Excerpts from the Telegraph
May 27, 2013:
...
The small, lightweight, battery-powered Falcon drones can be launched by hand in minutes and fly over a range of five miles for up to 90 minutes. Fitted with high-resolution infrared cameras, they can pick out elephants, rhinos and lions as well as anyone that might be tracking them.
...
When the Falcon drone's creator Chris Miser arrived at Olifants West conservancy at the foot of the Klein Drakensberg mountains of Limpopo last weekend, he planned to run some simple test flights to get used to the bushy terrain.
These were abandoned when a call came through on Saturday afternoon from a neighbouring reserve that two of their rangers had been shot at by suspected poachers – one taking a bullet in his hand-held radio.
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Full story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/10082727/Drones-join-war-on-rhino-poachers-in-South-Africa.html
Comments
Does anyone know how to get involved in schemes like this?
I think this is great - I love seeing APM being used for worthwhile causes like this.
Cheers, Tridge
i'm not really sure about pricetag.. 15k$ for something that flies 5 miles for 90 minutes and carries one camera?.. i can easiliy be wrong though..
i'd do launch 4-5 cheap drones at a same time collecting all that information at once.. i might be wrong, but i don't see how you couldn't fit into, say, 2k$ per one? or is that infrared camera that heavy? what exactly makes it so expensive?..