Guy builds nightvision drone to hunt feral pigs

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1478852.

by revorad • 15 years ago

179 50 15 years ago

rcgroups.com

alnayyir4• 15 years ago

Is this just for spotting? I can't tell if it has any weaponry equipped.

This is a very cool build indeed.

skeletonjelly• 15 years ago

Just for spotting. I imagine it would take on a whole new world of complications with a weapon, but legally and functionally.

xyzzyz• 15 years ago

Equipping it with weaponry would almost certainly be illegal, let alone the fact that it would be next to impossible to aim if you don't use very expensive weapons.

baddox3• 15 years ago

Why illegal? Are there specific laws about mounting a firearm to an aircraft, or is the problem the automation of the weapon?

gamble• 15 years ago

Flying a UAV for commercial purposes is already illegal. However, mounting a gun on there would raise his chances of being prosecuted substantially.

fennokin• 15 years ago

Yes. He guides his brother(?) with the aircraft via walkie-talkie. There seemed like there was a point where the resolution of the camera wasn't high enough to figure out which was the hunter and which was the pig. Maybe easily solved if the hunter wore a flashing IR beacon or something.

runjake3• 15 years ago

Not so much in stills, but in motion video it's pretty easy to discern between human and animal[1].

[1] Yeah, I've worked with this stuff, too.

sbierwagen• 15 years ago

There's a bunch of killer problems faced by aerial antipersonnel weapons platforms. The target is usually:

- Small.

- Far away

- Moving quickly in relation to the aircraft.

Additionally, you have lots of vibration (from the engine, and air turbulence) and you have to count every gram of payload; which makes precision weapons unhappy, since they're both heavy and want to be held very still.

You can solve the killer trio with very high rates of fire, or explosive projectiles.[1] These are both either very expensive or illegal for civilians; and you wouldn't want to be using them on a rice field anyway.

There's a reason Predator UAVs use guided missiles, not small arms.

---

[1]: The canonical ground-attack weapon, the GAU-8/A, uses both: 30mm explosive shells at 4,200 rounds per minute. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/GAU-8_Avenger

josefresco• 15 years ago

Those guided missiles while very explosive can be delivered with some shockingly accurate precision. I believe it was a recent Frontline where I heard they could guide these missiles through a car window (no reference sorry) of a moving vehicle.

The high explosive part seems more for insurance than a requirement for a successful hit.

Civilians of course don't have access to this stuff, but if the military has the capability now, it will eventually trickle down.

monochromatic• 15 years ago

Unless you're talking about missiles or some other relatively recoilless weapon, firing anything powerful enough to kill a hog would tear this plane apart.

wingerlang• 15 years ago

Would it not be easier to add motion sensors or something like this?

Depending on how huge fields they have this might be hard though..

yvdriess• 15 years ago

And here is the guy's Something Awful thread:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=343...

smackay• 15 years ago

This is probably way more efficient than just going out stalking but with something like 3 million feral pigs in the USA it is going to take a lot of effort to bring the problem under control. Perhaps something like the Judas Goat, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_goat with an infra-red strobe (so you don't end up shooting it) might be more (cost) effective.

mumrah• 15 years ago

I have some relatives that have the same problem in central Alabama. It got so bad that the local officials have allowed the use of scoped night vision weapons to let farmers hunt the pigs.

Also, this same relative says he doesn't walk around at night without a 0.50 caliber pistol and a shotgun. Apparently these pigs can be pretty unfriendly

fungi2• 15 years ago

i like, very cool idea and relatively cheap. don't think it would be a good idea to mount a gun as you need to ensure a clean kill and be 100% sure of what you are killing.

another technique that has been very successful with pigs and goats is to release a pig with a tracking collar. pigs and goats are much better then human at tracking down other pigs and goats. mounting the tracking collar receiver on this system would be of great assistance.

http://www.feral.org.au/tag/judas-pig/

http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/WR96109.htm

Shenglong• 15 years ago

don't think it would be a good idea to mount a gun as you need to ensure a clean kill and be 100% sure of what you are killing

Regardless, I was disappointed when I didn't see/hear PEW PEWs.

fungi2• 15 years ago

yeah i felt pretty cheated as well.

maybe you could mount a paint ball gun with fluro pellets :)

BerislavLopac• 15 years ago

Is he shooting the drones out of a giant slingshot perhaps? ;)

itswindy• 15 years ago

Guy builds nightvision drone to hunt feral pigs

Federal government shows up to help ;)

ErrantX3• 15 years ago

no no. It's literally feral pigs; I can see how you might be confuse though ;)

roboneal2• 15 years ago

What about mounting infrared cameras to weather balloons?

He seems to have a problem "lingering" over the right area.

runjake3• 15 years ago

Weather balloons do not provide a stable visual platform for the optics, nor are they maneuverable. Recovering your $4,500 FLIR sensor also becomes a challenge.

roboneal2• 15 years ago

Sorry, I meant "tethered" weather balloons. Which I assume would solve the "recover-ability" issue. No idea on "stability".

stfu• 15 years ago

Might be interesting to some of you: http://diydrones.com/

bluekite2000• 15 years ago

What costs more raising a pig or shooting one in the wild? If the answer is the latter perhaps someone can make a fun business out of it :)

patrickgzill• 15 years ago

I don't think it is legal to sell feral pig meat.

terrellm2• 15 years ago

The most effective way of removing feral hogs is by trapping since you can catch multiple animals at a time. Shoot one and the others scatter.

Feral hog meat, unlike typical pork, is a deep red and can have a wild-game taste. It makes for great sausage and barbecuing but you wouldn't necessarily want a ham sandwich everyday in your lunch.

Many outfitters charge both the hunter for the opportunity to hunt and the farmer for the removal service.

labby• 15 years ago

cool. how about getting those angry birds on this.. :P

terrellm2• 15 years ago

As a hacker who lives and codes from his ranch in Texas that has problems with feral hogs, I give this two thumbs up!

One thing to add for those not familiar with feral hogs... these animals are a non-native species and highly invasive. They can have at least 4-6 piglets at a time, 3 litters a year. They damage crop and farmland, carry disease, and compete with native wildlife for food.

Guy builds nightvision drone to hunt feral pigs

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