WildBridge:Conservation Software for Animal Localisation using Commercial Drones

This paper assesses the usability and accuracy of a commercially off-the-shelf (COTS) platform for precise terrestrial animal localization. To achieve localization, this paper uses a single-shot coordinate transform method. The platform selected in this work is the DJI Mavic 3E quad-copter, since it is a popular and widely adopted platform, in particular among the wildlife conservation community. To enable the use of the DJI Mavic 3E, a software interface was developed to access telemetry and camera feed in realtime. The method was tested during two field campaigns in Kenya and Wales. These field campaigns permitted the discovery of localization error sources and their possible mitigation, in particular through adequate mission planning. The preliminary maximum localization error was computed to be 19.2m laterally and 14.4m longitudinally for an animal positioned 385m from the UAV flying at 120m above groun