Gender

Male

Location

Oaxaca

About Me:

See also: www.drones-de-oaxaca - My name is Ralph Eichenberger. I am 55 years old, I lived and worked for 14 years in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. I am married and we have a daughter 8 years old. Originally I studied environmental analytical chemistry as laboratory assistant at the Polytechnic Zürich (ETH), and continued late nineties with the study of environmental expert and ecology. In Oaxaca I've been working for 12 years as an independent environmental expert with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), especially with aerial and satellite imagery on different projects. These are always carried out in close cooperation and participation of communities and include social and environmental planning, biodiversity, forest management and hydrology. Besides my experience in GIS I am busy creating a mobile laboratory for water analysis. In addition, I run a mushroom growing laboratory within the framework of urban agriculture. Currently, I am about to use drones as described above. This includes the whole method development and many test flights. I help to build a group which is capable to collect remote sensing data with low cost drones in almost any place and at any time in Mexico. It goes without saying that we want to network globally, with the aim to exchange data and information and to work together on projects.

Please tell us a bit about your UAV interest

Drones in services for environmental protection, monitoring, mapping and observation of agricultural cultivation. Civilian drones have great potential in many different areas because it can move quickly on uneven or rough terrain and overcome any obstacle offering bird's eye imagery and other information obtained by different sensors. The use of this technology facilitates fast access to spatial data. For this reason it is interesting to science in the field of ecology and environment, for farmers, for construction work, for groups and organizations with few financial resources and projects of the population in rural areas. Drones can be used in forest ecology, water management, planning and monitoring of sustainable agriculture, environmental planning and projects in the context of climate change (quantification of carbon sinks). They are also suitable for fast data retrieval in disaster situations such as forest fires, hurricanes and floods.

Hometown:

Oaxaca