Drone Imagery Based Wildlife & River Ecosystems Virtual Reality

Link to 360 VR panoramas on Flickr

Keywords:
Pacific Northwest, rivers, salmons, wildlife, tree canopies, ground cover, drones, aerial pictures, wildlife ground level activities, virtual world, DJI, Unreal engine.

Description:
This research focuses on the development of virtual reality environments for the visualization and conservation of wildlife and river ecosystems. We continue our collaboration on virtually removing trees canopies on aerial pictures to better recreate the details of the forest floor under the tree canopies and to locate tree trunks and wildlife ground level activities.

Detailed 3D visualization of forests using drones allowed researchers to reconstruct 3D volumes of tree canopies in virtual reality within 2 inch accuracy. In addition, animals on the ground and fish can be detected using computer vision and artificial intelligence. A virtual reality head-mounted display or a hand held tablet can show the ground cover under the tree canopy. These surveys are automated regardless of the topography. The waypoints are stored in a cloud and reused to monitor seasonal changes. The automation and speed of the mapping can be critical for large forests and orchards (covering more than 100 square miles).

Innovation:
Detailed 3D visualization of forests using drones allowed researchers to reconstruct 3D volumes of tree canopies in virtual reality within 2 inch accuracy. In addition, animals on the ground and fish can be detected using computer vision and artificial intelligence. A virtual reality head-mounted display or a hand held tablet can show the ground cover under the tree canopy. These surveys are automated regardless of the topography. The waypoints are stored in a cloud and reused to monitor seasonal changes. The automation and speed of the mapping can be critical for large forests and orchards (covering more than 100 square miles).