Elevation & Drainage Mapping
Laser leveling plan save 25% water
Mission briefing
Elevation & Drainage Mapping sits in the pre-season stage of the crop cycle. It runs on a m350 + l2 or ebee carrying lidar l2 + rgb, and in Bihar the window is oct for rabi, may for kharif at a frequency of 1x. Expect roughly 120ha/hr per sortie, and stand the drone down outside the wind <10m/s envelope — flying past it wastes chemical and risks drift onto neighbouring plots. Readings are interpreted through DSM 5cm, so the payload has to output those bands rather than plain RGB. Laser leveling plan save 25% water On a medium-difficulty mission like this, the cost driver is not the drone — it is the number of return trips and the pilot hours around them, which is what the payback maths on the economics page turns on.
What you need
- Payload
- LiDAR L2 + RGB
- Drone class
- M350 + L2 or eBee
- Vegetation indices
- DSM 5cm
When to fly (Bihar)
- Timing
- Oct for Rabi, May for Kharif
- Frequency
- 1x
- Coverage
- 120ha/hr
- Weather envelope
- Wind <10m/s
Drones that run this mission
What this pass costs to buy in
Custom-hire rates operators actually charge for scouting work. Use these as the benchmark before you decide whether to own a drone or hire one for elevation & drainage mapping.
| State | Job | ₹/acre | ₹/ha |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bihar | NDVI Scout | ₹150 | ₹370 |
Before you fly this mission
- DGCA rules for agricultural flying →
Green-zone limits, 120 m ceiling and the paperwork a spray sortie needs.
- Kisan Drone subsidy 2026 →
Up to 100% support for FPOs and CHCs buying the drone that runs this pass.
- Agri drone price list India →
What the machines capable of this mission cost, ex-showroom.
- Pilot licence cost & RPTO list →
You cannot fly this commercially without a DGCA remote pilot certificate.