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Anti-poaching drones

Unmanned airplanes or drones are well known today for their combat engagement, for example, against terrorists. But available technologies can be used also in nature conservation applications.

They will of course not be used to kill the poachers but will serve to reveal them. There are mainly two scenarios where aircraft equipped with the appropriate technology can be used in Central Africa, Airplanes can fly over the rainforest to detect smoke from fires from poached camps, or even a temperature gradient of the fire itself. It all depends on the performance of the available technology. In the open areas of Savannah and Sahel, the requirements on the devices are even lower. It is enough for a drone to reveal the presence of people, vehicles, horses or camels used by the poachers. The real-time location of suspicious person will allow for rapid and targeted intervention of the anti-poacher patrols leading to possible poacher arrest.

We have not done anything in this project yet. We are looking for human and financial support. In the first phase the key is not a long flight of the aircraft, but rather an equipment able to detect person, equipment or artifact. Only after successful verification we would focus on autonomy and length of flight.