Forest drones for environmental sensing and nature conservation

Protecting our nature and biodiversity is essential. For this purpose, remote sensing robotic platforms are increasingly explored to collect spatial and temporal data. However, there is still little attention on leveraging aerial robots to interact with trees for sample collection and targeted countermeasure deployment. In this study, we propose platforms and methodology that offer the use of aerial robots in the forests to conduct various tasks including leaf sample collection, visual sensing of forest topology and autonomous sensor placement. With the developed virtual reality (VR) interface, we show that remote environmental sensing, detection of plant pathogens, and sample collection are viable tasks that can be achieved by the proposed platforms. In this context, physical and visual sensing approaches as well as various aerial robots are introduced and discussed for forest applications

Concept development of installation technology for rainforest audio monitoring devices

Rainforest deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of greenhouse gas emission into the atmosphere, after the burning of fossil fuels. Up to 90 per cent of tropical rainforest deforestation is conducted illegally. Rainforest Connection endeavour to reduce this number through the installation of up-recycled Audio Monitoring Devices installed high in the trees of the forest. The presented work aims to assist Rainforest Connection in their mission through the application of concept development methods for the enhancement of installation operations performed in the field. Due to the nature of the company a premium is placed on immediately implementable techniques. In response, both incremental improvements to current operations, through the adoption of industry techniques and commercially available equipment, and novel generated solutions are provided. The paper recommends the employment of extendable carbon fibre poles for the installation of the Audio Monitoring Devices as a novel solution and identifies a path forward for further development of the installation technique. The adaption of commercial telescopic carbon fibre poles from the window washing industry repre-sents an additional tool for field operations that has the potential to save hours per temporarily installed device; while providing an immediate pathway for field trials in Ecuador at a low investment cost. A segment carbon fibre pole is recommended for future development of high elevation, permanent installations performed from the ground

XXV Congreso Argentino de Ciencias de la Computación - CACIC 2019: libro de actas

Trabajos presentados en el XXV Congreso Argentino de Ciencias de la Computación (CACIC), celebrado en la ciudad de Río Cuarto los días 14 al 18 de octubre de 2019 organizado por la Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI) y Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físico-Químicas y Naturales - Universidad Nacional de Río CuartoRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic