Small Aircraft Monitoring

We are continuing to investigate the use of small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS)—often called drones—for wildlife research and management.

We’re using high-resolution sensors on sUAS to measure vegetation composition and growth stage, which is important for assessing the quality of vegetation as wildlife food.  

We’re also examining their use in aerial surveys to count wildlife, including the use of infrared sensors (“night vision”) to count wildlife in the dark.