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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.

discussion

Able to Provide Movement Detection Software For Live Feed Video

JessiH

16 January 2020 5:15am

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...

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JessiH

11 March 2020 3:22am

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

Ruth Morlas

15 March 2020 5:15pm

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

JessiH

15 March 2020 11:40pm

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

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funding

Call for Nominations: Tusk Conservation Awards

Tusk

3 March 2020 12:00am

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...

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event

Hawai'i Conservation Conference

Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance

28 February 2020 12:00am

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...

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event

Hacking Climate Change - Coaction on Climate Crisis

COACT

20 February 2020 12:00am

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...

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discussion

LIDAR USA sensor

Sophie Kirklin

14 January 2020 12:38pm

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...

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discussion

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

Stephanie O'Donnell

21 September 2018 3:21pm

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...

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Alasdair Davies

2 January 2020 5:10pm

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

Rob Appleby

2 January 2020 6:12pm

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!

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discussion

Image Processing Advice

Stephanie O'Donnell

22 October 2018 11:53am

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...

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Adrian Hughes

13 November 2018 12:09pm

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.

Sol Milne

28 November 2019 1:45am

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!

Adrian Hughes

28 November 2019 8:53am

Really useful to know about that package, thanks

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event

WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Drones

WILDLABS Team

9 November 2019 12:00am

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...

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article

How do you weigh a live whale?

WILDLABS Team

9 October 2019 12:00am

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...

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discussion

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

Thomas Starnes

3 June 2019 11:37am

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...

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Stefan Avramov

22 August 2019 5:14pm

Is the webinar recorded and uploaded somewhere?

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event

Workshop: Drones in the Coastal Zone

SECOORA

13 August 2019 12:00am

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. 

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article

From the Field: Melissa Schiele

WILDLABS Admin

10 June 2019 12:00am

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...

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discussion

Circular Polarising Filters for the Mavic 2 Pro

Shashank Srinivasan

29 April 2019 2:36pm

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...

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Shah Selbe

8 May 2019 7:23pm

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. 

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discussion

Drone flight in Indonesia

Sophie Kirklin

16 April 2019 12:08pm

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...

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Sol Milne

17 April 2019 4:14pm

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

Sophie Kirklin

18 April 2019 5:07pm

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? 

Sol Milne

4 June 2019 1:33pm

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

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article

Canopy height mapping with drones

Tom Swinfield

31 May 2019 12:00am

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...

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event

WILDLABS Virtual Meetup: Low Cost, Open-Source Solutions

WILDLABS Team

18 March 2019 12:00am

The first event in Season Two of the WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Series was on Low-Cost, Open-Source Solutions. The recording is now available to watch, along with notes and recommended reading based on the discussion. In...

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