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
Arribada Initiative
Director at Arribada, a UK-based conservation technology research & development organisation
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hi all,I've been quickly developing in-house drone services in the UK for Providence Ecological and have found some useful information for building a workflow with Rich... |
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Remote Sensing & GIS, Drones | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Hi folks, @Lars_Holst_Hansen asked this over on twitter and hasn't had any replies yet, so I thought it might be something that... |
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Drones | 1 year 3 months ago | |
Bluesky have a commercial tree crown dataset available covering most of Great Britain (England, Wales and parts of Scotland). There is a canopy layer with approximate outlines of... |
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Drones, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech | 1 year 11 months ago | |
Hi I can help...I think I have a few ideas where this can work. Thanks |
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Drones | 1 year 11 months ago | |
>>>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... |
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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.
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>>>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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Congrats on the milestone Carly and Gracie!