A Novel Method for Using Small Unoccupied Aerial Vehicles to Survey Wildlife Species and Model Their Density Distribution
- Cleguer, Christophe
- Kelly, Natalie
- Tyne, Julian
- Peel, David
- Hodgson, Amanda
DOIAbstract
There is growing interest from research and conservation groups in the potential for using small unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs; <2 kg) to conduct wildlife surveys because they are affordable, easy to use, readily available and reliable. However, limitations such as short flight endurance, and in many situations, aviation regulations, have constrained the use of small UAVs in survey applications. Thus, there is a need to refine survey methods adapted to small UAVs that conform to standard operations within aviation law. We developed a novel survey approach based on a grid sampling design using two multirotor UAVs (Phantom 4 Pros) flying simultaneously, within visual line of sight, from our vessel base-station. We used this approach to ass...
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