Development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Precision Cattle Ranching

精准养牛无人机的研制

• 批准号: 487012-2015
• 负责人: Church, JohnScott
• 金额: $ 15.96万
• 依托单位: Thompson Rivers University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: College - University Idea to Innovation Grants
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=641942
• 关键词: Development; Unmanned; Aerial; Vehicles; Precision

Every year many British Columbia ranchers experience difficulty in retrieving cow/calf pairs off range, andspend tremendous manpower looking for lost cattle. New methods will be explored for the successful detectionof cattle, and potentially even gathering and moving the animals on range, by unmanned aerial vehicles. Wewill develop for the cattle industry unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are equipped with Radio FrequencyIdentification (RFID) antennae that are able to quickly detect the location of cattle that have ultra highfrequency (UHF)RFID ear tags. The project will demonstrate the value and quality of the data, the tolerance ofthe animals to the vehicles, and the value of the integrated UAV/UHF-RFID system for improved managementof beef cattle in extensive grazing systems. We will test the best type of craft to carry the radio-frequencyantennae. Flight paths will be either pre-programmed with waypoint software or flown manually. Some of thesystems' features, which will be tested, include: height and distance limits, return-to-home, auto-takeofflanding, automated collision avoidance, along with the accuracy of field detection of cattle by the craft. Inaddition, the value of additional on board sensors including multi spectral imaging and infrared thermographywill be tested on the unmanned aerial vehicles. And finally, we will determine the best type of UHF-RFID tagto use in the cattle ears with the UAV multi-rotor system. Our industry collaborator in Golden, BritishColumbia will provide the site locations and cattle in order to demonstrate this technology. Success will bedetermined by successfully identifying the location of cattle from the air via radio frequency identification bythe UAV, along with successfully matching the location to the GPS on board the craft and visual confirmationof cattle by the UAV via video down-link. In addition, we will use multi spectral imagery via a specializedcamera on board to do range and pasture assessment through data-processing of images collected duringmapping flights.

每年，许多不列颠哥伦比亚省的牧场主都遇到在牧场外找回奶牛/牛犊的困难，他们花费大量人力寻找丢失的牛。将探索新的方法，通过无人驾驶飞行器成功探测到牛，甚至可能在范围内收集和移动动物。我们将为养牛业开发配备射频识别(RFID)天线的无人驾驶飞行器(UAV)，这些天线能够快速检测到带有超高频(UHF)RFID耳标的牛的位置。该项目将展示数据的价值和质量、动物对车辆的耐受性，以及集成无人机/UHF-RFID系统在广泛放牧系统中改善肉牛管理的价值。我们将测试携带无线电频率天线的最好类型的飞行器。飞行路线将通过航点软件预先编程，或手动飞行。该系统的一些功能将进行测试，包括：高度和距离限制、返回家园、自动起飞着陆、自动避免碰撞，以及该飞行器现场探测牛的准确性。此外，包括多光谱成像和红外热成像在内的附加机载传感器的价值将在无人机上进行测试。最后，我们将确定UHF-RFID标签的最佳类型，用于无人机多旋翼系统的牛耳。我们在不列颠哥伦比亚省戈尔德市的行业合作伙伴将提供场地位置和牛只，以展示这项技术。成功与否将取决于无人机通过无线电频率识别从空中成功识别牛的位置，以及成功地将位置与飞行器上的GPS匹配，并通过视频下行链路由无人机对牛进行视觉确认。此外，我们将通过飞机上的专用相机使用多光谱图像，通过对测绘飞行期间收集的图像进行数据处理，进行范围和牧场评估。