Meraque Services Sdn Bhd CEO, Razalee Ismail
Named the 19th best drone technology service provider in the world by Drone Industry Insights, Meraque Services Sdn Bhd is a local dronetech company specialising in drone-based facility management.
The startup has expertise in drone asset management and inspection, drone surveying and mapping, drone training and development, drone security and surveillance, and drone photography and videography.
In this week’s Global Drone Conference Sponsor Highlight, we interviewed Meraque’s CEO, Razalee Ismail.
1. What will you be exhibiting at the Global Drone Conference & Exhibition?
Meraque will be exhibiting our Hybrid Drone in the agriculture sector – Blanket Spraying Hybrid Drone & Spot Spraying Hybrid Drone, Enterprise Software and Hardware Solutions for Palm Plantation Management – Software PASS & Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV), alongside Artificial Intelligence Software & Drone Solutions for Telecommunications Infrastructure Inspection and commercial Drone Delivery solutions.
2. How has drone technology improved yield for companies in agriculture?
Drone technology offered by Meraque are the first of its kind and is capable of saving time for agriculture companies in yield management.
With the Precision Agriculture System Solution (PASS) software used by Meraque, it is able to digitalize the monitoring and tracking of yield thus improving its time consumption and human labour cost. This is something that clients especially in the palm oil sector really look forward to as we expand within the local market.
3. Please brief us about the products/services/solutions you provide to your customers and how do they get value out of it.
Our in-house built hybrid drones are powered by the battery to run the motors while the fuel is used to generate power for the batteries. We have introduced two types of hybrid drones, namely the Blanket Spraying Hybrid Drone and Spot Spraying Hybrid Drone that can carry up to 16L of smart liquid tank 45 minutes flight time. This allows the drone to spray up to 1.5 hectares per day, two times faster than using human labour to execute the jobs.
The drones combined with our Precision Agriculture System Solution software (PASS) will be able to integrate precision farming devices, agricultural iO, and use artificial intelligence to build scientific crop models, digitalize farming logs and achieve in-season crop growth objectives.
4. From a 2015 survey, it’s said that low farm income was the biggest barrier to adoption of precision technology. How do you overcome this?
The cost to adopt precision technology is now more affordable as more solution providers have emerged to offer these technologies to farmers. The government also has played its part in encouraging both solution providers and adopters to utilise the latest technologies in increasing the productivity and efficiency in agriculture.
From Meraque’s side, it is vital that we are able to assemble and develop our own technology as we would be able to manage the cost of manpower, equipment, technology and maintenance while we provide services to the end users.
5. What are your growth plans for the next 12 months?
With the aim of implementing an Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV) in the oil palm plantation field, it will help to reduce the manpower needed and improve the consistency of spraying and fertilising/manuring of the plants.
With a high-power computing module as the brain, it is able to navigate its way autonomously. In addition to manoeuvring easily between plants, it can analyse its surroundings and make decisions to fertilise plants, using high precision location points to set boundaries while navigating autonomously and determining its own route.
The load capacity for a small-scale prototype AGV is 150L equivalent 150Kg for strip spraying, while the full-scale prototype will have at least 500L of load capacity to support both strips spraying and fertilising system.
Multiple AGVs can be develop using swarm technology and capable to navigate itself to complete the mission on time.
The project is carried out in phases. Phase one will cover the AGV navigation spraying system in a complex environment such as the oil palm plantation. In this phase, data is collected and to analyse tree patterns and using artificial intelligence learning to make sure all the trees are sprayed.
Phase two sees the integration of the high payload capacity with the manuring system while the last phase will integrate the AGV Swarm Technology system for larger scale operations deployment.
6. Do you have a message you would like to share with our readers?
The heart of our vision is to deliver positive transformational solutions through the adoption of technology and adherence to sustainable practices.
Through our solutions, we look forward to provide at least 500 new job opportunities by 2023 to the youth in the digital technology industries thus empowering them with the latest skills and knowledge.
MERAQUE WILL BE EXHIBITING AT THE INNOVATE TECH SHOW 2022 HELD AT MATRADE KUALA LUMPUR FROM 19-21 OCTOBER 2022 WHERE THE GLOBAL DRONE CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION IS CO-LOCATED.
MERAQUE WILL ALSO BE SPEAKING ON THE MAIN STAGE AND WILL BE HIRING AT THE DRONE CAREER BREAKOUT ROOM DURING THE EVENT. REGISTER HERE FOR YOUR FREE PASS AND EVENT UPDATES.
