Droning in the tropics #1 - Logging transect

Autopilot drone flying a transect

Background: Autopilot drone developed by a team of ecologists and software developers for forest monitoring, real-time land use mapping, and biodiversity conservation. This is part of a series of field tests in a remote forest area in Sumatra, Indonesia. The plane is fully autopilot, except when landing (due to a small landing area).

Autopilot system is based on ArdupilotMega developed by an open-source community at http://diydrones.com.
The plane is a low cost Hobbyking Bixler RC model.
Camera system is a GoPro Hero HD (version 1).

#1: Logging transect, http://youtu.be/IOm9v0Ewcek
#2: Orangutan search, http://youtu.be/hXTbJA-304k
#3: River mission, http://youtu.be/4icq_takJLw

Contact: lian.koh@env.ethz.ch (Lian Pin Koh) or sergewich1@yahoo.com (Serge Wich)

Research homepage: www.lianpinkoh.com

• Category

  Science & Technology

[Lian Pin Koh]

@3dspider: Thanks! But it really is the autopilot until the very last few seconds when I needed to nudge the sticks a little to avoid trees and bushes in the landing area.

[Lian Pin Koh]

Thanks very much guys for your encouragement. We are already working on a conservation drone 2.0 to increase the range of each mission.

Thanks also to the many people who have invited us to go droning at your study locations. We are really looking forward to those trips!

Stay tuned!

[Jena Lacomis]

I'm writing a graduate research paper on your drones!! I'm so impressed with the range and the clarity of the video. Also excited to see how WWF will be able to disperse these to the conservation orgs. Thank you for sharing these images.

[zenlines84]

Good stuff! Great idea! This has to be just awesome for data aquisition. The music is great. Who is it?

[3dspider]

best landing possible

[astarothgr]

The bixler put to good use!

Flitetest people will be excited to hear that!

[coolcarman555]

very cool! :)