I recently was able to invest SESE course fees to build out our capabilities for high resolution mapping and 3D work. Javier Colunga built a nice and fast Windows workstation, and we also purchased a Mavic Pro 2 sUAS system. The descriptions are below for reference.

Workstation description

We have been building these "gaming" style fast desktops for a while and this latest incarnation is powerful for graphics intensive and 3D work, especially structure from motion photogrammetry (e.g., Johnson, et al., 2014 and GSA short course).
Here is a short description of the hardware (cost approx. $5k):

CPU: Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32-core/64-thread (with a premium cpu cooling solution)
Main Memory: 128GB DDR4 3600
Graphics Card: GeForce RTX 2080 Super
Storage: Samsung 1TB M.2 NVME OS drive, additional 4TB hard drive
Operating system: windows 10 Enterprise
Input: Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse
Monitor: HP 27 inch 1440P

Here is the main software installed:

Google Earth Pro
Matlab R2020a
Camtasia 2020
Cloudcompare
Agisoft Metashape
ArcGIS 10.7
QGIS

Here is more description, how to connect remotely, and a sign up sheet. LINK

sUAS description

For SESE, we have purchased a DJI Mavic 2 Pro (actually the FlyMore combo so it has a nice case and 3 batteries). This is a nice mapping and aerial documentation system.

Devin Keating has been helping to get the system into production mode. He has built a nice documentation of the system and its use. He also registered it with the FAA so we have a tail number. See this LINK. To operate it, one should have the part 107 Remote Pilot certification. And, there are ASU oversight requirements as well.