Applications of unmanned aerial vehicles in Antarctic environmental research

AbstractAntarctica plays a fundamental role in the Earth's climate, oceanic circulation and global ecosystem. It is a priority and a scientific challenge to understand its functioning and responses under different scenarios of global warming. However, extreme environmental conditions, seasonality and isolation hampers the efforts to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the physical, biological, chemical and geological processes taking place in Antarctica. Here we present unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as feasible, rapid and accurate tools for environmental and wildlife research in Antarctica. UAV surveys were carried out on Deception Island (South Shetland Islands) using visible, multispectral and thermal sensors, and a water sampling device to develop precise thematic ecological maps, detect anomalous thermal zones, identify and census wildlife, build 3D images of geometrically complex geological formations, and sample dissolved chemicals (< 0.22 µm) waters from inaccessible or protected areas.

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Small unmanned aerial vehicles for aeromagnetic surveys and their flights in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Polar Science ◽

10.1016/j.polar.2014.07.001 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 342-356 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Minoru Funaki ◽

Shin-Ichiro Higashino ◽

Shinya Sakanaka ◽

Naoyoshi Iwata ◽

Norihiro Nakamura ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

South Shetland Islands ◽

The South ◽

Shetland Islands ◽

Aerial Vehicles

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in environmental biology: a review

European Journal of Ecology ◽

10.2478/eje-2018-0012 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 56-74 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Maciej M. Nowak ◽

Katarzyna Dziób ◽

Paweł Bogawski

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Environmental Research ◽

Individual Species ◽

Environmental Biology ◽

Biophysical Parameters ◽

Volume Number ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Sensing Technology ◽

Spatio Temporal

Abstract Acquiring information about the environment is a key step during each study in the field of environmental biology at different levels, from an individual species to community and biome. However, obtaining information about the environment is frequently difficult because of, for example, the phenological timing, spatial distribution of a species or limited accessibility of a particular area for the field survey. Moreover, remote sensing technology, which enables the observation of the Earth’s surface and is currently very common in environmental research, has many limitations such as insufficient spatial, spectral and temporal resolution and a high cost of data acquisition. Since the 1990s, researchers have been exploring the potential of different types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for monitoring Earth’s surface. The present study reviews recent scientific literature dealing with the use of UAV in environmental biology. Amongst numerous papers, short communications and conference abstracts, we selected 110 original studies of how UAVs can be used in environmental biology and which organisms can be studied in this manner. Most of these studies concerned the use of UAV to measure the vegetation parameters such as crown height, volume, number of individuals (14 studies) and quantification of the spatio-temporal dynamics of vegetation changes (12 studies). UAVs were also frequently applied to count birds and mammals, especially those living in the water. Generally, the analytical part of the present study was divided into following sections: (1) detecting, assessing and predicting threats on vegetation, (2) measuring the biophysical parameters of vegetation, (3) quantifying the dynamics of changes in plants and habitats and (4) population and behaviour studies of animals. At the end, we also synthesised all the information showing, amongst others, the advances in environmental biology because of UAV application. Considering that 33% of studies found and included in this review were published in 2017 and 2018, it is expected that the number and variety of applications of UAVs in environmental biology will increase in the future.

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Development of thickened semi-synthetic engine oil M-5z / 20 AERO for four-stroke gasoline engines aircraft piston of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

World of OIL Products the Oil Companies Bulletin ◽

10.32758/2071-5951-2020-0-6-44-47 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 06 ◽

pp. 44-47

Author(s):

A.A. Moykin ◽

◽

A.S. Medzhibovsky ◽

S.A. Kriushin ◽

M.V. Seleznev ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Engine Oil ◽

Motor Oil ◽

Gasoline Engines ◽

State Research Institute ◽

Technical Requirements ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

State Research ◽

Industrial Batch ◽

The Russian Federation

Nowadays, the creation of remotely-piloted aerial vehicles for various purposes is regarded as one of the most relevant and promising trends of aircraft development. FAU "25 State Research Institute of Chemmotology of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation" have studied the operation features of aircraft piston engines and developed technical requirements for motor oil for piston four-stroke UAV engines, as well as a new engine oil M-5z/20 AERO in cooperation with NPP KVALITET, LLC. Based on the complex of qualification tests, the stated operational properties of the experimental-industrial batch of M-5z/20 AERO oil are generally confirmed.

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