Those of you who have watched our TED talk in 2013 would remember our wish for a drone that can remotely download images from camera traps in a forest – a ‘data mule’ drone. Fast forward… Continue reading
Just received the FLIR Tau 2 640 (9mm, f/1.4, 9 Hz) + ThermalCapture unit from TeAx Technology (sales@teax-tec.de). This is a short video showing how I am setting it up to be carried… Continue reading
ConservationDrones.org has benefited tremendously from the generous support of many groups. We are launching a new initiative to pay this forward. If you have ‘preloved’ drone equipment in working order that are just… Continue reading
(Right-click here to download the first RAW video file in its native 324 resolution.) (Right-click here to download the second RAW video file in its native 324 resolution.) ConservationDrones tested a backpack for… Continue reading
We are excited to announce that Keeyen Pang, ConservationDrones’ Director for Asia Operations, has just achieved a 100-km long and almost 2-hr endurance autonomous flight in a single mission. What this means is that conservation drones are now… Continue reading
People often ask us about the lifespan of our drones. It really depends on many factors: the material and build of the drones, the terrain, how frequent it is used and so on.… Continue reading
The four directors of ConservationDrones.org physically met for the first time the weekend before Christmas 2013 to build 10 conservation drones ‘Caipy’ for WWF. We spent two days to complete the builds and… Continue reading
In our most recent drone trip, the ConservationDrones team brought along with us a Y6 Multicopter to SE Asia (http://3DRobotics.com). And it was a good thing we did because we were having some… Continue reading
Simon Wunderlin, the Technical Director of ConservationDrones.org, has been testing several new airframes for the next generation of our drones. This work is funded by WWF Netherlands/International. We are developing this new system… Continue reading
ConservationDrones.org recently received a small grant from WWF to develop a rugged drone for use in difficult terrain and landing conditions. This is just a teaser of one of the airframes in testing… Continue reading
Click here to go to the Conservation Science Webinar Series Archive.
Earlier this year, Wayne Garris from the Kickstarter project, HobbyUAV.com, donated two Techpods to ConservationDrones.org. I finally just had the time to build one up, equipped with an APM 2.5+ autopilot system. This… Continue reading
Lian Pin has just moved to New Jersey to begin his year-long sabbatical at Princeton University, his alma mater. He has just finished building the first Conservation Drone in America, which is called… Continue reading
Over the last week, ResearchDrones.com and ConservationDrones.org conducted a series of tests of low cost thermal imaging cameras. Models tested: 1. FLIR HS-324 Patrol 19mm Thermal camera (320 x 240 res) (link) 2. NEC… Continue reading
If you are using a GoPro HD camera, or any non-GPS enabled video camera, you can use a new web service, GPS4Sport.com, which allows for the synchronization of your APM log (in GPX format)… Continue reading
Updates from our Conservation Drones Asia Team (Keeyen and his son, and Wee Siong) who is helping ecologist Chris Kettle to conduct drone surveys over forests in Sepilok, Sabah (Borneo). (Link to Keeyen’s… Continue reading
3D forest model of a transect in Sumatra, Indonesia, based on aerial images acquired by Conservation Drones. Data processing by Dronemapper.com. Animation by Ervine Lin of ETH Future Cities Laboratory (futurecities.ethz.ch).
Forum Upon requests from some colleagues and friends, we have now put up a Forum page for general discussions on hardware, software, and other topics concerning Conservation Drones. I hope all of you… Continue reading
Over the last few weeks, ConservationDrones.org has been collaborating with Remo Peduzzi and Simon Wunderlin (from ResearchDrones LLC) to develop the next generation of drones for conservation applications. Remo and Simon bring with… Continue reading
Collage of Orangutan Nests, a set on Flickr. This is a photo-collage of ~35 orangutan nests in SE Asian rain forests taken by cameras on board Conservation Drones. We are collaborating with colleagues… Continue reading
Yes! We have teamed up with DroneMapper.com. DroneMapper operates an innovative SaaS system which allows drone pilots to manage their flight data, build beautiful geo-referenced orthomosaic maps, DEMs and 3D models from aerial… Continue reading
This is an 18-photo composite image of Zurich Zoo’s new elephant enclosure. Aerial photographs were taken by a camera on board an autonomous Conservation Drone 2.0 that was flying at a speed of… Continue reading
We are experimenting with several different airframes for the next fleet of Conservation Drones. One of these models is the X5 which we mentioned earlier. Another promising candidate is the new Condor Skywalker 1880. The main… Continue reading
We finally were able to test our homemade parachute (40″ diameter). Initial tests suggest that a deployment altitude of about 10m above ground should be about just right to minimize drift. Our next… Continue reading
The X5 Wing
We tried these two new camera placement options under a wing that worked very well in the field. Again, the iSPONGE served its purpose in dampening motor vibration.
Two orangutan nests spotted by a Conservation Drone flying at 100m above ground.
Finally found time and some good weather to test fly the latest addition to our Conservation Drones fleet — ArduCopter. This test flight was fully autonomous, including takeoff and landing. Details of test… Continue reading
Serge and I spent the last few days in Asten, the Netherlands, building up our Conservation fleet. These will be going to the Jane Goodall Institute, University of Nottingham Malaysia, and WWF Nepal,… Continue reading
