Group

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.

discussion

Able to Provide Movement Detection Software For Live Feed Video

Hi, I am an environmental engineer/consultant based in Melbourne, Australia. I have been talking with a company who specialises in Defence level technology for surveillance and...

4 0

Hi Ruth,

Thanks for your reply and the suggestion.

I contacted air shepherd and a few similar groups a few moths ago and they were all saying they are not interested due to the difficult drone regulations. Hopefully the regulations are not as arduous in Zimbabwe?

Please don't hesitate to ask if there is any technical information or assistance that I can provide to help with your project,

Jessi Hargrave

Hi Jessi,

I can check on the regulations for the specific area that is planned for a wildlife sanctuary in Zimbabwe.  What altitude does the drone need to operate in?  Does it require communications with any ground-based facility?

Ruth

Hi Ruth,

Thanks for your email.

Essentially the software is only an advantage if the drones are being flown at altitudes that provide a wide area and less visible detail (i.e. if the operator flies at 3000ft (instead of 1000ft) it will cover 9x the area and see very small detail (which the software can pick up but the human eye may miss). In addition the software needs video feed from a computer (it sort of overlays the video) so it is only useful for drones that are able to relay decent quality video feed to a ground control station where an operator is viewing it live. 

I have been advised that the drones that this is most useful for are likely to be at least 5kg (ie not the small toy ones that give video to a tablet).

I hope that helps? Please feel free to ask anything else and I will see what I can find out,

Jessi

See full post
article

#Tech4Wildlife 2020 Photo Challenge In Review

WILDLABS Team
2020 marked our fifth year holding our annual #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge, and our community made it a milestone to remember. Conservationists took to Twitter last week to share their best high-tech snapshots from...

0
See full post
funding

Call for Nominations: Tusk Conservation Awards

Tusk
The 2020 Tusk Awards are now accepting nominations of outstanding individuals who have made a significant impact on conservation in Africa. These nominations offer the rare and exciting opportunity to honor your peers...

0
See full post
event

Hawai'i Conservation Conference

Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance
The Hawai'i Conservation Conference is accepting abstracts in several categories, including emerging technological advances in the conservation field. This is an exciting opportunity to present your latest research to...

0
See full post
event

Hacking Climate Change - Coaction on Climate Crisis

COACT
COACT and Impact Hub are collaborating to present the opportunity to learn about how growing open technologies like drones and sensors can help activists in the fight against climate change. This free Barcelona-based...

0
See full post
discussion

LIDAR USA sensor

Hi everyone, I have a LIDAR sensor (LIDAR USA-Fagerman Technologies-Velodyne puck) and a DJI M-600  drone. I would like to use the two in conjunction. I believe that...

0
See full post
discussion

Thermal imaging, drones, and loggerhead sea turtles: a #tech4wildlife case study using FLIR's new Duo Pro R camera

Megan Ossmann (@meganossmann) shared with us a neat case study that is relevant to this group, In it, she documents her work with @Eric+Becker testing out FLIR...

10 0

Hi thermal people,

Just a quick heads up, but I am exploring some of Seek Thermal's (ex FLIR engineers I believe) new Mosaic Core modules by having a play with their developer's kit. I'll report back once I receive the equipment, but their intention is to release 320 x 240 cameras at very low cost. Note - they won't sell them individually, so a reseller will be necessary, but if they are cost effective at this resolution it could prove excellent for wildlife conservation use.

https://www.thermal.com/uploads/1/0/1/3/101388544/mosaic_core_specification_sheet.pdf

Cheers,

Alasdair

Cheers Al, and looking forward to hearing more about them. I am, as we speak, editing some thermal videos of wallaby behaviour near roads, specifically in relation to devices that activate  lights and sounds when a car is approaching (activated by vehicle headlights at night). Used a Flir 640R, but I reckon half that resolution would still be fine. Unfortunately, not much support for the devices themselves working as a deterrent/warning (although I have some ideas on how they could with additional stimuli), but the thermal camera works great for non-invasive observations!

See full post
discussion

Image Processing Advice

We've published a nice case study from @Sol+Milne about his work with Orangutan Nest Watch. As you can read in the full piece, he's concluded it by sharing...

3 0

I just thought I would mention that  i've been talking to Sol about his issue and also around multispectral and thermal sensors. No solution as yet to the issue but Sol will share some of his data with us so we can take a look.

Just wanted to mention I found a solution to my georeferencing issue. You can use the 'geosphere' package in R to identify the coordinates of specific coordinates in each image, based on the position of the central coordinate, bearing and distance to target pixel.

Feel free to drop me a line if you want a hand doing this!

Really useful to know about that package, thanks

See full post
event

WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones

WILDLABS Team
The second event in Season Three of the WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Series is now available to watch, along with notes that highlight key takeaways from the talks and discussion. In the meetup, Craig Elder, Dr. Claire Burke...

0
See full post
article

How do you weigh a live whale?

Fredrik Christiansen
How do we actually know a whale weighs 40 tonnes? After all, we can’t exactly capture an animal the size of a bus and simply put it on a scale. Fredrik Christiansen explains their new, non-invasive way of weighing...

1
See full post
discussion

[ARCHIVE] Promises and Pitfalls of Conservation Drones webinar (June 6)

Just flagging this upcoming webinar with Dr Lian pin Koh, author of the Conservation Drones book. Register here. This is part of the Conservation Biology Institute and...

2 0

Is the webinar recorded and uploaded somewhere?

See full post
event

Workshop: Drones in the Coastal Zone

SECOORA
A workshop to advance unoccupied aircraft systems in coastal ecosystem and fisheries management in the US Southeast and Caribbean. Beauford, North Carolina, March 31- April 2, 2020. 

0
See full post
article

From the Field: Melissa Schiele

In this From the Field interview, we talk to Melissa Schiele, a tech whiz, marine ecologist, and conservationist at the Zoological Society of London. She shares with us about her work helping to develop the first-ever...

0
See full post
discussion

Circular Polarising Filters for the Mavic 2 Pro

We're going to be conducting some marine mammal population surveys and would like to use polarising filters on our Mavic 2 Pro's camera to eliminate reflection. Does...

2 0

I like the stuff Polar Pro puts out. I think they are some of the best you can get and it is what I use. 

See full post
discussion

Drone flight in Indonesia

Hi all, I am looking for any information on obtaining a drone permit to fly a drone in Indonesia. The drone is a HeavyLift 178 Wingcopter drone,with sensors: Fagerman...

3 0

Hi Sophie,

The best thing would be to get in contact with the Department of Civil Aviation in the Indonesian state you're working in. You're right that you can fly without a permit for at low altitude in most places, but there may be diferent restrictions if the drone is used for research purposes so its worth checking. I received a license for drone work in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) and they mainly wanted to know the drone specs, activities, flight coordinates, dates and if possible, times. The only restriction they gave us was to fly below 300 m,

There is usually a lot of back and forth between departments about who is ultimately responsible but they should be able to get it processed,  as there are groups in Kalimantan using drones pretty regularly. Please let me know if you have any issues or need any other info.

Best wishes,

Sol

Thanks so much Sol! How long did it take you to get permission to fly? And were there any costs associated with getting the permit? 

Hi Sophie,

Sorry- I only just saw your reply!

It took about 3 months to get it through the department of civil aviation, but this doesn't mean much, because the Indonesian system may be pretty different. It cost 250RM (£50) for each drone. 

Cheers,

Sol

See full post
article

Canopy height mapping with drones

Tom Swinfield
Tom Swinfield and colleagues at the Forest Ecology and Conservation Group have assessed the quality of three dimensional forest models produced from drone surveys, and conclude that concerns about their quality for...

0
See full post
article

Technology for Wildlife and the Looming Spectre of E-Waste

Laure Joanny
In this blog, Laure Joanny adds her perspectives to an ongoing discussion that we've been seeing in the community about conservation tech and it's relationship to e-waste. How do we tackle the challenge of battery waste...

0
See full post
article

Getting up close and personal with Antarctica's orcas

Jamie Morton
In this case study, Science Reporter Jamie Morton tells the story of how Kiwi scientists are teaming up with a local underwater robotics company to gain world-first insights into the lives of whales in Antarctica.

0
See full post