Drones patrolling forests could monitor environmental and ecological changes

By Caroline Brogan

Imperial researchers have created drones that can connect sensors to trees to monitor environmental and ecological changes in forests.

Forest monitoring sensors are already being used to monitor changes in temperature, humidity and light, as well as the movements of animals and insects through their habitat. They also help detect and monitor forest fires and can provide valuable data on how climate change and other human activities are affecting the natural world.

However, positioning these sensors can prove difficult in large, tall forests, and climbing trees to place them poses its own risks.

Now, researchers from Imperial College London’s Air Robotics Lab have developed drones capable of firing sensor-containing darts at trees several meters away in messy environments such as forests. Drones can also place sensors through contact or by perching on tree branches.

Through GIPHY. Credit: Imperial College London

I like to think of them as inhabitants of artificial forests who will soon watch over the ecosystem and provide the data we need to protect the environment.

Professor Mirko Kovac, Department of Aeronautics

The researchers hope drones will be used in the future to create sensor networks to increase data on forest ecosystems and to track hard-to-navigate biomes such as the Amazon rainforest.

Lead researcher Professor Mirko Kovac, director of the Air Robotics Laboratory at Imperial’s Aviation Department, said: “Monitoring forest ecosystems can be difficult, but our drones could implement entire networks of sensors to increase the quantity. and the accuracy of environmental and ecological data.

“I like to think of them as inhabitants of artificial forests who will soon watch over the ecosystem and provide the data we need to protect the environment.”

The drones are equipped with cameras to identify suitable targets and a smart material that changes shape when heated to launch darts, which then attach to trees. They can also perch on tree branches like birds to collect data on their own, acting as mobile sensors.

The researchers tested their drones at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) and in trees on the Imperial’s Silwood Park Campus.

Through GIPHY. Credit: Imperial College London

We aim to introduce new design and control strategies to allow drones to operate effectively in wooded environments.

Dr Salua Hamaza, Department of Aeronautics

Drones are currently controlled by people – using control units, researchers look through the camera lens to select target trees and shoot darts. The next step is to make the drones autonomous, so that researchers can test how they perform in denser forest environments without human guidance.

Co-author André Farhina, from the Department of Aeronautics, said: “There are many challenges to be addressed before drones can be used regularly in forests, such as striking a careful balance between human input and automated activities so that they can be used. safely while remaining adaptable to unpredictable environments. “

Co-author Dr Salua Hamaza, also from the Department of Aeronautics, said, “We aim to introduce new design and control strategies to allow drones to operate effectively in wooded environments. By leveraging intelligent mechanisms and new sensing techniques, we can offload on-board computing and create platforms that are energy efficient and perform better. “

• Hamaza, S., Farinha, A., Nguyen, HN and Kovac, M., 2020, November. Provision of sensors in forests with aerial robots: a new paradigm for environmental monitoring. In IEEE IROS Workshop on Perception, Planning and Mobility in Forestry Robotics.
• Nguyen, HN, Siddall, R., Stephens, B., Navarro-Rubio, A. and Kova?, M., 2019, April. A passively adaptable micro-pin clamp for robust and controllable perching. In 2019 2nd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) (pp. 80-87). IEEE. Video.
• Farinha, A., Zufferey, R., Zheng, P., Armanini, SF, and Kovac, M., 2020. Unmanned aerial sensor placement for messy environments. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 5 (4), pp. 6623-6630. Video.

These works were funded by EPSRC, ORCA Robotics Hub, EU Horizon 2020, NERC (QMEE CDT), UKAEA with RACE and Royal Society.