A brief concept overview of using fixed-wing and rotary drones during Desert Locust survey and control operations

1. The potential use
of drones in
Desert Locust
early warning
Keith Cressman

2. a swarm of Desert Locust

3. a swarm of Desert Locust the size of Beijing
eats the same amount of food in 1 day
as everyone in Beijing

4. Desert Locust swarms affect
20% of Earth’s land surface

5. irregular Desert Locust recessions & plagues
a challenge for national services to maintain vigilance & rapid response
0
13
25
38
50
1860 80 1900 20 40 60 80 2000
recession plaguecountries 1860–2017
more plagues less plagues

6. YEARS
PREVENTIVE
$ 570 MILLION CONTROL OPERATIONS
(2003–2005)
$ 3.3 MILLION ANNUAL COST
PREVENTIVE CONTROL
(10 COUNTRIES W+NW AFRICA)
3 = 170YEARS
CURATIVE

7. rainfall
unusual events
temperature
increase
winds
shifting
climate change impacts
★ more rapid
maturation
★ more frequent
outbreaks
★ new invasion
areas
more Desert Locusts !

8. FAO operates a
global early warning system
front-line
secondary
invasion
eLocust3
data-logger
www.fao.org/ag/locusts
50 countries network

9. Desert Locust early warning system
3
SWARMS geographic information system
SEASONAL PREDICTIONS
5
6
1
frontline
secondary
invasion2
analysis
data collection
MODIS-DERIVED MAPS
4
advice (outputs)
7
RAINFALL ESTIMATES

10. survey areas are vast, remote
& increasingly insecure
control methods are
inefficient & costly

11. 100km
survey2 site
inspection3 safe
control4ID by
satellite1
D R O N E S

12. Fixed-wing (100km radius)
identify green areas
• long-range
• solar power
• sensors
• navigation
• on-board data processing
• rugged, local parts
1
www.hemav.com 6
APPLICATIONS
www.hemav.com 6
APPLICATIONS
Rotary (1-2km radius)
determine extent of green area
identify locust groups
• sensors
• rugged, local parts
2
challenges
Rotary
spot control
• control system
• control methodology
• payload
3