Thursday, October 15, 2026
What happens when drones become more than flying cameras—and start carrying sophisticated geophysical sensors into places people, vehicles and vessels cannot safely reach?
In this episode of The Geoscience Channel, host Myrna Staring speaks with Alexey Dobrovolskiy, CEO and CTO of SPH Engineering, about the rapidly evolving role of drones in geophysical surveying.
Alexey explains how the loss of a €50,000 drone in the mountains helped inspire the development of smarter mission-planning software—and how a request to integrate ground-penetrating radar opened the door to applications ranging from mineral exploration and unexploded-ordnance detection to bathymetry, offshore-wind surveys and work on the Greenland ice sheet.
The conversation examines where drone-based surveys can provide safer access, better spatial coverage and more consistent data—and where flight endurance, weather, sensor physics and regulation still impose limits. Alexey also reveals why obtaining permission for beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations remains one of the industry’s greatest barriers.
Along the way, he shares stories from some remarkable field projects, including a search connected to Amelia Earhart that uncovered an entirely different piece of aviation history.
Looking ahead, Alexey describes a future of longer flights, greater autonomy and “one-button” surveys that make advanced data acquisition accessible to many more users. He also offers a valuable lesson for technology developers: listen closely to customers, test assumptions early and avoid solving problems nobody actually has.
Watch the full episode to discover how drones are expanding the geophysicist’s toolkit—and why their greatest impact may be in the difficult spaces between traditional survey methods.
