It's no longer science-fiction.

Remote control drones are now being used by farmers to more effectively run their businesses, says Jonathan MacDougall of needITwantITgadgIT.co.nz.

'Using drone technology with autonomous capabilities in farming is becoming more common, thanks to specialised software for livestock counting and tracking, to vegetation growth tracking,” says Jonathan.

Sencorp Mark 2 is ideal for this use. It is a fully loaded drone with built-in wireless close circuit TV navigational camera, pilot-worn first-person view goggles with live on screen heads-up display, which presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoint.

It has ground-to-air data link for status reporting, ground GPS tracking and autonomous mission command and control.

Running a dual GPS, carbon fibre props on top of 1000KV brush-less motors and 40 amp electronic speed controllers gives the Mark 2 an impressive play load capacity of about two kilograms. It has a flight time of 10 minutes on 33000amp/h, with a speed up to 64km/h and total range of two kilometres.

The Mark 2 can also be equipped with a two-axis camera gimbal, and Jonathan says it has been used for high quality filming for everything from video production to conservation and farming, and aerial photos for real estate marketing.

'The airframe has been designed to be adapted with many types of electronic sensors to meet a wide variety of needs. We can customise the aircraft for any need possible.

'Small, lightweight and exceptional video transmission range gives the Mark 2 its edge. The on-board computer system down-links to the ground station, giving the pilot vital information such as GPS location, live video, real-time heading and altitude information, and can be programmed to follow any path set,” says Jonathan.

'Locking in locations via waypoints is as easy as drawing a line where you want the aircraft to fly to. Each way-point can be programmed to carry out a task. Such as circle, loiter, land, take photographs. Sencorp is the most inexpensive and feature-rich drone provider in NZ.”

The drone comes with full training for each pilot, on how to use the ground station software, tips on flying and how to re-calibrate the system if needed.