Analysis of the Possibility of Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Thermovision for the Stocktaking of Big Game

Classic methods of stocktaking big game living in a given area have many disadvantages. The main result is the need to ensure appropriate terrain and weather conditions and also require the involvement of a large number of people, so-called observers. The development of technology makes it possible to create new stocktaking methods that will not have as many of the above-mentioned disadvantages, while reducing the cost of stocktaking and increasing its accuracy. This paper presents an analysis of the possibility of using unmanned aerial vehicles, so-called drones, in combination with the observation of game in the infrared wave range with the use of a thermal imaging camera. The paper presents the concept of such a solution, which will of course be further developed. Raids are planned with the use of thermal cameras over areas according to strictly defined transects and subjecting the obtained images to analysis, also with the use of artificial intelligence methods. This article was written as part of the PBL project carried out by a group of students from the Silesian University of Technology under the supervision of dr inż. Arkadiusz Boczkowski.

Development of Low-Resolution, Low-Power and Low-Cost Infrared System

The article presents the construction of a thermal imaging camera with low power consumption. The 80 × 80 Micro80Gen2 microbolometric array of detectors records infrared radiation in the LWIR spectral range (long infrared wave, 8–12 µm). The entire digital part of the electronic circuit has been integrated within the reprogrammable FPGA chip from the Spartan 6 family. In order to read and display thermograms, an application for the .NetFremework 3.1 platform, which implements non-uniformity correction (NUC) and image processing, is written. Due to its low cost, small size and weight, the camera can be used in various applications, e.g. in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) known as drones.

Graphene-based tunable hyperbolic microcavity

Graphene-based hyperbolic metamaterials provide a unique scaffold for designing nanophotonic devices with active functionalities. In this work, we have theoretically demonstrated that the characteristics of a polarization-dependent tunable hyperbolic microcavity in the mid-infrared frequencies could be realized by modulating the thickness of the dielectric layers, and thus breaking periodicity in a graphene-based hyperbolic metamaterial stack. Transmission of the tunable microcavity shows a Fabry–Perot resonant mode with a Q-factor > 20, and a sixfold local enhancement of electric field intensity. It was found that by varying the gating voltage of graphene from 2 to 8 V, the device could be self-regulated with respect to both the intensity (up to 30%) and spectrum (up to 2.1 µm). In addition, the switching of the device was considered over a wide range of incident angles for both the transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes. Finally, numerical analysis indicated that a topological transition between elliptic and type II hyperbolic dispersion could be actively switched. The proposed scheme represents a remarkably versatile platform for the mid-infrared wave manipulation and may find applications in many multi-functional architectures, including ultra-sensitive filters, low-threshold lasers, and photonic chips.