WILDLABS logoWildlabs.net : The conservation technology network

WILDLABS logoWildlabs.net : The conservation technology network

discussion / Drones  / 27 May 2026

real‑time drone‑based telemetry tracking on forest‑dwelling bats in Europe

Groups

Hello, I am a forest ecologist in France, and together with my colleagues we conduct ground‑based telemetry on forest‑dwelling bats. We equip them with VHF transmitters (sometimes coupled with GPS when weight allows) to identify their roosts, movements, and home ranges. We had been in contact with the company Wildlife Drones to improve our tracking work, especially in rugged terrain, but unfortunately they have ceased operations.

We are therefore looking for an equivalent solution that would allow us to locate transmitters using a drone equipped with a receiver. Do you know of any other companies or systems in Europe that provide real‑time drone‑based telemetry tracking? Thank you in advance for your help.



Chirs Kochanny
@ckochanny
Chief Wildlife Biologist and CEO of Vectronic Aerospace Inc. with 25 plus years of biologging experience holding roles with three other telemetry manufactures. He was the first to deploy GPS store-on-board collars on white-tailed deer. He also worked for USGS, USFWS and IA DNR.

29 May 2026 5:08pm

Hi Garin, 

Try Altitude Tracking https://altitudeconservation.com/

There stuff is way better than Wildlife Drones for tracking multiple VHF transmitters.  Speak with Dr. Chris Muller about their system.

Good luck,

Chris

Vectronic Aerospace

www.vectronic-aerospace.com

 

Chris Muller
@cmuller
Chief Wildlife Biologist & CEO of Altitude Conservation, developing conservation tech. Deployed the first drone multi-frequency VHF tracking system in 2015. With 25+ years’ experience as a wildlife biologist and telemetry developer at NPS, DOC (NZ) +3 other telemetry companies

11 June 2026 5:42am

Hi Garin

 

We have a well-engineered and proven system for aerial VHF tracking of animals. The Multi-Track system can be attached to a drone or piloted aircraft. It can track 500 frequencies simultaneously, and does not require triangulation, or manual drone flying. 

For more info, and to get in touch, please see our website:

https://altitudeconservation.com/ 

 

Good luck with your fieldwork!

Chris

Robin Poches
@Robin_Poches
Pochitroniks
Commenter level 1

16 June 2026 7:36pm

Hey Garin, how are you?

you should contact https://wildlifedrones.net/ they have rented the equipment (payload and drones) in the past to track pangolins, bats and many other species. But I've heard the they are closing bussiness since Trump's budget cut in the USA since this country was their first client. But I think that they may help you out getting in touch with you with the researchers.

My tech advices are, what's the species? weight? attachment method? how long do you want to track? you should use the higher LOS of the transmitter, 40 Km LOS (Line of Sight) is the higher and since you are interested in tracking fossorial species, the LOS will be affected by the obstacles (ground density, forest density, topography etc), so the LOS will be like 5% up to 10% in the field, its about 200 mt up to 4 Km

Also try contact 

https://www.apicalis.com/

 

If you are trying building up your payload and drone here's a link that may help you out

https://uavrt.nau.edu/

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.13261