Master's students test drone for combating rhinoceros poaching
Master's students Camiel Verschoor and Anouk Visser (Artificial Intelligence) are travelling with the Dutch UAS team to South Africa to test a drone they developed for combating rhino poaching.
Eight students of the University of Amsterdam and Delft University of Technology are participating in the Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge. This challenge is to develop an unmanned aircraft that can be deployed to protect the rhinoceros. As further development of the drone requires experience in the field, the Dutch UAS team departed on Friday, 31 October for Kololo Game Reserve in Limpopo, South Africa where they will spend two weeks testing the small unmanned aircraft with park wardens.
Solution
The Dutch Unmanned Aerial Solutions (UAS) team are at an advanced stage in developing a solution: a small unmanned aircraft, or drone, fitted with both conventional and thermal cameras. This drone will be able to monitor the habitat of the rhinoceros, sending the camera images directly to the ground station. On the ground, a computer automatically scans through the images looking for people and rhinoceroses and sends the park warden a signal if it detects anything suspicious. Aided by the drone, the park warden can monitor the rhinos day and night and protect them more effectively against poachers.
Successful test
Following successful tests in the Beekse Bergen safari park last September, it is now time to field-test the drone in Kololo Game Reserve. Kololo is the ideal spot for safely testing the drone as it hosts less dangerous wildlife such as giraffe, impalas and zebras. Kololo is also the co-owner of the adjacent Welgevonden Park that is home to a large population of rhinos.
Rhino hunting in South Africa
Rhinoceros horn powder is one of the most valuable materials in the world – one kilo is worth more money than a kilo of gold or cocaine, and the demand for it has increased enormously, particularly in countries like China and Vietnam. As such, it is little wonder that criminal organisations are trying to profit from this trade and are hunting the rhino on a massive scale.