In recent years, drone technologies have been explored for a range of applications in conservation including (but not limited to) mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking, and fire monitoring. The rise of customizable, open-source drones like those of ArduPilot and OpenROV hold promise for more effective conservation applications, and combined with other monitoring sensors and devices, they are capable of collecting high-resolution data quickly, noninvasively, and at relatively low cost.
However, challenges remain in putting these tools to use. A recent paper reviewing 256 conservation drone projects highlighted some of these major obstacles, ranging from unintended social and ecological consequences of drone operations to still prohibitive costs, both in terms of hardware and in terms of storing and processing large volumes of data. The longstanding challenge of power/battery life remains as well.
If you're considering trying out drones for yourself, and want to explore the possibilities and understand the major conversations happening around this technology, check out these beginner's resources and conversations from across the WILDLABS platform:
Three Resources for Beginners:
- Conservation Technology User Guidelines Issue 5: Drones, World Wildlife Fund | Drones, best practices, ethics, regulations, case studies
- WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones, Craig Elder, Dr. Claire Burke, and Gabriel Levin | Drones, thermal camera, wildlife crime, ML, biologging
- New Paper: Drones and Bornean Orangutan Distribution, Sol Milne | Drones, data analysis, citizen science, community science, primates
Three Forum Threads for Beginners:
- Curious about radio-tracking with drones? | Wildlife Drones, Biologging (5 replies)
- Drones for GIS Best practice Document | Adrian Hughes, Drones (10 replies)
- WWF Conservation Technology Series: Drones in Conservation | Aurélie Shapiro, Drones (7 replies)
Three Tutorials for Beginners:
- How do I use a drone to capture radio-tracking data? | Debbie Saunders, Tech Tutors
- How do I choose the right drone for my conservation goals? | Shashank Srinivasan, Tech Tutors
- How do I strategically allocate drones for conservation? | Elizabeth Bondi, Tech Tutors
Want to know more about using drones, and learn from experts in the WILDLABS community? Make sure you join the conversation in our Drones group!
*Header photo: Parker Levinson, Point Blue Conservation Science
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Cofounder of Outreach Robotics, I have a master in mechanical engineering and I thrive on developing new technology for field scientists using remote controlled robots.
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My name is Ann Wambui ,a conservationist working as a conservation officer at Mugie Conservancy. Am a Diploma holder specialized in Wildlife Management from the Wildlife Research Training Institute. Currently, am Distance Learning student at the Africa Nazarene University.
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On the way to Bridge technology and Nature.
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April Meetup: Can UAVs be used to measure forest quality?
24 May 2016 2:06pm
Great article talking about applying drones to scientific research
13 April 2016 6:30pm
Can UAVs be Used to Measure Forest Quality?
27 April 2016 12:00am
What to you is the biggest small problem with using UAVs in the field?
24 February 2016 7:47pm
5 April 2016 5:17pm
Wait, can you implement the range extenders in DJI systems? Is it costly in order to do so?
5 April 2016 5:58pm
jprobert,
Due to the proprietary nature of DJI, no the antenna tracker listed above cannot be added easily. Some engineering would need to go into hacking DJI. I'm not sure if you can get the telemetry data from DJI's app or ground control station. If so, one could parse the telemetry data and feed the GPS location into the open source tracker. You could also add another radio on board which transmits the GPS from the UAV. However, this is not the most efficient way and will cost some flight time for the added weight and power consumption.
Without hacking DJI or doing some digging, you could replace the antennas on the hand controller and UAV with higher gain antennas. This could improve range, but would limit the directions you could fly(directional antenna).
I will look into data provided by DJI and see what it possible.
26 April 2016 9:34am
I agree that it is likely that a dirigible would probably struggle in a lot of common mapping settings. People do use kites though. If you are interested in developing the flight control systems for dirigibles though I would also suggest that the best place to start is Ardupilot.
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10 March 2016 4:59pm
13 April 2016 10:56am
Hi Lot, great to see you here too.
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11 April 2016 6:52pm
12 April 2016 9:26am
Hi Sean,
Thanks for sharing your survey - is there a specific date you'll be closing the survey?
It'd be great if you could share the results of the survey here, as I (for one) will be quite interested to see what comes back.
Cheers,
Steph
Solar powered drone for conservation
16 March 2016 4:17pm
26 March 2016 12:03pm
Hey Gregg,
The project looks cool!
Just wondering how much you envisage the load carrying capacity of the drone to be? So being able to carry cameras, GPS, etc.
Also, do you see the price coming down later? $5000 sounds quite steep...
And finally, have you thought about creating it as an open source project? Since all the perks at this points are mostly symbolic, this way people would be more compelled to contribute.
Have a nice day,
Daniel
28 March 2016 12:27pm
Hi Daniel
Thanks for the interest in the project.
The load carrying capacity will be a few kgs. The battery I've sized at this stage is around 2kgs and should allow it to fly over night, but if this storage is increased in future it will impact the other loads. It is a tricky trade-off between flight time and capability.
I'm hoping to include both visual and thermal cameras on a gimbal but they will need to be miniature versions (adds to cost). The drone will definitely include GPS/autopilot and I'm also hoping to include onboard image processing in future so the drone can send an alarm when it notices something out of place. The video feed will also need to be encrypted so that poachers cannot use the drone as their own scouting vehicle.
The price tag of $5000 is for the first few prototypes and will come down with mass production and buying in bulk. I don't see it dropping much below $3000-4000 at current equipment prices though. For instance, the solar PV cells and charge circuit alone will cost around $1000 and the cost of even the cheap uncooled microbolometer therml imagers is over $1000. This isn't an average consumer drone but I've tried to keep the costs down as much as possible so it's feasible. I've also considered offering a stripped down drone of just the charging circuit and airframe so that people can add their own equipment and autopilot etc.
In terms of the perks, I tried to model this campaign after other campaigns that had a product already, which has been a mistake. The build diary included in some of the perks was my attempt at making it open source. I am considering reworking all the perks as it is unlikely to get any funding at this stage.
Thanks for the valuable feedback. Please let me know if you have any other questions or comments.
Cheers,
Gregg
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I believe with any DJI drones you can plot out the course of a drone and let it fly along the route with you controling the speed and height of the drone. The limitation is that it has to eb within a mile of the pilot.
Regards,
John
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3 May 2016 9:16am
Interesting. A case in point is the viral video making the rounds about drone fishing:
We've seen an array of inventive uses for drones of late across a whole range of endeavors, often having direct or indirect implications for natural resource management. Using drones to improve our ability to target/hunt species of concern seems at once both a natural progression and something new with a slightly ominous overtone. This strikes me as one of those moments where we might want to pause and take stock of what is going on with this technology and where it might go in the not too distant future.
Should we ignore this development? Work to restrict the use of drones for such activities? Support this? Regardless of where we might come down on this question, I can't help but fell that this notion of drone fishing certainly seems to have the sense of "crossing the Rubicon" somehow.
http://aarr.piratelab.org/news/drone-fishing/