UAV Attachment of Biologging Tags

Abstract

Biologging is a method of studying wild animals that involves attaching sensors to the animal in order to gather data about its behavior. This project aims to create a mechanism for attaching suction-cup based biologging tags onto whales using drones. The motivation for this project comes from a need to minimize disturbance to whales during the biologging process and to create a dependable method of attaching tags. The proposed solution involves using a dropping system actuated by a servo-motor pin system to drop tags from an airborne drone onto the surface of the whale, using fins to stabilize the tag.