Tech help for fire regions DRONE MAPS ISLAND KOALAS
A TOWNSVILLE drone pilot developing cutting edge infrared technology is also helping to protect Magnetic Island’s koala population.
In response to the devastating 2019 Australian bushfires, chief remote pilot Neil Roberts is in the process of creating infra-red drone software to map koala habitats in NSW.
Mr Roberts, in partnership with Ali Bee and Tim Bee from the Magnetic Island Koala Hospital, is testing the new software by mapping koala hot spots on Magnetic Island.
Using his $37,000 DJI Matrice 600 PRO drone, Mr Roberts has conducted two flyovers at Horseshoe Bay and The Forts Walk identifying koalas by their body heat.
Mr Roberts said he sat down with Dr Bee and Mr Bee in June and mapped out regions to explore.
“Ali and Tim devote their personal time to this so it is nice to be able to help them and to learn something in the process,” he said.
“We carried the drone to the top of the fort and then we found some koalas by looking in the trees and flew the drone over the top to see if we could spot them on the image.”
The 9.5kg DJI Matrice 600 PRO drone can fly for up to 25 minutes and has a Zenmuse XT2 camera sensor attached to the framework acting as the infra-red camera.
Mr Roberts said he was navigating one problem developing infra-red drone software in North Queensland. “The main issue is the heat because the sun masks the body heat of the animals and there is less of a variation of heat from the body and the ground,” he said.
“The best time to fly is just before first light when the vegetation is relatively cool so then we have more of a chance to see a heat spot which will be an animal.”
It usually takes Mr Roberts a day to process the data collected by the drone and he said he hoped to conduct six more flyovers on Magnetic Island. The last time the koala population was mapped on the island was 2013. It was estimated there were 825 koalas, plus or minus 175, on the island after 11,000 koala pellets were collected over 8ha. The island spans 5000ha.