Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System for Controlling Pest Bird Population in Vineyards

Abstract

Pest birds have long been a significant source of crop loss for grape growers, especially during the critical weeks leading up to harvest when grape sugar levels are high. In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, vineyards have seen a marked increase in crop loss in the last few years despite widespread use of intrusive gas cannons/shotguns and expensive netting systems. In order to deter this pest bird population, we have created an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) package capable of autonomous flight, which incorporates common pest bird scare tactics into this dynamic platform. The system has been designed to launch, complete its mission waypoints, and land completely under autonomous control. By using this autonomous guidance system, we are able to employ visual, auditory, and predator mimicry pest bird control techniques in such a way as to discourage habituation. While radio controlled UAVs have been used for bird control in airport settings for many years, these systems require a trained operator to constantly guide the aircraft. The autonomous UAV system was designed for operation by an existing vineyard employee with minimal training. To capture widely accepted pest bird control techniques and management culture of Willamette Valley vineyards and gain information for design, implementation, and industry acceptance of this UAV project, we surveyed the owners of 225 local vineyards. Survey results indicated that vineyard owners are open to implementing innovative pest bird control methods that do not affect the terroir of their vineyards and that could replace the use of netting, which they do not view favorably despite its being the most effective pest bird control method to date. Results also indicated that pest birds are most damaging to a vineyard’s perimeter and that many vineyards employ someone to patrol this perimeter with a shotgun loaded with cracker shells. The UAV system is able to traverse the airspace above this perimeter without interfering with neighboring homes or beneficial predators in the area. By using proven pest bird control methods in an autonomous UAV system, we designed a device that brings an innovative solution to vineyard owners.

Evaluation of two unmanned aircraft systems as tools for protecting crops from blackbird damage

“…Potential modifications to UAS include the addition of an audio system (e.g., to produce distress or alarm calls or firearm discharge sounds [Berge et al, 2007;Delwiche et al, 2007]), lasers (Werner and Clark, 2006) or lights (Blackwell and Bernhardt, 2004;Blackwell et al 2009Blackwell et al , 2012, or shapes mimicking an aerial predator (Blackwell et al, 2012). Additionally, a fully automated system, similar to that proposed by Grimm et al (2012) or Ampatzidis et al (2015) may be a more effective methodology, in that, it could potentially reduce labor and be programmed in ways to reduce the chance of blackbirds habituating to the UAS. Though such an automated system would need to be capable of directly approaching flocks, as indirect (e.g., lawn-mower) flight patterns are not effective for eliciting behavioral responses (Mulero-Pázmány et al, 2017).…”

“…Recently, UAS have also been employed for low-altitude surveys of animal populations (Chabot and Bird, 2012;Sardá-Palomera et al, 2012;Watts et al, 2010) and have been proposed as a tool to scare pest bird species from airports, landfills, and agricultural fields. For example, autonomously controlled UAS equipped with scare tactic devices have been suggested as a method for controlling pest bird populations in vineyards (Grimm et al, 2012) and other specialty crops (Ampatzidis et al, 2015). Vehicles, such as UAS, elicit behavioral responses in birds (Bernhardt et al, 2010;Blackwell et al 2009Blackwell et al , 2012DeVault et al, 2014;Pomeroy et al, 2015), and therefore, could be used as a management tool to deter birds from foraging in crops.…”

A Review of Bird Deterrents Used in Agriculture

“…Some drones must be operated in person by a pilot, while others are designed to launch, deploy to specific waypoints, and then land completely under autonomous control. In general, they employ visual, auditory, and predator mimicry to discourage habituation (Grimm et al 2012). Studies are currently underway to determine how effective drones will be when used in isolation, as well as in combination with other bird deterrent techniques.…”

Assessment of known impacts of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) on marine mammals: data gaps and recommendations for researchers in the United States

“…The majority of recent projects have focused on evaluating the methodological application of UAS in studies on population demographics (Hodgson et al 2013;Sweeney 2014) and health and fitness (Durban et al 2015;Goebel et al 2015). In only a handful of instances -often in studies of the use of UAS as deterrents for so-called nuisance species (Grimm et al 2012) --have researchers explicitly monitored behavioral responses. Moreover, increasing anecdotal evidence demonstrates that UAS have the potential to disturb marine mammals and other wildlife species if not used responsibly.…”

“…In recent years, UAS operations have been integrated into numerous field studies involving a variety of species: orangutans (Pongo abelii; Koh and Wich 2012), American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis; Jones et al 2006) africana; Vermuelen et al 2013), black bears (Ursus americanus; Ditmer et al 2015), as well as numerous avian (Chabot and Bird 2012;Chabot et al 2014;Popatov et al 2013;Rodriguez et al 2012;Vas et al 2015;Weissensteiner et al 2015), ungulate (Barasona et al 2014), and marine mammal species (Acevedo-Whitehouse et al 2010;Koski et al 2009;Martin et al 2012;Schick et al 2014;Selby et al 2011). The research, conservation, and management applications of UAS vary widely, including the use of UAS to deter birds from feeding in commercially important agricultural areas (Grimm et al 2012), monitoring habitat and biodiversity loss (Koh and Wich 2012), determining the health and fitness of large species where temporary capture is impractical (Hunt et al 2013;Moore et al 2013), and monitoring illegal poaching activities (Olivares-Mendez et al 2014;Mulero-Pázmány et al 2014). There are also animal welfare applications; UAS are used to detect resting fawns at risk of fatal interactions with mowing machines (Israel 2011).…”