Semi autonomous quadcopter for early rat infestation detection

Abstract

This research implemented a quadcopter setup capable of autonomous flight, geared towards early detection of rat infestation. This employed the Tarot 650 Iron Man as the drone frame along with an FLIR Duo R thermal camera. Programming language used was Python, along with OpenCV and Qt Designer for the code and GUI implementation. A simulated controlled setup was created to test the project. The drone was programmed to fly over the controlled setup for it to scan the area and detect the rats that were placed in different parts of the setup. Thermal pictures taken by the drone are processed by the code and output is the maximum number of rats detected along with the waypoints were the maximum value was detected. Each waypoint would correspond to a specific location, and will let the user know which part of the land has the highest density of rats.