ArticlePDF Available

The use of conservation drones in ecology and wildlife research

February 2015
Journal of Ecology and Environment 38(1):113-118

DOI:10.5141/ecoenv.2015.012

Authors:

Bojana Ivosevic

BioSense Institute

Youngho Cho

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Ohseok Kwon

Kyungpook National University

Conservation drones are remote-controlled devices capable of collecting information from difficult-to-access places while minimizing disturbance. Although drones are increasingly used in many research disciplines, their application to wildlife research remains to be explored in depth. This paper reports on the use of Phantom 2 Vision+ for monitoring areas in two national parks in South Korea. The first research area was conducted in Chiaksan National Park, and the second in Taeanhaean National Park. The aim of this research is to introduce ecologists and researchers alike to conservation drones and to show how these new tools have are fundamentally helping in the development of natural sciences. We also obtained photographs and videos of monitoring areas within our test site. © 2015 The Ecological Society of Korea. All rights are reserved.

External appearance of the aircraft Phantom 2 Vision + (DJI 2014).

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. Aircraft specifications

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Graphical overview of the integral components of the Phantom 2 Vision + (DJI 2014a).

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Example of the drone using its high definition camera to monitor land from above.

…

Coastal areas remain untouched as the drone flies over them to record the land and species that live there.

…

Figures - uploaded by Bojana Ivosevic

Content may be subject to copyright.

Content uploaded by Bojana Ivosevic

Content may be subject to copyright.

J. Ecol. Environ. 38(1): 113-118, 2015

113

pISSN: 2287-8327 eISSN: 2288-1220

JOURNAL OF

ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

http://www.jecoenv.org

2015 The Ecological Society of Korea. All rights are reserved.

The use of conservation drones in ecology and wildlife research

Bojana Ivoševi

, Yong-Gu Han

1, 2

, Youngho Cho

1, 2

and Ohseok Kwon

1, 2,

School of Applied Biosciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea

Institute for Phylogenomics and Evolution, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea

Abstract

Conservation drones are remote-controlled devices capable of collecting information from difﬁcult-to-access places

while minimizing disturbance. Although drones are increasingly used in many research disciplines, their application

to wildlife research remains to be explored in depth. This paper reports on the use of Phantom 2 Vision+ for monitoring

areas in two national parks in South Korea. The ﬁrst research area was conducted in Chiaksan National Park, and the sec-

ond in Taeanhaean National Park. The aim of this research is to introduce ecologists and researchers alike to conservation

drones and to show how these new tools have are fundamentally helping in the development of natural sciences. We also

obtained photographs and videos of monitoring areas within our test site.

Key words: drone, ecology, Phantom 2 Vision+, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), wildlife

BACKGROUND

Drones are robotic planes, also known as unmanned

aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)

and remotely piloted aircrafts (RPAs). They have evolved

and developed rapidly over the past decade, after being

driven primarily for military and civilian purposes. Al-

though they have a military background, it has now be-

come clear that there are a lot of other areas where they

might prove useful. Although they still remain to be fully

developed and researched, unmanned aerial vehicles

(UAV) will soon be an important commercial tool for

monitoring purposes (Getzin et al. 2012).

A drone can provide a low-cost and low-impact solu-

tion to environmental managers working in a variety of

ecosystems. Drones used for these purposes are referred

to as “eco-drones” or “conservation drones.” Their agility

and image quality abilities make them advantageous as

a mapping tool for environmental monitoring, but there

are still several challenges and concerns to be surmount-

ed (Harriman and Muhlhausen 2013).

The use of robots in ecology

The use of robots in ecology is still in the infancy stage

of development. However, the recent popularity of drones

has developed a number of research groups around the

world who are working diligently to develop as many dif-

ferent uses for these small machines as possible. Their

most frequent application so far has been for monitoring

previously inaccessible areas and for creating a map of

the wildlife that lives there.

Ecology has only ﬂourished as an area of research in the

last 50 years, once the impact of global change became

evident on both the lives of animals and those of humans

as well. Researchers have since developed methods in

ecology to monitor and help understand the impact of

ongoing global change, improve the Earth’s biodiversity

system, and predict the future trends of ecology and its

development. In order to achieve these goals, the Earth

must be monitored through a complete, accurate and

rapid collection of data, which can now be done very ef-

ﬁciently with the help of drones.

Received

16 January 2015,

Accepted

10 February 2015

*Corresponding Author

E-mail: ecoento@knu.ac.kr

Tel: +82-53-950-5762

http://dx.doi.org/10.5141/ecoenv.2015.012

Note

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of

the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licens

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which

permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any

medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

J. Ecol. Environ. 38(1): 113-118, 2015

http://dx.doi.org/10.5141/ecoenv.2015.012

114

well), and chemical sensors (e.g., pH sensors for detecting

a great variety of gases). With such a detailed apparatus

available, drones have an endless number of uses from

monitoring the smallest ecosystems to analyzing large ar-

eas of land and climate change.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PHANTOM 2 VISION +

The UAV quadcopter named Phantom 2 Vision+ (DJI,

Shenzhen, China), equipped with an autopilot system,

was test-ﬂown in the following study (Fig. 1). This air-

frame is capable of carrying a camera, which is designed

to record images and videos. A total of 12 ﬂights were con-

ducted between the 4th and 17th September in 2014 for

both ﬂight testing and imagery acquisitions over an open

ﬁeld area. The purpose of the test ﬂights was to examine

the aircraft’s capabilities and monitor randomly selected

open-land areas within national parks in Korea. More in-

formation about the aircraft speciﬁcations is in Table 1

(DJI 2014a).

Autonomous robots, in particular drones, sent to previ-

ously inaccessible areas, have revolutionized data acqui-

sition not only for abiotic parameters, but also for record-

ing the behavior of undisturbed animals and collecting

biological material. Robots will also play an essential role

in population ecology, as they will allow for automatic

census of individuals through image processing, or via

detection of animals that will be electronically marked

(Grémillet et al. 2012).

Conservation drone platform types and charac-

teristics

The conservation drone is a model aircraft ﬁtted with

an autopilot system. The autopilot unit consists of a com-

puter, a GPS, a compass, a barometric altimeter and a few

other sensors. A conservation drone is meant to carry use-

ful payloads such as a video camera and/or photographic

camera. It must also be equipped with a software that

allows the user to program a mission and enable useful

commands and operations.

Drones are categorized according to their size, mobil-

ity, autonomy, equipment and areas of use that they have

been developed for. For example, most drones rely on

well-developed positioning systems, which often use a

GPS receiver or WiFi to follow a predetermined map, or

to free ﬂy with the help of ground control commands.

Underwater drones use acoustic signals that send loca-

tion data back to the researcher and organize a route plan

to follow. Depending on their complexity, some are also

equipped with 3D motion sensors, and can detect and

avoid incoming objects without help from the researcher

(Koh 2013).

When it comes to collecting ecological data, the drones

are equipped with optical sensors (infrared and/or ul-

traviolet light included), physical sensors (temperature,

pressure, humidity and conductivity), acoustic sensors

(mainly for underwater use but can be used on land as

Table 1.

Aircraft specications

Aircraft

Supported Battery DJI 5200 mAh LiPo Battery

Weight (Battery & Propellers Included) 1,284 g

Hover Accuracy (Ready To Fly) Vertical, 0.8 m; Horizontal, 2.5 m

Max Yaw Angular Velocity 200°/s

Max Tiltable Angle 35°

Max Ascent / Descent Speed Ascent, 6 m/s; Descent, 2 m/s

Max Flight Speed 15 m/s (Not Recommended)

Diagonal Motor-Motor Distance 350 mm

Note: this specication information is taken from the website of DJI (DJI 2014a).

Fig. 1.

External appearance of the aircraft Phantom 2 Vision + (DJI 2014).

Conservation drones on ecosystem monitoring

115

http://www.jecoenv.org

Radar positioning and return home

The ﬂight radar displays the current position of the

Phantom 2 Vision+ in relation to the pilot. Exceeding the

control range of the remote control will trigger “Return-

to-Home,” meaning that the Phantom 2 Vision+ will auto-

matically ﬂy back to its takeoff point and land safely (NZ

Camera 2013).

No y zones feature

All unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators should

abide by all regulations from such organizations as the

ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and their

own national airspace regulations (Aerial Picture and Vid-

eo 2015). In order to increase ﬂight safety and prevent ac-

cidental ﬂights in restricted areas, the Phantom 2 Vision+

includes a “No Fly Zones” feature to help users use this

product safely and legally. These zones include airports

worldwide and have been divided into two types, A and B.

Type A includes large international airports. For category

A, airports have established 8-km safety zones around

these areas, which can be adjusted through the GPS da-

tabase. In the ﬁrst 2.4 km away from the safety zone, the

drone will be unable to take off. From 2.4 km to 8 km away

from the restricted area, an increasing high limit has been

established from 2.4 km to 8 km (DJI 2014b). If a vision or

a ground station application is being used, a warning will

be issued in advance if the drone is within 100 m of cat-

egory A safety zone. For category B, which includes much

smaller airports, if the drone is less than 1 km away from

restricted areas, it will be unable to take off. Again, with

the vision or ground station application, the pilot will be

warned in advance if they are within 1 km of entering a

Integral components and characteristics of the

Phantom 2 Vision +

Fig. 2 shows the most important speciﬁcations and

serves as an introduction to what the aircraft could later

develop into. Further information can be found on the of-

ﬁcial DJI website.

High performance camera

The Phantom 2 Vision+ carries an extremely high qual-

ity camera and a removable 4GB micro SD card. It shoots

full HD videos at 1080p/30fps and 720p/60fps, providing

the researcher with crystal clear videos and the option for

slow motion shots. Photos are shot at 14 megapixels. A

built-in high precision 3-axis camera stabilization system

insures a smooth ﬂight and absolute control of the aircraft

in the sky (NZ Camera 2013).

Precision ight and stable hovering

The integrated GPS auto-pilot system offers position

holding, altitude lock and stable hovering, ensuring a

constant smooth ﬂight that is more focused on providing

the perfect shot and is less distracted by outside inﬂuenc-

es (NZ Camera 2013).

Ground station support

The drone can be programmed with the use of a smart

phone with the 16 waypoint Ground Station system (DJI).

The camera can be tilted up and down, take photos and

shoot videos all while the Phantom 2 Vision+ ﬂies autono-

mously (NZ Camera 2013).

Fig. 2.

Graphical overview of the integral components of the Phantom 2 Vision + (DJI 2014a).

J. Ecol. Environ. 38(1): 113-118, 2015

http://dx.doi.org/10.5141/ecoenv.2015.012

116

and east of its highest peak, Birobong (1,288 m), lies Ho-

engseong-gun and to the west is Wonju-si. Chiaksan Na-

tional Park has many steep valleys among its high peaks

ranging above 1,000 m such as Namdaebong in the south

and Maehwasan in the north, and is known for having

beautiful scenery with steep slopes. Chiaksan National

Park has a total of 821 species of plants and is expanding

its natural forest with Mongolian oaks and Japanese oaks.

As for its inhabitants, there are a total of 2,364 animal

species including 34 endangered species such as the ﬂy-

ing squirrel and copper-winged bat (Korea National Park

Service 2009a). The second test site was located in Taean-

haean National Park (Fig. 4). Taeanhaean National Park

was designated as the 13th national park in Korea in 1978.

There are 26 beaches along the 230 km coastline, which

encompasses the Taean Peninsula and Anmyeondo. The

category B safety zone. The update will also prevent the

drone from setting up the waypoints within 8 km of safety

zones. The map showing waypoints safety areas can be

found on the webpage dji.com/ﬂy-safe (DJI 2014a).

UAV TEST FLIGHT

Test sites were located in two national parks in South

Korea. The main aim of these missions was to obtain pho-

tographs and videos of monitoring areas within our test

site, and to test how the drone would behave under differ-

ent working conditions. The ﬁrst test site was situated in

the mountain inlands of Korea at Chiaksan National Park

(Fig. 3), which was designated as the 16th national park in

Korea in December 1984. Its total area is about 181.6 km²,

Fig. 3.

Example of the drone using its high denition camera to monitor land from above.

Fig. 4.

Coastal areas remain untouched as the drone ies over them to record the land and species that live there.

Conservation drones on ecosystem monitoring

117

http://www.jecoenv.org

only a glimpse of what can be achieved with drones and

how they can be applied to other ﬁelds of research. How-

ever, this paper also hopes to serve as an inspiration for

new ideas and developments in the future.

Our results are based on two independent protected

regions within national parks in Korea, which are located

several hundred kilometers apart from each other. The

fact that drones were able to record information from

these restricted areas is another proof of their usefulness

in research and how far they can go where humans would

be restricted of access.

A total of 12 ﬂights were conducted in the autumn of

2014 for both ﬂight testing and imagery acquisitions over

open ﬁeld areas for examining aircraft capabilities and

monitoring the designated areas. Overall, the study has

demonstrated a high potential for predicting biodiversity

in different areas from high-resolution aerial images.

We hope that new methods for biodiversity assess-

ments will be further developed from this research and

that they will inspire strong communications between

researchers around the world. The drone’s purpose is also

to inform all ecologists of how the entire planet is chang-

ing and what can be expected of it in the future, which is

why teams of drone researchers should be formed in key

points around the world to strengthen communication.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This subject is supported by the Korea Ministry of En-

vironment (MOE) as a “Public Technology Program based

on Environmental Policy (2014000210003).”

park’s total area is around 326 km², and ranges across Tae-

an-gun and Boryeong-si. There are 72 islands scattered

across the calm sea of which only four are inhabited by

people. The name “Taean (big comfort)” comes from the

fact that the region did not suffer big natural catastrophes

throughout history, and coupled with the mild climate

and an abundance of food, it made for a non-weary life.

As the only marine park in Korea where various coastal

systems coexist, there is a great value in preserving the

Taeanhaean National Park. The park is home to 1,195 ani-

mal species, 774 plant species, and 671 marine species.

There are also 17 endangered species including Swinhoe’s

egret, the Korean golden frog, and the otter. There are also

protected natural treasures such as the Mandarin duck,

common kestrel, and osprey (Korea National Park Service

2009b).

RECOMMENDATIONS

A key consideration in developing conservation drones

is their ease of use for non-specialist operators, who would

mainly include conservation workers and ﬁeld ecologists

(Koh and Wich 2012). The precise and detailed abilities

of the drone enable almost anyone to acquire data from

it, and to apply it to different natural science purposes as

needed. This is an enormous step in the development and

application of UAVs that spans beyond what was initially

imagined by the military. The aim of this research is to in-

troduce conservation drones to ecologists and research-

ers alike and show how these new tools are fundamentally

helping the development of biodiversity monitoring (Fig.

5). The photos and data that have been so far acquired are

Fig. 5.

The animals that live underneath the drone’s ight remain undisturbed, and yet researchers are still able to record data.

J. Ecol. Environ. 38(1): 113-118, 2015

http://dx.doi.org/10.5141/ecoenv.2015.012

118

Koh LP. 2013. A drone’s-eye view of conservation. https://

www.ted.com/talks/lian_pin_koh_a_drone_s_eye_

view_of_conservation#t-132055. Accessed 05 Septem-

ber 2014.

Koh LP, Wich SA. 2012. Dawn of drone ecology: low-cost

autonomous aerial vehicles for conservation. Trop Con-

serv Sci 5: 121-132.

Korea National Park Service. 2009a. National Parks of Korea-

Chiaksan. http://english.knps.or.kr/Knp/Chiaksan/In-

tro/Introduction.aspx?MenuNum=1&Submenu=Npp.

Accessed 10 August 2014.

Korea National Park Service. 2009b. National Parks of Korea-

Taeanhaean. http://english.knps.or.kr/Knp/Taeanhaean/

Intro/Introduction.aspx?MenuNum=1&Submenu=Npp.

Accessed 20 August 2014.

NZ Camera. 2013. DJI Phantom Vision 2 +. http://www.

nzcamera.co.nz/dji-phantom-2-vision.html. Accessed

19 August 2014.

LITERATURE CITED

Aerial Picture and Video. 2015. The Phantom 2 Vision. http://

www.aerialpicture.co.za/phantom-2-vision. Accessed 07

September 2014.

DJI. 2014a. Fly Safe. http://www.dji.com/ﬂy-safe. Accessed

10 October 2014.

DJI. 2014b. No Fly Zones. http://www.dji.com/ﬂy-safe/cate-

gory-mc. Accessed 20 September 2014.

Getzin S, Wiegand K, Schöning I. 2012. Assessing biodiver-

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manned aerial vehicles. Methods Ecol Evol 3: 397-404.

Grémillet D, Puech W, Garçon V, Boulinier T, Le Maho Y.

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With the development of remote sensing and images techniques, the oblique aerial photography (OAP), which relies on the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), has become increasingly significant, showing advantages of high efficiency, low cost, and high spatial resolution in various disciplines. The OAP technology provides an efficient method for the acquisition of spatial information, site surveying, and mapping. It can also be applied to improve the scientific process of architectural design and planning. This article, therefore, introduces a methodology using point clouds obtained by the OAP and takes the Mengyuan resort hotel in China as a case to discuss the meaning and possibility of employing the OAP in architectural design. This research process includes five main steps: site investigation, drone route planning, data acquisition, model construction, and the application of 3D models. The design project of the Mengyuan hotel is finally fulfilled based on the built 3D point clouds, which can be a reference for future architectural analysis, planning, and research, combining with multiple spatial and remote sensing methods.

VPL Prototypes for Determining Disassembly Parameters of BIM Models

Chapter

Jan 2022

Capítulo 30. Drones y Arqueología Vuelos e imágenes

Chapter

Jan 2018

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters

Dawn of Drone Ecology: Low-Cost Autonomous Aerial Vehicles for Conservation

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2012

Tropical deforestation continues to be a major driver of biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. Remote sensing technology is increasingly used to assess changes in forest cover, species distributions and carbon stocks. However, satellite and airborne sensors can be prohibitively costly and inaccessible for researchers in developing countries. Here, we describe the development and use of an inexpensive (<$2,000) unmanned aerial vehicle for surveying and mapping forests and biodiversity (referred to as ‘Conservation Drone’ hereafter). Our prototype drone is able to fly pre-programmed missions autonomously for a total flight time of ~25 minutes and over a distance of ~15 km. Non-technical operators can program each mission by defining waypoints along a flight path using an open-source software. This drone can record videos at up to 1080 pixel resolution (high definition), and acquire aerial photographs of <10 cm pixel resolution. Aerial photographs can be stitched together to produce real-time geo-referenced land use/cover maps of surveyed areas. We evaluate the performance of this prototype Conservation Drone based on a series of test flights in Aras Napal, Sumatra, Indonesia. We discuss the further development of Conservation Drone 2.0, which will have a bigger payload and longer range. Initial tests suggest a flight time of ~50 minutes and a range of ~25 km. Finally, we highlight the potential of this system for environmental and conservation applications, which include near real-time mapping of local land cover, monitoring of illegal forest activities, and surveying of large animal species.

Robots in Ecology: Welcome to the machine

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2012
OJE

Robots have primarily been developed for warfare, yet they also serve peaceful purposes. Their use in Ecology is in its infancy, but they may soon become essential tools in a broad variety of ecological sub-disciplines. Autonomous robots, in particular drones sent to previously inaccessible areas, have revolutionized data acquisition, not only for abiotic parameters, but also for recording the behavior of undisturbed animals and collecting biological material. Robots will also play an essential role in population Ecology, as they will allow for automatic census of individuals through image processing, or via detection of animals marked electronically. These new technologies will enable automated experimentation for increasingly large sample sizes, both in the laboratory and in the field. Finally, interactive robots and cyborgs are becoming major players in modern studies of animal behavior. Such rapid progress nonetheless raises ethical, environmental, and security issues.

Assessing biodiversity in forests using very high-resolution images and unmanned aerial vehicles

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2012
Methods Ecol. Evol.

1. Structural diversity and niche differences within habitats are important for stabilizing species coexistence. However, land-use change leading to environmental homogenization is a major cause for the dramatic decline of biodiversity under global change. The difficulty in assessing large-scale biodiversity losses urgently requires new technological advances to evaluate land-use impact on diversity timely and efficiently across space. 2. While cost-effective aerial images have been suggested for potential biodiversity assessments in forests, correlation of canopy object variables such as gaps with plant or animal diversity has so far not been demonstrated using these images. 3. Here, we show that aerial images of canopy gaps can be used to assess floristic biodiversity of the forest understorey. This approach is made possible because we employed cutting-edge unmanned aerial vehicles and very high-resolution images (7 cm pixel−1) of the canopy properties. We demonstrate that detailed, spatially implicit information on gap shape metrics is sufficient to reveal strong dependency between disturbance patterns and plant diversity (R2 up to 0·74). This is feasible because opposing disturbance patterns such as aggregated and dispersed tree retention directly correspond to different functional and dispersal traits of species and ultimately to different species diversities. 4. Our findings can be used as a coarse-filter approach to conservation in forests wherever light strongly limits regeneration and biodiversity.

Dawn of drone ecology: low-cost autonomous aerial vehicles for conservation

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2012

Tropical deforestation continues to be a major driver of biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. Remote sensing technology is increasingly used to assess changes in forest cover, species distributions and carbon stocks. However, satellite and airborne sensors can be prohibitively costly and inaccessible for researchers in developing countries. Here, we describe the development and use of an inexpensive (<$2,000) unmanned aerial vehicle for surveying and mapping forests and biodiversity (referred to as 'Conservation Drone' hereafter). Our prototype drone is able to fly pre-programmed missions autonomously for a total flight time of ~25 minutes and over a distance of ~15 km. Non-technical operators can program each mission by defining waypoints along a flight path using an open-source software. This drone can record videos at up to 1080 pixel resolution (high definition), and acquire aerial photographs of <10 cm pixel resolution. Aerial photographs can be stitched together to produce real-time geo-referenced land use/cover maps of surveyed areas. We evaluate the performance of this prototype Conservation Drone based on a series of test flights in Aras Napal, Sumatra, Indonesia. We discuss the further development of Conservation Drone 2.0, which will have a bigger payload and longer range. Initial tests suggest a flight time of ~50 minutes and a range of ~25 km. Finally, we highlight the potential of this system for environmental and conservation applications, which include near real-time mapping of local land cover, monitoring of illegal forest activities, and surveying of large animal species.

A new eye in the sky: Eco-drones

Sep 2013

L Harriman
J Muhlhausen

Harriman L, Muhlhausen J. 2013. A new eye in the sky: Eco-drones. http://www.unep.org/pdf/UNEP-GEAS_ MAY_2013.pdf. Accessed 05 September 2014.

National Parks of Korea-Chiaksan

Korea National
Park Service

DJI Phantom Vision 2 +

Aug 2013

Nz Camera

NZ Camera. 2013. DJI Phantom Vision 2 +. http://www. nzcamera.co.nz/dji-phantom-2-vision.html. Accessed 19 August 2014.

A drone's-eye view of conservation

Jan 2013

L P Koh

Koh LP. 2013. A drone's-eye view of conservation. https:// www.ted.com/talks/lian_pin_koh_a_drone_s_eye_ view_of_conservation#t-132055. Accessed 05 September 2014.