Civil Applications of UAVs

While drones do have military pedigree, their continued development has led to a proliferation of designs suitable for almost any application where real-time data gathering is critical. This now includes saving the endangered Nepalese Rhinoceros as UAVs are used to detect poachers as they enter the parks. Dr Serge Wich, chief biologist at the Anthropological Institute at the University of Zurich, will share more details during Geospace Europe, to be held from 17 to 19 October 2012 in Brussels, Belgium.

Drones, usually imagined for use in tracking extremist leaders and patrolling no-fly zones rather than rhinoceroses, are now playing roles in monitoring isolated or dangerous infrastructure or gathering commercial data.

Other speakers are Prof Ju Jang Lee, Advanced Institute of science and technology Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea; Joop Wenstedt, CEO of Albatros UAS; Dr Peter S. Sapaty, director of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Distributed Simulation and Control; and Pablo J. Zarco-Tejada, European Commission Monitoring Agricultural Resources Unit, Geocap Action Leader.