The environmental conservation part of UDS was born through our passion to make a difference and assist in the fight against animal poaching, a tragedy that affects every park within South Africa’s borders and outside, including countries like Malawi, Zimbabwe and Botswana to name but a few. Although the information provided will focus on the conservation arm of our company, it is important to note that it is not the only element to our business. Conservation further aims to better the human-wildlife-conflict, predominately evident in Africa.
Drone (or UAV/UAS) technology suits a myriad of conservation and environmental applications — offering quick, easy and cost-effective aerial imagery, on demand.
There are many reasons why professionals such as environmental engineers, anti-poaching units and scientific researchers are increasingly using drones, often in place of terrestrial surveying equipment or traditional aerial imaging services. Some of the benefits include:
Flexibility
A drone can be launched on demand—weather and regulation permitting—without needing to source and book manned aircraft services (if these exist in the region) or commission and wait for satellite imagery.
Timely
A UAV produces completely up-to-date imagery as it is completed in real time and recorded too. This makes drones suited to time-sensitive projects and for monitoring locations at regular intervals (i.e. using the same flight plan each time).
Efficient
Unlike traditional surveying techniques, using a drone is fast and requires minimal staff, plus using an aerial approach overcomes common site access issues such as impenetrable vegetation, boulders, crevasses etc.
Cost-effective
Used regularly, the per-project cost of a professional drone system is typically lower than third-party alternatives such as manned imaging aircraft, with a drone system often providing a complete ROI in as little as a few months or a few large projects.
Discrete
Small and light electric-powered drones, especially fixed-wing aircraft, make little noise and are often bird-shaped, meaning animals on the ground are rarely disturbed by these tools, if they notice them at all.
Rotary (helicopter) drone systems are best suited to monitoring and charting smaller areas, enabling operators to capture video imagery and respond to this feedback live, while fixed-wing UAVs—such as the Bathawk—allow users to map larger areas in a single autonomous flight.
EXAMPLES OF DRONE APPLICATIONS IN THE ENVIRONMNETAL SECTOR
Anti-poaching
This is all done through the successful deployment of our UAV systems in an anti-poaching capacity which is predicated on the following:
- Identification of specific poaching hotspots
- Limiting seasonal and terrain factors
- Limiting moon phase cycles
- Deployment and logistical support of best-suited UAV systems, component technologies and operational crews
- Close integration of UAV platforms with armed reaction teams consisting of park rangers
UAV surveillance and deterrence overflights of areas susceptible to poaching are not a panacea to the current poaching epidemic. Rather, the use of UAV’s should be an important tool at the disposal of parks’ anti-poaching teams providing the rangers effective aerial support when needed.
At UDS, our aim is to build a strong relationship with staff within our conservation parks to secure the safety and security of the animals and reduce poaching incidents within their parks, both during day and night time. The UDS conservation teams are then able to access most areas, work closely with the game rangers, who also provides security protection to the UDS teams working in the field.
Our UAV’s and sensors (thermal imaging most commonly deployed in this application) are being used in the following situations, to support our anti-poaching activities.
- Deterrence: achieved by visible flying with the fixed wing aircraft during the day and flying with lights on at night etc.
- Surveillance: majority of the flying hours are spent on surveillance flights at night looking for poacher movement etc. with thermal imaging.
- Rapid response: when gunshots are heard, or positive intel is received from park etc.
- Monitor: Facilities where rhino horns are kept for safe keeping. Wounded animals, either with gunshot wounds or injuries sustained either caused by being caught in traps and snares. On request to monitor a specific situation or animal/s. Locating animal carcasses etc.
With our partnership with Tala Solutions, environmental and GIS consultants, we can offer a broad range of environmental mapping services including:
Animal management & conservation
- Game counting
- Camera trap image retrieval
- Boat monitoring
- Animal tracking
- Migration tracking
- Perimeter assessment
- Habitat management
- Alien invasive species assessments
- Anti-poaching activities (identification, deterrence)
- Nest surveys
- Species identification
- Identifying areas of overgrazing
Plant health & conservation
- Plant health/stress analysis (using NDVI)
- Soil property & moisture analysis
- Biomass estimation
- Growth/coverage monitoring
- Plant/tree counting
- Species identification
- Alien invasive species assessments
- Vegetation type mapping
Forestry
- Vegetation health analysis
- Biomass estimation
- Fire detection & tracking
- Storm damage assessment
- Planting / re-planting campaign planning
- Deforestation / illegal logging / farming / incursion monitoring
- Forest mapping
Change monitoring
- Environmental Pollution
- Land cover mapping
- Soil erosion
- Pre-and-post event/intervention comparison (storms, landslides, management interventions etc.)
- Forest degradation
- Alien invasive species assessments
Terrain modelling
- Elevation and surface models (with 2cm accuracy)
- Morphology
- Glacial features
- River banks
- Cliff faces
- Beaches
Historical Site Assessments
- Identifying and mapping historical sites
Coastal management
- Erosion monitoring
- Storm damage assessment
- Volume estimation
- Beach replenishment planning
River, wetland & flood assessment
- River mapping & modelling
- River surveys
- Water-flow simulation
- Erosion monitoring
- Flood damage assessment
- Flood defence planning
- Wetland delineations
- Hydrological modelling
- Pollution monitoring
- Seep zone mapping
Earthwork & rock face management
- Control screen inspection
- Crack / unstable area detection
- Rock fall assessment
- 3D modelling
- Project planning
Baseline Assessments
- Baseline data for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
Regulation enforcement
- Illegal activity detection & monitoring
- Compliance monitoring (e.g. overfishing, illegal logging/farming expansion, illegal entry into protected areas, etc.)
GIS Data management
- Sourcing of data from available, current & historical databases, satellite, aerial photography & drone imagery
- Access to multiple GIS databases to integrate with imagery for enhanced decision making and cost saving
- Capturing, compiling and managing data
- Analysis/Modelling of data and data interpretation
- Present spatial data in maps and graphs
- Monitoring and change analysis