Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Airship Formations for Animal Motion Capture and Behavior Analysis

Eric Price, Aamir Ahmad

TL;DR

The paper demonstrates the feasibility of using a formation of lighter-than-air airships for long-duration wildlife motion capture and behavior analysis, focusing on grazing horses in open terrain. It presents an end-to-end methodology encompassing airframe design, sensing with onboard computer vision, autonomous control via a sky-box and model predictive control, and realistic ROS/Gazebo simulations. Field validation at Hortobágy National Park shows autonomous tracking of Przewalski's horses under wind conditions of several meters per second, with hours-long potential and low disturbance compared to drones, albeit with handling and hull-durability considerations. The work provides concrete design, control, and simulation frameworks, and shares open-source code to accelerate progress in airborne wildlife observation using airships, offering a practical alternative to conventional UAVs for extended motion capture studies.

Abstract

Using UAVs for wildlife observation and motion capture offers manifold advantages for studying animals in the wild, especially grazing herds in open terrain. The aerial perspective allows observation at a scale and depth that is not possible on the ground, offering new insights into group behavior. However, the very nature of wildlife field-studies puts traditional fixed wing and multi-copter systems to their limits: limited flight time, noise and safety aspects affect their efficacy, where lighter than air systems can remain on station for many hours. Nevertheless, airships are challenging from a ground handling perspective as well as from a control point of view, being voluminous and highly affected by wind. In this work, we showcase a system designed to use airship formations to track, follow, and visually record wild horses from multiple angles, including airship design, simulation, control, on board computer vision, autonomous operation and practical aspects of field experiments.

Airship Formations for Animal Motion Capture and Behavior Analysis

TL;DR

The paper demonstrates the feasibility of using a formation of lighter-than-air airships for long-duration wildlife motion capture and behavior analysis, focusing on grazing horses in open terrain. It presents an end-to-end methodology encompassing airframe design, sensing with onboard computer vision, autonomous control via a sky-box and model predictive control, and realistic ROS/Gazebo simulations. Field validation at Hortobágy National Park shows autonomous tracking of Przewalski's horses under wind conditions of several meters per second, with hours-long potential and low disturbance compared to drones, albeit with handling and hull-durability considerations. The work provides concrete design, control, and simulation frameworks, and shares open-source code to accelerate progress in airborne wildlife observation using airships, offering a practical alternative to conventional UAVs for extended motion capture studies.

Abstract

Using UAVs for wildlife observation and motion capture offers manifold advantages for studying animals in the wild, especially grazing herds in open terrain. The aerial perspective allows observation at a scale and depth that is not possible on the ground, offering new insights into group behavior. However, the very nature of wildlife field-studies puts traditional fixed wing and multi-copter systems to their limits: limited flight time, noise and safety aspects affect their efficacy, where lighter than air systems can remain on station for many hours. Nevertheless, airships are challenging from a ground handling perspective as well as from a control point of view, being voluminous and highly affected by wind. In this work, we showcase a system designed to use airship formations to track, follow, and visually record wild horses from multiple angles, including airship design, simulation, control, on board computer vision, autonomous operation and practical aspects of field experiments.
Paper Structure (18 sections, 3 figures)

This paper contains 18 sections, 3 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Airship Design
  3. Sensing and Computer Vision
  4. Autonomous Control
  5. Simulation
  6. Field Experiments and Practical Considerations
  7. State of the art
  8. Methodology
  9. Airship Design
  10. Structure
  11. Power Supply and Propulsion
  12. Payload and Avionics
  13. Sensing and Computer Vision
  14. Autonomous Control
  15. Simulation
  16. ...and 3 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Top left: Blimp prototype. Top right: Takeoff location. Bottom left: GUI for horse tracking. Bottom right: Airship observing horses.
  • Figure 2: The dimensions and physical layout of the airship prototype, including rudders, propulsion and payload gondola.
  • Figure 3: Logged airspeed vs groundspeed in back-and-forth flights on the same track (ROS). Peak power consumption was $333\mathrm{W}$ at maximum throttle (not displayed).