EYE IN THE SKY: Students use drone in seeking traffic solution
Published 3:42 pm Thursday, February 5, 2015
On the fly: A drone flies above Clanton Elementary School last week, capturing images that would be analyzed in an effort to develop a solution to traffic congestion in the area.
Schools officials are hoping an innovative approach can yield a new solution to an old problem.
Instructors and students from the STEM Academy at LeCroy Career Technical Center have used a drone to capture images of congested traffic near Clanton schools. The images are being analyzed in hopes of producing ideas for fixing the problem.
“We’ve challenged the students,” Superintendent Tommy Glasscock said. “If you were faced with this, how would you solve this problem. We’re hoping to come up with some solution.”
Each morning and afternoon, the mass of vehicles driven by parents dropping off or picking up children from Clanton elementary and intermediate schools stalls traffic on Temple Road.
Some parents park on the side of the road instead of attempting to fight their way to loading zones.
Bird’s-eye view: This photograph is an example of an image taken by a camera mounted on drone that students are using to help develop a proposed solution traffic congestion around Clanton schools in the mornings and afternoon.
Jason Griffin, transportation supervisor for the Chilton County Board of Education, said enrollment at Clanton Elementary School was 750 as of November 2014, while Clanton Intermediate School’s enrollment was 675.
“There’s just so many students going to those schools,” Griffin said. “If it wasn’t for law enforcement helping at those schools, we’d have a mess over there.”
Another area of concern is where traffic exits Chilton County High School onto Highway 31.
CCHS had an enrollment of 750 late last year.
In addition to personal vehicles, Griffin said 28 bus routes combined are required to transport students from the four Clanton schools (including Clanton Middle School).
STEM instructor Jay LeCroy said students have made multiple trips to the areas with the drone, which is a remote-controlled, unmanned aerial vehicle that can support a mounted camera.
Check up: Instructor Jason Sosa (left) and student Jadon Downs inspect the drone in between flights.
“What we could tell immediately is that there was no pattern to the release,” LeCroy said.
The students need more images from different angles but have been hampered by rainy and cold weather.
“We’re training, so we don’t like to fly with wind speeds over 10 miles an hour, or in the cold or rain,” LeCroy said.
One student holds the controls for the drone while another wears a pair of goggles that allows him to see the view from the drone. The student with the goggles acts as a navigator, relaying instructions to the classmate with the controls, sort of a pilot, about how to maneuver the drone to be able to capture the desired images.
In addition to mechanical skills, the exercise stresses cooperative learning, LeCroy said.
Instructor Jason Sosa is working with the students on the project. He helped build the county’s original drones, which were flown by Mustang Aeronautics at Isabella High School.
At the time, drones weren’t available “in the box;” instead, technology was pieced together from various sources.
“It was a lot of trial and error,” LeCroy said.
Now, one can buy the “latest and greatest” technology over the counter.
Several STEM students are capable of piloting the drones.
“As the technology progressed, we progressed with it,” LeCroy said.
That progression just might lead to a solution to a longstanding problem.
