Eurobodalla Koala Project

[Quicky]

We are a group of volunteers searching for Koala's, a native Australian mammal. We have been provided with a new DJI Matrice 4t, coutesy of a government grant. I am interested in any other group or person who has experience in setting up search patterns using thermal imaging to establish the presence of animals. The search area's typically cover eucalypt forests of approximately 30 metres in height across undulating to mountinous terrain. My personal experience with establishing a search pattern is with Litchi. I have looked at DJI Hub 2, but it is way too expensive for a group of volunteers. Any assistance would be gratefull accepted.

 

[jaja6009]

We are a group of volunteers searching for Koala's, a native Australian mammal. We have been provided with a new DJI Matrice 4t, coutesy of a government grant. I am interested in any other group or person who has experience in setting up search patterns using thermal imaging to establish the presence of animals. The search area's typically cover eucalypt forests of approximately 30 metres in height across undulating to mountinous terrain. My personal experience with establishing a search pattern is with Litchi. I have looked at DJI Hub 2, but it is way too expensive for a group of volunteers. Any assistance would be gratefull accepted.

You can easily setup grid flights with the controller using Pilot 2 (The app you see on screen).

I would use the new Patrol method. With Patrol you can use the thermal sensor and receive notifications when a certain temperature threshold is reached.
Patrol flies a grid like area.
You will find that thermal is not a perfect solution. In the daytime solar loading can make the environment warmer than people (Or animals). This may best be flown at night.

Research Flight Hub 2 again.
It is mostly free. You will have to pay for:

More storage (You get 5GB free)
Mapping Images (You get a free allotment, but they will expire in time)
Live Streaming (You get a free allotment, but they will expire in time. But they are cheap, $250 for 10,000 minutes for a year)


The rest of Flight Hub 2 is free. You can see the drone's position on a map, plan flights (waypoints, mapping, patrol etc.)
Make sure you are not confusing this with the original Flight Hub. You want to use Flight Hub 2.
Since you will have free mapping images, test mapping out. You can map habitats and similar things.


Good luck with your project!! This sounds like a great use case for the Matrice.

 

[Quicky]

Many thanks for your response and advice jaja6009. Unfortunately the Australian rules do not permit flying at night with the RePL licences our members hold. To obtain a Beyond Visual Line of Sight licence is quite involved and too expensive for our members. My thoughts were to camp out in the bush and do a dawn patrol while the surrounding bush has cooled overnight. I will explore the Patrol method as a solution to setting up a grid pattern. Paying for any additional resources is beyond our financial capacity. The remaing funds from the grant are to be allocated to liability insurance. Once again many thanks for your interest and advice.

 

[jaja6009]

Well your at dawn plan sounds good and I saw on your website some of the results (I think). I do Search and Rescue and daytime flights are tough with thermal imaging, even in the winter.

FLight Hub 2 does need internet service at the controller.

When you power on the Matrice you will see Flight Missions. You go into that area and then you can plan mapping grids, waypoint missions and the new mission, Patrol.

Patrol runs like a mapping grid where you draw a shape around the area you want to fly and then assign a height you will fly. The software will then design a grid mission (mowing the lawn).
The great thing about Patrol is that you can have the drone send an alert when a parameter is met. In RGB camera, if the AI detects a person you can have the camera take an image or take a video clip.
With thermal you can have an alert sent or take an image when a certain temperature threshold is met.

To ensure proper coverage, I would get the flight logs (text logs) and use free software like Drone Logbook or Air Data to convert into KMLs. You can then view flights in Google Earth Pro or similar GIS software.
Even if Patrol does not meet your needs you can still grab the flight records so that you can plot them on a map to ensure proper coverage. And since you are already using Arc GIS to tell your story you can integrate the flight records if you want there, kind of like showing the flight record with the geolocation of the different animals you encountered.

Feel free to contact me through direct messaging if you need any help. Besides being a public safety drone operator I also teach Part 107 at the local community college and will help you with whatever I can.