Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Wildlife Monitoring

Recent developments in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) engineering have pushed the usage of the so-called “drones” into the mainstream. The omni-purpose nature of these vehicles has caused increase in customer demand across various fields. Mass production has resulted in drop in prices, especially for less sophisticated recreational vehicles. However, in order to capture quality imagery for further processing the technical sophistication of the mounted camera is the deciding factor, not the UAV itself. Many researchers are looking for options to exploit this technology in different fields, one of which is wildlife monitoring. This paper aims to present basic overview of knowledge in the area of aerial wildlife censusing and the progress made during a research conducted at Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.

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