Feasibility of UAV Based Optical Tracker for Tracking Australian Plague Locust

The paper discusses the development of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based optical system for tracking individual Australian plague locusts. Managing and monitoring of locust swarms is important for minimising damage to agriculture, and the optical tracker combines the benefits of aerial photography and tagged insects to help with this process. Optical transponders are attached to the upper thorax of individual locusts which are then tracked by a UAV mounted optical tracker. The paper analyses features of each component of the tracker and transponders, critical for the successful operation of the system and verifies them experimentally.