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Drones / Feed

Used to pick up signals from tracking gear on the ground, collect images of wildlife and habitats from the air, gather acoustic data with specialized hydrophones, or even collect snot samples from whales' blowholes, drones are capable of collecting high-resolution data quickly, noninvasively, and at relatively low cost.

careers

Conservation Technology Research Internship

Boost cons tech capacity at an international NGO! Fauna & Flora International is offering a paid three-month internship to consolidate and share best practices for the application of emerging hardware and software...

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event

Become a Scientist Pilot!

Many drone training programs are conducted as though they are an end unto themselves, with becoming a remote pilot representing the primary goal. Our approach to aviation focuses on a set of inspirational environmental...

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discussion

A Triphibian Surveillance Vehicle

Hey all!I am Ayush, a core team member of my school's Robotics Club (Center For Innovation, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras). There is one project - The Triphibian - we are...

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discussion

Cofounder needed

Hey all ! if you have an idea that you want to turn into a company- I would love to help. I have enough hardware/software knowledge (was an engineer) to be the cofounder of a...

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What about developing a drone conservation training course for field conservation staff teaching specific skills for specific research needs. 

How exciting @Joyeeta ! I'd love to learn more about the companies and projects you worked on, can you share more info about them?

I once chatted to an entrepreneurial advisor with a couple of my conservation tech ideas, and he said my ideas are good/impactful but don't make for a product worth millions of $$$ of turnover per year that would interest investors. So I am very curious about how you got your conservation tech businesses off the ground!

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discussion

Airships for Wildlife Management and Research

I am Shivam Garg and I work with Cloudline. Cloudline designs and operates carbon-free autonomous airships (link to the video) that combine the lifting power of helium with...

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Hi

 

I can help...I think I have a few ideas where this can work.

 

Thanks

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discussion

Drone autopilot for logging position and orientation?

We're doing aerial photography for monitoring surveys of large mammals - but our 'drone' is actually a crewed Cessna or microlight with oblique cameras on the wing...

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Hi,

Since you already have a workable system, it seems to me a simple next step can be to have the RPi trigger the shutter via an MC-DC2 cable (this hack can help).  This way the RPi commands the camera instead of the camera informing the RPi, and you can reuse most of the code you already have.  Not to knock the PX4 which I have no experience with, but this incremental approach might make more sense in your situation than a radical change.

>>>Ideally I'd be able to log angle/acceleration data (IMU), GPS (XYZ)
>>>camera-trigger events (hotshoe of camera) to an SD card. 
The Pixhawk class of autopilots is a good choice. All of that data and much more can be logged, but not all of the hardware versions have the ability to use the hotshoe as an input to trigger logging the position and attitude when the photo is taken. All of them can log when the command to take the photo is sent to the camera but not all of them have the ability to use the hotshoe as an input. The original Pixhawk design is getting pretty old though. We have moved to newer versions that have more memory available for the flight code.
You can use a Cube with a standard carrier board. https://cubepilot.org/#/ecosystem/wiring
and ArduPilot https://ardupilot.org/ to log this data
>>>However, I'm concerned about how difficult it would be to configure the autopilot to 'arm' and start logging at the beginning of a session, since it's not connected to motors or servos. 
That is not difficult at all. Your setup is very common. No need to be connected to any motors or servos in order to arm or start and stop logging.
>>> and power needs are simpler (USB input).
Don't power it off the USB in flight. Use one of the power inputs instead. a) USB connectors are not super reliable and b) we use the presense of USB power to indicate it is "powered on the bench" and there are some differences in functions between "in flight" and "on the bench"
Cheers,
Craig Elder
ArduPilot Community Manager
http://www.ardupilotinitiative.com/whoweare

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article

Technical Difficulties: Cleared for Takeoff

Eric Becker
In their three-part interview from our new series Technical Difficulties, Colby Loucks and Eric Becker share the failures they've encountered and learned from throughout six years of working on the WWF-US Wildlife Crime...

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article

Technical Difficulties: Understanding the Realities

Colby Loucks
In their three-part interview from our new series Technical Difficulties, Colby Loucks and Eric Becker share the failures they've encountered and learned from throughout six years of working on the WWF-US Wildlife Crime...

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article

New Papers: Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation

Remote Sensing in Ecology & Conservation
ZSL's Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation journal  has released new research for early view before inclusion in an issue. See the full list of recent open access research papers on RSEC.

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funding

Funding Opportunity: COVID-19 Science Fund

National Geographic
National Geographic is offering funding up to up to $50,000 for conservationists conducting research on how the pandemic has impacted wildlife and conservation work.  If you are interested in researching aspects of the...

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discussion

Cargo Drones for Conservation

Hi Fellow WildLabs Members: Does anyone have experience or knowledge regarding using freight or cargo drones for conservation? We're Involved in a conservation project in...

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Nice, where in Zambia are you working? Do you need to transport a lot and regularly?

Hi Egil,

The group I'm involved with works with remote communities in/around North and South Luangwa National Parks and there is some expansion happening to community areas around Kafue National Park. I think they're interested in regular transport, but I'm not sure exactly how much and how regular, I need to collect more details on the specifics here.

Thank you! Rosemary

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discussion

Effect of drone flights on wild animals

Hi all, I've just picked up a Mavic Pro to see if it can help me with gathering behavioural data on wolves that we are tracking. The idea would be to fly to the location of...

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This recent systematic review might be of interest: 'Unmanned aircraft systems as a new source of disturbance for wildlife: A systematic review'

Abstract

The use of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS; also known as “drones”) for professional and personal-leisure use is increasing enormously. UAS operate at low altitudes (<500 m) and in any terrain, thus they are susceptible to interact with local fauna, generating a new type of anthropogenic disturbance that has not been systematically evaluated. To address this gap, we performed a review of the existent literature about animals’ responses to UAS flights and conducted a pooled analysis of the data to determine the probability and intensity of the disturbance, and to identify the factors influencing animals’ reactions towards the small aircraft. We found that wildlife reactions depended on both the UAS attributes (flight pattern, engine type and size of aircraft) and the characteristics of animals themselves (type of animal, life-history stage and level of aggregation). Target-oriented flight patterns, larger UAS sizes, and fuel-powered (noisier) engines evoked the strongest reactions in wildlife. Animals during the non-breeding period and in large groups were more likely to show behavioral reactions to UAS, and birds are more prone to react than other taxa. We discuss the implications of these results in the context of wildlife disturbance and suggest guidelines for conservationists, users and manufacturers to minimize the impact of UAS. In addition, we propose that the legal framework needs to be adapted so that appropriate actions can be undertaken when wildlife is negatively affected by these emergent practices.

Mulero-Pázmány M, Jenni-Eiermann S, Strebel N, Sattler T, Negro JJ, Tablado Z (2017) Unmanned aircraft systems as a new source of disturbance for wildlife: A systematic review. PLoS ONE 12(6): e0178448. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178448

 

Hi all

I would like to know your opinion about this footage:

https://vimeo.com/196847435

I fly drones in this place far away of birds for not disturbing them.

And then National Geographic fly a drone very close to birds to have an excellent footage.

You don't think that they are clearly disturbing them?

Hi!

Interesting subject indeed.

In most cases where UAVs are used in nature "documentaries" it is pretty obvious to a behavioural biologist that the animals were negatively affected.

I know that Sophie Gilbert collected bad examples of wildlife UAV harassment/disturbance at one stage.

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article

WWF: Protecting Ferrets with Drones and Vaccines

Kristy Bly
How can drones and ATVs protect black-footed ferrets from the plague? In this case study from WWF's Northern Great Plains Program, Black-footed Ferret Restoration Manager Kristy Bly discusses how delivering vaccines to...

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