Conservation Drones

Abstract

In this book, we introduce the use of drones for wildlife conservation. We provide a broad overview of when drone technology can be useful for wildlife conservation before going into the different types of drones that are available and the basic configuration of such systems. After this we discuss the various types of sensors that are being used to obtain data and the various applications for those sensors by us and others. We discuss the various applications of sensors and discuss research that we and others have conducted with those. The usage of drones for surveillance is discussed as well with a particular focus on poaching and other illegal activities. Drones are commonly used for mapping areas and we provide an overview of considerations for mapping missions as well as on how to process the data collected during mapping missions into products. We discuss examples such as the creation of orthomosaics and digital surface models, and their use in land cover classification and for object detection. We also provide an overview of how drones have been used to count animals and derive distribution and density from such data. We end with some thoughts on the future of drones.