New technologies for protected area management: Conservation drone test flight in protected wetlands

UAS
Fotocredit: FH Kärnten
UAS
Fotocredit: FH Kärnten

At the end of October, we launched our first multirotor test flight in the Lendspitz-Maiernigg Natura 2000 area, Klagenfurt.

The conservation area, located next to Wörthersee, protects wetland habitats, such as saw-sedge, fens and swamp forests, which harbour a number of endangered species. The test run is part of the project BioMoniTec which aims to identify and test functionality of state-of-the art technology such as Quad- and Multirotor droness. Our drone was equipped with a multispectral sensor that provides high-resolution aerial imagery in visible but additionally invisible spectral bands. The trial was intended as a first step to test the comparability of drone-based images with publicly available satellite data, the latter with the major drawback of much coarser resolution.

Future steps will focus on the possibilities for differentiation of habitats and for the feasibility of drone imagery to identify individual species based on aerial, high-resolution multispectral images. We will keep you informed!