Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P01299X/1
Using UAV technology and data processing to address issues in waste management and environmental protection
Fellowship Award
- Fellow:
- Dr SJ Gibson-Poole, SRUC, Research
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Earth & environmental
- Environmental modelling
- Environmental protection
- Pollution/pollution control
- Waste Management
- Landfill Management
- Waste Pollution Management
- Robotics & Autonomy
- Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Remote Sensing & Earth Obs.
- Abstract:
- Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV or drones) are now becoming a much more common sight, especially when the footage from these aircraft are shown on the media when environmental emergencies occur, such as the flooding that occurred throughout much of the UK in 2015-2016. The perspective they can give can be quite stunning due to the birds eye view, however rather than just using them to report on events as they occur or simply record them, they can also be used to identify where these problems may occur, enabling environmental agencies take pre-emptive action to reduce the likelihood of flooding in the first place. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is already trialling the use of drones for this kind of pre-emptive action, however drones produce very large quantities of imagery and trying to inspect and process all of this manually is a very time consuming task. It requires automation of both the processing and analysis of the imagery, so that areas identified as a risk can be flagged up for more detailed analysis both of the aerial imagery and on the ground. The use of drones is also not just limited to flood risk as SEPA is responsible for ensuring the health of the environment in general. This includes areas such as tackling the rise of invasive non-native species that reduce biodiversity and can be a hazard to human health. Waste crime is also another key area, especially in the protection of fresh water rivers and streams as these can be polluted by the dumping of rubbish, or company's illegally storing hazardous waste. Imagery from drones can be used to investigate these kinds of waste crimes, allowing the gathering of evidence and prosecution of the offenders to occur, protecting the environment for future generations.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P01299X/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Knowledge Exchange Fellowships
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Innovation Internships
This fellowship award has a total value of £21,156
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | DI - Staff |
|---|---|
| £3,176 | £17,980 |
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