Unmanned helicopter system for miconia weed surveys.
We present the design and evaluation of a system for aerial weed surveys based on a small unmanned helicopter. The system consists of an aircraft, a user interface, and software for flight planning and data visualisation. It is specifically designed for detecting Miconia calvescens DC., an invasive tree species threatening the Australian rainforest. The aim of our work is to provide a safer and more cost-effective alternative to traditional methods. The system has been successfully deployed to survey several hundreds of hectares of rainforest near Cairns.