Conservation Drones over Barro Colorado Island, Panama

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Lian Pin Koh (ConservationDrones.org) and Brenden Duffy (FlightRiot.com) went on a trip to Barro Colorado Island, Panama, upon the invitation of Dr. Helene Muller-Landau from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. We brought two units of 3DRobotics-based UAVs to the field station and trained a team of researchers on their use for ecological research.

Brenden and Lian Pin setting up telemetry ground station
Wish us luck!
Classroom briefing
Net for landing
Discussing the plan for the day
Arrival at practice site
Showing CHDK camera
Planning a mission
Reviewing aerial photos
Like a kid in a candy store
Practicing launching
Installing battery
Helene with the team
Checking out the results
Wet season in Panama
Staying dry
Dave in the rain
Matteo and Pablo
Assembling the UAV
Ground control station
Soldering connectors to the glue gun
Discussing the landing approach
Juanita, our photographer
Full concentration
At the end of another long day
Setting things up
Preparing to launch
BCI’s big tree (gap)

We also tested a method of net-landing a drone in a small confined space using a spare shade cloth that was just lying around.

Category : Drone applications