Just joined the forum to see if anyone's interested, and I know it's short notice:
If someone with an FPV plane would like to join an elite group of researchers to find dolphins, please email or call me.
Date: June 27, 2012 (starting early!)
Place: Ft. Pierce, FL
Steve Workings
304-263-8894
steve@workings.com
This could be a growing opportunity to make a difference in the world.
This is a great opportunity. I would volunteer to assist with this effort if it 'gets off the ground', as I don't have a long distance FPV craft yet. I do have a multirotor with a GoPro and my FPV gear is coming today. I'm in Martin Co. Feel free to contact me.
Find the FL group here and post in there - some pretty capable guys there.
"I Like Waffles" : FPVLAB on Facebook
Nice to see people coming here to recruit. Good sign.
Thanks Viper. Based on what I can learn so far, I really think a plane is needed to deal with the coastal winds and get the range we want, but I'm quite ready for someone to tell me otherwise.Originally Posted by SENTRY
Sentry - I found long threads about the Florida meeting etc. but think if I post way at the end there it won't be found. I did find a couple other places today to post an inquiry. Is there a "Florida Group" section I can't find?
Now just because this post is looking for something on June 2th doesn't mean the opportunity is over, so anyone who reads this who is interested is encouraged and invited to get in touch with me.
Heck, if you'd been around today you might have found your plane on a world-wide TV show that was filming the activity.
Well if there's a need for a spotter or battery maintainer or something I'd like to pitch in. All for a good cause.
Thanks. I want to clarify a bit. This could be a long-term opportunity, not a one-time event. There is a continuing need to be able to spot dolphins for research projects not just in Florida (though starting here) but around the world.
Last week, for instance, there were nearly 100 people (top professionals mind you) on 12 boats, and one day they located but two dolphins that they chose to capture and evaluate. Can you imagine their time and money savings if they could locate more of them, and more quickly?
I even think that the amount of money they save by not driving boats around looking could be paid as "bounty" to the FPV owner/operator. Right now they pay a guy to catch the dolphins in his net, and I think if proven they would pay someone to find 'em too.
So I'm looking for someone who might be interested in some demo/development, and potentially offering services for many years to come, possibly because it's just helpful and maybe even get paid, or at least expenses reimbursed.
We're going beyond hobby here to real world, helpful and valuable application which puts this FPV application into the professional world of research, conservation and environmental protection.
Steve,
We have a platform that will handle coastal winds to 50 but you really haven't stated what your range requirements are, and how you propose to detect the dolphins. Would you use live video? Captured video? Stills? Would the plane need to be waterproof? Would it fly visual line-of-sight (VLOS) or does it need to autonomous?
As an old school surfer I've had many contacts with dolphins and porpoises and a group we have considered them harbingers of positive things. I actually touched one in the wild! Let me know as much as you can and at the very least I can make some suggestions.
Thanks!
Gene
Thanks Gene.
I think there are a lot of ways this could be done. I envision the researchers on a boat (or 12) ready to net a couple dolphins. Because the boats may go many miles from their launch site, I envision the plane launching (and landing) from one of the boats. Pontoons may be a really good idea here.
From a practical standpoint, there's no use in flying the plane more than maybe 1/2 mile or mile from the boats. It seems to me that the goal here is to provide more / wider / faster coverage.
The video feed would need to be live to an expert on the boat who can help make a decision about whether to follow and investigate what the plane finds.
FPV flying is not my hobby so I may be dreaming here, but among the things I think I've seen is an operator with the FPV equipment, and a second video feed on a laptop or iPad. This gives the operator all the control he needs, but a view for the researchers to work with the operator.
Visual location and identification then might be a short answer to your question. Most researchers can readily identify and recognize different dolphins the same way you and I can tell the difference between dogs from 100 yards, and they'll often know right away that they do or do not want to pursue a particular animal.
A bonus later on would include GPS coordinates to help boats locate what the plane sees, but not critical by any means.
Does that give you a better feel? This is just speculative now so there are a lot of variations that could work. But I do believe that the right researchers in the right places are ready to try this, and I think we can push this along to make a big difference.
Steve, all those potential requirements are fully available using existing hardware. Very neat stuff.
In the meantime, perhaps the research group could get in touch with local aviation schools and general aviation airports. There are lots of new or experienced pilots who need flight time in order to stay current on their license, and would probably love to have some of the associated fees reimbursed for their efforts. Their cost is usually about $200/hr. We've used them to spot for fishing tournaments.
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