Animal poaching – killing and capturing animals in their natural habitats in order to use them or their body parts for profit or protect crops or livestock – poses an imminent threat to the biological diversity. This issue has been a problem for many years as traditional monitoring techniques proved to be inaccurate and ineffective (Gonzalez et al., 2016). However, recent developments in science have presented a new opportunity of using emerging technologies such as unmanned ground and aerial vehicles. This paper examines the use of ground and aerial unmanned vehicles as methods of preventing animal poaching. It is done by analyzing the relevant literature on the matter published in the last five years. The literature review showed the wide use of artificial intelligence, mobile sensors, thermal detection systems, drones, thermal infrared spectroscopy (TIR) and red-green-blue (RGB) imaging, and special systems like Systematic Poaching Detector application (SPOT).
All these methods already prove to be highly effective in preventing animal poaching. However, as the paper shows, there are still challenges associated with using these technologies. Among them real-world uncertainty of sensing adversaries in mobile sensors, ramifications of TIR and RGB imaging, lack of research on unmanned aerial vehicles and their autonomy. The paper addresses these disadvantages and provides possible solutions of addressing them. Moreover, the paper singles out the most efficient models and methods of using ground and aerial vehicles as methods of battling animal poaching. The results of the carried-out analysis could be used for further study and provide useful insights for researchers interested in using unmanned technologies for environmental and animal protection.
Reference
Gonzalez, L., Montes, G., Puig, E., Johnson, S., Mengersen, K., & Gaston, K. (2016). Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and artificial intelligence revolutionizing wildlife monitoring and conservation. Sensors, 16(1), 97-115.