Overview: Wildlife conservation is a crucial step in preserving the ecology. Since the ecology is deteriorating at a fast pace, governments across the world are adopting various methods to rapidly reverse the damage. UAVs and drones are some of the widely used innovations that make various aspects of wildlife conservation, like monitoring, tracking, patrolling, and extracting data, much easier. Paired with influential technologies like AI, ML, Predictive analytics, etc., UAVs can be a game-changer in this field.
Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are fast changing the landscape for wildlife protection. With the use of UAVs, the government and technology have the power to transform wildlife and spatial ecology permanently. The study of wildlife populations and ecosystems is the first step in conservation. According to a study, the global UAV market will be worth $15 billion by 2022. When used in distant or challenging terrain areas, traditional wildlife monitoring methods and technologies have been expensive and inefficient.
Animals may become terrified by monitoring systems and attack monitoring devices and workers, disrupting monitoring operations and losing time & expense. Thermal camera-equipped drones can avoid these issues and give more precise data and high-resolution photographs more efficiently, cost-effectively, and securely. According to a study, drones will generate $3.70 billion in revenue by 2022. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.90% between the years 2022 and 2026.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs):
UAVs are utilized for operational planning and monitoring wildlife. It helps crew members act responsibly during an emergency using UAV-based solutions. UAVs are classified based on their height, range, duration, and weight, and they can be used for a variety of purposes, including tracking wildlife. UAV based solutions can be used for more than just surveillance in the wildlife sector, including governance, technical support, eco-tourism marketing, law enforcement, anti-poaching, and search-and-rescue operations.
Professionals use artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies obtained from top technology consulting firms to offer customized UAV solutions to study the animal species present in the forest. UAV-powered AI solutions help detect particular species and protect them from targeted areas where poachers are willing to hunt them. The use of machine learning technology for UAVs enables professionals to develop specific algorithms and patterns to save threatened species across the globe.
The endangered or extinct species are analyzed using data analytics. The collected wildlife data seems to be massive, and with the help of big data, it is manageable to store and use when needed. Cloud computing technology is enabled with modern UAVs to save rare species for the future. It has also helped create camera traps and live maps to track the movements of animals and birds. The custom software development company provides UAVs with customized solutions with the latest technology equipped based on business needs.
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Why UAVs for wildlife monitoring?
Nowadays, wildlife monitoring has become challenging for environmental activities like tracking the animals and natural resources present in a forest and looking after wildlife’s social environments. The advanced features like altimeters, cameras, and GPS tracking present in UAV based solutions have become a driving force for wildlife monitoring. The UAV based solutions have stronger thermal and long-distance focus point cameras for round-the-clock monitoring of animals. Data engineering consulting firms provide integrated accelerators and motion sensors for UAV drones that collect accurate data on vehicle movement and wildlife, such as birds or animals.
The UAVs, powered by advanced AI solutions obtained from data analytics consulting companies, provide the footprint identification technique (FIT) to track animal movement and migration in different seasons, check for wildlife health issues or threats, and collect wildlife populations and census data. The use of big data has cleared the road for collecting wildlife data that can be transferred and stored using UAVs. The wildlife data includes rare and endangered species, environmental changes, and historical data analysis of specific places; all explored using big data analytics.
How can UAVs be used for wildlife?
UAV drones can drastically alter forest and wildlife conservation research. Drones provide a bird’s-eye perspective of forests and wildlife and data, images, and data that would otherwise be impossible and costly to collect. Customized UAV solutions are preferred over traditional technology services for the wildlife industry because they are safer to use, observe, and do various research in forest areas. Customized UAV solutions are very helpful for traditional approaches since it costs less and is highly efficient.
Animal tracking, capturing the best shots of wildlife, population counts, reforestation planning, illegal operations, and other duties may all be done with UAVs. By monitoring biodiversity protection, encroachments, forest health, forest fires, poaching, tree-felling, mangrove conservation, and the quality of water sources, UAV based solutions from leading cloud service providers for wildlife help to build a better tomorrow. The wildlife image captured by UAV based solutions is used for the following purposes:
- Anti-Poaching Analysis: It can detect illegal poaching activity and animals at night using infrared technology.
- High-Resolution Imaging: It helps capture good images of animal footprints and human activity.
- Multispectral Analysis: It focuses on detecting cryptic ground evidence, drought assessment, and vegetation mapping.
- Terrain Mapping: It ensures resource optimization, animal management, and animal protection maps for anti-poaching are provided efficiently.
What should a business look for before acquiring UAVs?
The deployment of UAVs with advanced predictive analytics benefits businesses by ensuring that all of the qualities and purposes of wildlife are met by tracking animals and collecting specific data to take corrective actions for humans and wildlife.
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Data Security:
There may be concerns about how and what information collected by wildlife drones will be used. This data about wildlife might be shared with larger networks, such as global research organizations. Another important concern is that those wanting data might shoot down, acquire, and disassemble drones. The UAV based solutions help to overcome these challenges and focus mainly on securing the data even amid odd events.
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Privacy:
UAV-based solutions for wildlife are very important for the modern world to keep track of wildlife to protect it from poachers and other disasters. It’s important to maintain privacy over collected information from UAVs about the animals and other endangered species in the forest.
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Awareness:
UAVs have the potential to address the concerns and misunderstandings created among people when they are used in specific locations. Increased transparency and making people understand the use of UAV based solutions will help to avoid unwanted issues. The use of UAVs ensures that they abide by all rules and regulations set by the government to smoothen the process and protect wildlife efficiently.
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Safety:
The UAV built can harm the wildlife during unexpected situations since the pilot is not involved and can increase the risk. UAV-based solutions have autopilot and remote control options integrated for safety purposes to overcome these situations without causing any damage to wildlife.
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Wildlife disturbance:
UAVs vary in size and type based on various uses. It is the perception of humans that drones might create more sound and cause disturbance to animals and birds present in the forest. The drones are advanced and ensure that they don’t make much noise for wildlife use.
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Wrapping Up:
UAV-based solutions for wildlife are the next-generation technology driving the forthcoming business insane. Customers from various organizations have experienced the best outcomes after using the UAV based solutions for extensive mapping and surveying wildlife missions. UAVs for wildlife have supported businesses in various weather conditions to collect specific data and review the footage of animal movements. Governments and organizations can utilize these state-of-the-art technologies provided by our country’s leading sustainability consulting firms to improve their wildlife conservation strategies.
