Optimizing observing strategies for monitoring animals using drone-mounted thermal infrared cameras
Optimizing observing strategies for monitoring animals using drone-mounted thermal infrared cameras
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DOI：
10.1080/01431161.2018.1558372
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发表时间：
2019-01-17
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Longmore, Steve
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Burke, Claire;Rashman, Maisie;Longmore, Steve
相对便宜的现成无人机的普及为野生动物监测和保护提供了巨大的机会。同样，最近热红外摄像机成本的降低也为该领域提供了新的前景，因为它们比传统的RGB摄像机具有能够根据体温区分动物并能够在夜间检测动物的优势。然而，使用无人机安装的热红外摄像机带来了一些技术挑战。在这篇文章中，我们将解决其中的一些问题，即由于地面热量引起的热对比度问题，大气层对热红外辐射的吸收和发射，植被的遮蔽，以及优化无人机的飞行高度，以便在覆盖大面积和能够准确成像和识别感兴趣的动物之间取得最佳平衡。我们展示了这些方法的应用与案例研究，使用现场数据，并首次检测到的极度濒危的河兔（Bunolagus monticularis）的热红外数据。我们提供了一个网络工具，以便社区可以轻松地将这些技术应用于其他研究（）。
The proliferation of relatively affordable off-the-shelf drones offers great opportunities for wildlife monitoring and conservation. Similarly the recent reduction in the cost of thermal infrared cameras also offers new promise in this field, as they have the advantage over conventional RGB cameras of being able to distinguish animals based on their body heat and being able to detect animals at night. However, the use of drone-mounted thermal infrared cameras comes with several technical challenges. In this article, we address some of these issues, namely thermal contrast problems due to heat from the ground, absorption and emission of thermal infrared radiation by the atmosphere, obscuration by vegetation, and optimizing the flying height of drones for a best balance between covering a large area and being able to accurately image and identify animals of interest. We demonstrate the application of these methods with a case study using field data and make the first ever detection of the critically endangered riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis) in thermal infrared data. We provide a web-tool so that the community can easily apply these techniques to other studies ().