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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Are you ready for this year's #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge? In anticipation, we're counting down our ten favourite entries from last year. Do you think you can top these?
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Drone program manager at Island Conservation - https://www.islandconservation.org/drone-program-coordinator/ Senior Specialist, Flight... |
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Drones | 2 years 9 months ago | |
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... |
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Drones | 3 years 3 months ago | |
Here is a very interesting conference with different tech approaches about Automated Forest Restoration where we collaborated with our... |
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Drones | 3 years 3 months ago | |
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... |
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Drones | 3 years 3 months ago | |
Hi Wildlabbers, This week is the last episode of Tech Tutors Season 2! Elizabeth Bondi tackled the question "How do I... |
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AI for Conservation, Drones | 3 years 3 months ago | |
Hello Aurelie, Thank you for sharing this info. I just downloaded the brochure and I am sure I will find it very useful. I have senseFly's eBee Classic, with RGB,... |
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Drones | 3 years 4 months ago | |
Hi Wildlabbers, Tech Tutors Season 2 continues with our fifth episode, featuring Shashank Srinivasan who will tackle the question... |
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Drones | 3 years 4 months ago | |
The UFO project is an H2020 programme dedicated to supporting the development of innovative products and services by integrating ... |
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Drones | 3 years 4 months ago | |
Hi Isla, That's something that the drone world really needs to take on because there can be a world of difference in drone size, prop types and motor types to reduce impact... |
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Drones | 3 years 5 months ago | |
Hello Shashank, I found your post very interesting - congratulations on looking at the ethical side of this technology! One of the reasons that our organisation,... |
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Drones | 3 years 7 months ago | |
Very cool, thanks for sharing, Adrian! We'll put this up on Twitter as well. |
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Drones | 3 years 7 months ago | |
Hi all, Firstly, I'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended my Tech Tutors presentation last month. And secondly, thank you for your patience in allowing... |
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Biologging, Drones | 3 years 8 months ago |
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Thanks so much!!
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What about developing a drone conservation training course for field conservation staff teaching specific skills for specific research needs.
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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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Some folks doing work in this space - Wildlife Drones, Conservation Drones, UAV Wild, AfricanDrones, Oceans Unmanned, Geonadir.
Airships for Wildlife Management and Research
9 December 2021 7:13am
15 January 2022 6:23am
Sure! Let's chat.
15 January 2022 6:24am
Our Aircraft is certified in South Africa. And we are working with multiple Civil Aviation Authorities around the world to get flight approvals. We are open to discussing the projects in the meantime.
7 June 2022 1:04pm
Hi
I can help...I think I have a few ideas where this can work.
Thanks
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Drone autopilot for logging position and orientation?
9 November 2021 6:45am
20 November 2021 8:08am
Looks like a good product - and now have an Artemis OpenLog board on the way for testing as well. WIll report back!
3 December 2021 2:55pm
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.
14 January 2022 2:49pm
>>>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!