AgEagle Inches up on Japan Developments

AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. (NYSE: UAVS) shares took on strength Thursday. The Wichita, Kansas-based company, a leading provider of advanced drone and aerial imaging solutions, today announced the sale of a RedEdge-P Dual to Shizuoka University for researchers looking into the effect environmental factors have on Japan’s diverse Alpine forests on the country’s main island of Honshu.“Ground observations are precise, but do have limits,” said Professor Atsuhiro Iio, professor of Agriculture, Forest Science and Bioresource Sciences at Shizuoka University in Japan. “Drone-based multispectral cameras like the MicaSense RedEdge-P Dual can effectively and easily scan large areas of forest. By augmenting our ground observations with data from this 10-band camera, we can identify tree species with unique defense mechanisms to droughts, disease and invasive fauna. Monitoring forest status with multispectral imaging allows us to better understand and predict how forests function under global warming and severe drought. This approach has broad applicability, not only to Japanese forests, but also to forest ecosystems around the world.”By studying the diverse, deciduous forests of the Japanese Alps, professor Iio hopes to predict and counteract the effects of drought on ancient Japanese forests accustomed to high levels of rainfall. This research can benefit countries with forests suffering the impacts of invasive pests such as the European bark beetle, which have killed millions of cubic meters of spruce.UAVS shares acquired two cents, or 1.7%, to $1.22.