Data from: UAV wildlife radio telemetry: system and methods of localization

1. The majority of bird and bat species are incapable of carrying tags
that transmit their position to satellites. Given fundamental power
requirements for such communication, burdened mass guidelines, and battery
technology, this constraint necessitates the continued use of very high
frequency (VHF) radio beacons. As such, efforts should be made to mitigate
their primary deficiencies: detection range, localization time, and
localization accuracy. 2. The integration of a radio telemetry system with
an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could significantly improve the capacity
for data collection from VHF tags. We present a UAV-integrated radio
telemetry system that relies on open source hardware and software.
Localization methods including signal processing, bearing estimation based
on principal component analysis, localization techniques, and test results
are discussed. 3. Using a low power beacon applicable for bats and small
birds, testing showed that the improved vantage of the UAV-radio telemetry
system (UAV-RT) provided significantly higher received signal power
compared to low level flights (maximum range beyond 1.4 km). Flight
testing of localization methods showed median bearing errors between
2.3-6.8 degrees, with localization errors of between 5-14% of the distance
to the tag. In a direct comparison to an experienced radio telemetry user,
the UAV-RT system provided bearing and localization estimates with 53%
less error. 4. This paper introduces the core functionality and use
methods of the UAV-RT system, while presenting baseline localization
performance metrics. An associated website hosts plans for assembly and
software installation. The methods of UAV-RT use for tag detection will be
further developed in future works. For both the detection and localization
problems, the mobility of a flying asset drastically reduces tracker time
requirements. A seven-minute flight would be sufficient to collect five
equally spaced bearing estimates over a 1 km transect. The use of a
software defined radio on the UAV-RT system will allow for the
simultaneous detection and localization of multiple tags.