I'm working for environmental and anti poaching organizations in Africa. The problem is that there is often not enough personnel to patrol the entire area. We're loosing a lot of game.
We're therefore looking for a low cost, affordable reconnaissance UAVs as an alternative to more expensive existing UAV systems or manned airplanes.
It should possess the following attibutes:
- operational range of 3 km
- weatherproof design that can resist hot temperatures
- GPS
-autopilot
- real time video transmission
- cost between $1000 - $ 3000
Could you recommend us any models?
Thank you, man! Your help is greatly appreciated!
Replies
I've been considering building one in that price class for the same purpose. I live in South Africa where the Rhinos are being poached at an alarming rate.
Can you tell me more about your requirements Eg. Would it be transported in a vehicle or backback? Does it need to be able to land at a remote location and send back pictures before returning? Does it need to fly at night? How important is vertical take-off and landing?
Me reflection to this post was that i remember a post about some guy using a skywalker like model equiped with FPV equipment and a flir camera. Used to track down pigs in fields. Getting the gps coordinates from the gps and then stalk them at the ground. Then I guess it works hunting poachers with such plane instead. wont have enormous flight time durability though. If a flir camera works in such conditions.
Link to the on diydrones, than then was linked to rcgroups or something.
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A...
I too suspect the price range is a bit low for a complete system, but you could also have a look at this one: http://www.trigger.pl/pteryx/
$1000.00 - 3000.00 is rolling pretty low for what you want. You may want to build based on a kit - or build up an older model. We bought a more expensive model, but it will pay for itself over time.....an investment. i did not want to have to keep going through what did not work
my email is bcrow.mt@gmail.com if you would like more info.
Good luck, great project
cheers, byron