Our Drone Blog

An animated bee wearing a cap and headphones is piloting a drone, with a colorful landscape in the background.
  

DRONE TECHNOLOGY IN MOSQUITO CONTROL

By: Benjamin P. Hays, UAV Coordinator

April 20, 2026

The use of drones is not just a trend—it is the future of mosquito control. As technology advances, drones now offer longer battery life, higher payload capacities, and improved imaging systems. In some parts of the world, drones are even used to release harmless, lab-bred mosquitoes that help reduce disease-carrying populations.

South Walton Mosquito Control uses several drones in daily operations. Drones bridge the gap between small ground crews and large, expensive helicopters, providing a sustainable and costeffective option for our district. Using GPS-guided mapping, drones deliver precise applications to targeted areas. They are highly maneuverable, quiet, and unobtrusive, making them especially suitable for use around residential neighborhoods.

A drone is flying over trees and a house under a cloudy sky.

Our district currently operates three drones, with a fourth scheduled to arrive in April 2026. We use two treatment drones and one surveillance drone. The fourth will be equipped with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology to locate standing water in hard-to-reach areas. All drone pilots are FAA licensed and certified by FDACS (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) to conduct aerial treatment operations.

A person is preparing a drone on a wooden deck near a body of water, likely for a project or inspection.
               Treatment Drone, PV-40X

Our treatment drones are American-made PV-40X models developed by Central UAS in Daytona Beach, Florida. These six-motor drones carry up to 40 pounds and allow treatments in locations that may be unsafe or inaccessible for ground crews, reducing the risk of injury from hazardous terrain. These drones do not take photos or record video during treatment operations.

Our surveillance drone, a Skydio X10, is used for mapping, surveillance, and 3D scanning—tasks essential to mosquito control operations. It helps identify areas where standing water may be present. This model is also widely used by law enforcement, fire departments, emergency management agencies, and military units. It features wide-angle, narrow-angle, and thermal cameras that provide valuable operational data.  

The image features a drone used for surveillance, with specifications on detection, recognition, and identification distances.
                                                                                                                                              Surveillance Drone, Skydio X10

The newest addition to our fleet will be an Inspired Flight 800 equipped with LiDAR technology. LiDAR uses laser pulses to measure distances and create detailed 3D maps. This technology can filter out vegetation, allowing us to detect hidden standing water and better target mosquito breeding sites.

The image features a drone and two maps: one showing a colorful landscape and the other a grayscale elevation model.
                                                                                                                                                         Inspired Flight800 with LiDar technology.

If you see our team operating drones in your area, feel free to stop and ask questions. We are happy to explain what we are doing and why treatments are occurring in that location. Safety information for all products we use is available on request, and if we do not have an answer, we will make sure to find one.