WildDrone — Autonomous Drones for Nature Conservation Missions

Results in brief

Autonomous Drones for Nature Conservation Missions

Our planet is experiencing a rapid loss of biodiversity, and more species are threatened with extinction now than at any other point in human history. Habitat loss due to agricultural expansion, urbanization, land degradation, overexploitation, and climate change are among the primary factors accelerating populations decline and species extinction. There is an urgent need for more effective and feasible conservation practices to monitor wildlife populations, track their movements, and manage human-wildlife conflicts. Recent advances in technology have paved new avenues for more accurate and larger-scale interventions that can help combat the rapid decline of wildlife populations we witness globally. WildDrone works to revolutionize wildlife conservation practices by integrating aerial robotics, computer vision, and wildlife ecology, using autonomous drone technology as a unifying platform. We will develop new autonomous systems, expand current software capabilities, and combine them to create practical tools for visual inspection and monitoring of wildlife populations, movement, behaviour, and habitats in complex field settings. The specific objectives concern scientific Theme 1 Conservation Ecology (O1) Apply drones as a tool for predicting and preventing conflict between wildlife and humans, and (O2) Integrate drone systems with bio-logging technologies to link animal behaviour to physical and ecological contexts; Theme 2 Drone Operations (O3) Develop technologies for responsive, adaptive, and flexible use of drones to observe animals in complex environments, and (O4) Develop techniques for the safe and unobtrusive use of drones to observe animals undetected; Theme 3 Computer Vision (O5) Develop methodologies for vision-based drone control, enabling real time tracking, pose estimation and assessment of animal biometrics, and (O6) Develop principles and techniques for large-scale censuses of animal groups in their environmental context; and finally Training and Communication (O7) Form an interdisciplinary network of young researchers across European and African countries, and (O8) Raise awareness about the nature conservation impact of an interdisciplinary approach using drones, computer vision, and ecology.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The aim of WildDrone is to push wildlife conservation practices into the 21st century. The need for effective, cost-efficient conservation practices are greater than ever as we currently face the greatest loss of global biodiversity in history. Present conservation practices are typically very labour intensive, costly, and time-consuming. Collected data is often inaccurate or incomplete. However, recent advances in drone technology have shown that this technology has great potential as a practical tool for conservationists and that it could potentially revolutionize our efforts in nature conservation. Nevertheless, drone technology is still a developing field and many obstacles stand in the way of us harvesting the benefits of this emerging technology. To fully achieve its promising potential in this new domain we will need to invent more robust and predictable robotic technologies, including effectiveand automated means of gathering and interpreting ecological and behavioural data. WildDrone will address these challenges by joining the scientific areas of aerial robotics, computer vision, and wildlife ecology. The network proposes to develop new autonomous drone technology, expand current computer vision capabilities, and combine these advances to create practical tools for visual inspection and monitoring of wildlife populations. This drone-based inspection will provide conservationists with crucial knowledge of animal health, behaviour, and numbers. These challenges will be solved by 13 PhDs (three self-funded). An interdisciplinary research training programme has been designed to educate a new generation of PhDs and provide them with a unique skill set enabling them to tackle the great challenges we must solve collectively, if we are to reverse the decline of global biodiversity. This program will raise the level of excellence in doctoral programs and simultaneously enhance the career perspectives of the PhDs in both academia and industry.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

SYDDANSK UNIVERSITET · Odense MCoordinatorDenmark
AVY BV · AmsterdamNetherlands
BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION · LONDONUnited Kingdom
Bristol, Clifton and West of England Zoological Society Limited · BristolUnited Kingdom
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · LausanneSwitzerland
FONDAZIONE BRUNO KESSLER · TrentoItaly
KBR Wyle Services, LLC · GreenbeltUnited States
KENYATTA UNIVERSITY · NairobiKenya
Kuzikus African Safaris PTY LTD · WindhoekNamibia
LANDBRUG & FODEVARER F.M.B.A. · KOBENHAVN VDenmark
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · MUNCHENGermany
Nationalparkfond Vadehavet · RømøDenmark
Ol Pejeta Conservancy Limited · NanyukiKenya
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency · OdenseDenmark
UNIVERSITAET MUENSTER · MuensterGermany
UNIVERSITAT KONSTANZ · KonstanzGermany
UNIVERSITE DE BRETAGNE SUD · LorientFrance
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL · BRISTOLUnited Kingdom
WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY · WageningenNetherlands
WIPSEA · LancieuxFrance
WWF SCHWEIZ · ZurichSwitzerland

WildDrone · Autonomous Drones for Nature Conservation Missions

Results in brief

Autonomous Drones for Nature Conservation Missions

Project objective

Participants

Links