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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.

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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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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discussion

Infrared filters for drone cameras

Thomas Starnes

3 August 2017 11:17am

I'm interested to know how people are going about acquiring infrared imagery from drones (e.g. to calculate NDVI). There are dedicated cameras out there, and also camera...

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Kevin Marriott

22 August 2017 3:09am

Although not for NDVI but worth a mention for anyone looking at converting a camera into IR only. 

I have had sucess using a DIY filter made out of blank processed camera film from a disposable camera. So long as you can still find somewhere to process the film (or do it yourself) you just cut the processed film (negatives) and replace the digital cameras IR filter (placed over the cameras sensor). This will simply turn the camera into an IR camera only so won't fit your requirement for NDVI but thought that it is worth posting if others are looking at converting a camera or Go-Pro into an IR camera. 

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discussion

Multispectral Cameras

Adrian Hughes

27 September 2018 2:38pm

We are starting a new drones project at the RSPB to looks at multispectral cameras.  I would love to hear about any experience people have with using these sensors with...

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discussion

Drone Applications in Water Quality Research?

Chippie Kislik

14 March 2018 4:42pm

Hi everyone! I am curious if anyone has come across water quality research using drones in wetted habitat, coastal ecosystems, rivers, lakes, or other riparian environments? I...

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Chippie Kislik

16 March 2018 5:49am

Hi Ned,

Thank you so much for your response!

I absolutely agree- going out and testing flights over water at different angles and times of the day would be best. I'll look into a polarizing filter. I have spoken with some colleagues who recommend flying between noon and 3pm, and also that a cloudy day with diffused light can actually be quite helpful to avoid glint. I will look into the oil spill mapping - sounds very interesting. I've also heard that drones are sometimes restricted from oil spill regions due to risks of battery-caused fires (if the drones fall into the water). 

Ved! Fantastic idea. I used to work with him down at Ames, so I will certainly reach out. Thank you for the reminder!

Cheers,

Chippie

Michael Tlusty

6 June 2018 6:48pm

Hi CHippie - I am wondering how your thoughts are progressing on this topic? Please let us know an update.

Thanks

Michael

 

Chippie Kislik

9 June 2018 12:10am

Hi Michael! 

Thanks so much for following up. I have yet to really get my feet wet with drones & algal blooms (my water quality issue of interest at the moment), but what I gathered from my literature review is that hyperspectral cameras are a much more precise option than multispectral cameras for algal identification. I'm hoping to try out a red-edge camera to see if there is anything spectrally interesting, as I do not currently have access to a hyperspectral camera. For the time being, I am hoping to play with a MicaSense camera over wet habitat and see if anything can be observed. I'll keep you posted if I find anything of interest! 

Thanks,

Chippie

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discussion

Tethered UAVs

Stephen Petersen

14 March 2018 4:29pm

Does anyone have an experince using a tethered drone or bimp? I want to collect aerial images of beluga whales that are being sampled (acoustics and snot) to determine numbers and...

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Stephen Petersen

27 April 2018 11:46pm

Thanks - I did look into blimps but the helium problem is a big one for remote work. I do have a couple UAVs but the area I work is tricky (airport, waterdrome, and helicopter landing with occasional ships that carry helicopters). my hope was for a tethered solution that could run for longer than the 20min battery life of a drone. thanks for the info.

 

Stephen Petersen

27 April 2018 11:53pm

thanks I adnt thought of kites  - I will have to test one in the field this year. I imagined one of the advantages of a tethered UAV is that I can parasitize all the camera elements (gimble stabilization, pan/tilt/zoom, and real time viewing of the imagery). Maybe I could just secure a cheap UAV under a kite... I wonder how I choose the correct kite size.

Aurélie Shapiro

28 April 2018 5:13pm

hi Stephen, 

 

Kites have gimbals too (ranging from simple strings to metal rigs) and you can connect to a camera much like a drone. In my case I have a gimbal hanging on a string, and to connect to my camera I get live connection and can change settings with the GoPro app! this website has lots of info - size of the kite depends on payload (some people fly SLRs!) and wind.  

Www.kapshop.com

 

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article

Eddy Expedition Log: Chasing Eddies

WILDLABS Team

10 April 2018 12:00am

This month, we're following along with the scientists and engineers from the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) who working together to...

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