Autonomous UAVs and Cable-Fusion Technology for Real-Time Coral Reef Health Assessment

Coral reefs, crucial ecosystems for the biological resources of the oceans, are being severely affected by euxinia and anthropogenic pressures. Monitoring of reefs using historical methods which include divers, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), or Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are resource consuming, expensive and not efficient for mass use. This article investigates a new method for inspecting the condition of the coral managers where unmanned aerial vehicles apply a cable-based sensor deployment system. This method unlike the traditional systems, utilizes combination of aerial imaging with modular underwater sensors that are mounted on a light weight cable and this approach is pragmatic and can be upgraded. The system enables the collection of data, extraction of features and classification of data about the state of the corals in real time. With the power of current trends in machine learning and the exploration of other and diverse sensors such as sonar and LiDAR, this approach solves some of the challenges that were encountered in the past and that were using conventional techniques, and is more useful and less expensive for the cause of protecting corals.