Aerial Delivery of Vaccine-Laced Treats for Wild Ferrets

This blogspace shall be used as a digital notebook/ sandbox to write up my assignments for an online course on small UAV. This is my own original writing and expressively my own opinion, with references hopefully correctly referenced.

Aerial Delivery of Vaccine-Laced Treats for Wild Ferrets

The US Fish and Wildlife Services have a strong case to begin using UAS (aka drones) to deliver the Prairie Dog Sylvatic Plague Vaccine (SPV) to protect the black-footed ferret population, possibly in September 2016.
As widely reported in newspapers, radio broadcasts and tweets around the world, drones will deliver M&M peanuts smeared with vaccine-laced peanut butter to the ferrets on the ground in their own natural habitat, specifically in the Charles M Russell National Wildlife Reserve, as well as thousands of acres of habitat from Canada to Mexico.  The key factors for choosing drones as the most efficient method of delivery is 1) the ability to cover a larger area in a shorter time ie: one vaccine dose per 9-10 meters at a rate of 50 doses per acre; whereas a human can cover only 3-6 acres per hour on foot or ATV. The projected speed of the UAS would fly at 9m/ second and cover an area of 60-200 acres in one hour.  Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/UAS_2016_EA_final.pdf 2) low environmental impact or damage to ground vegetation and animals on the ground. UAS operators will also maintain safe operation with birds. The exact make and model of drones selected for the contract has not yet been determined as the project is awaiting the final stages of approval. However one could surmise that while deciding on possible candidates, some considerations would be made on the maximum payload (calculate the total weight of M&Ms and peanut butter, plus fuel), the flight path and maximum range and return flight, before reloading or refueling; especially if the category of sUAS is chosen for this application, then the limit would be 55 pounds.

According to the US FWS, delivery of the vaccine using drones “is potentially the most efficient, effective, cost-conscious and environmentally friendly method of application,” Retrieved from, http://www.uasvision.com/2016/07/19/us-to-deliver-mm-vaccines-to-endangered-ferrets/

Type 2 - small UAV

With regards to the criteria for selecting the right small UAS for the specific application of wildlife vaccination by aerial delivery, there are key factors to consider for choice of Type 2, which are classified by the US military as 21 to 55 lbs.  On paper, by comparing payload size, command and control range, and endurance,  the top choices were the Aerosonde Mark 4.7 by AAI Corporation, the Penguin B and Penguin C by UAV Factory, the Shadow Hawk by Vanguard Defence Industries, and the Scan Eagle by Boeing. However I decided to also include videos of live demonstrations to judge suitability in the target environment - a nature preserve, with forested areas, and open fields.

The Scan Eagle boasts a proven track record of military service with a powerful high speed launcher and an equally impressive skyhook catcher by GPS precision guidance, suited tactical environments with the Allied Forces both on land and at sea. See a Scan Eagle Launch and Recovery Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r5gG6cngyg Perhaps the launch and recovery alone would be a disturbance to the natural environment, as well he payload is too small 0.9 kg is barely a Costco-size bag of peanut M&M's.

On the other hand, Penguin models may be launched more gracefully from a tripod on the ground or from a moving vehicle, with a more seemingly civilian approach to deploy multiple deliveries of tiny packages to a more delicate target set. Penguin Launch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVZS-w4zKTc The Penguin C offers over 20 hours of continuous flying, onboard video recording, and fuel injected options.  The Penguin B model allows "build your own" payload and autopilot using the given airframe; Penguin C is a more complete package, all-inclusive, "built to suit", ready to fly. (It sounds tempting...)

The Aerosonde has a small footprint, an imagery data link, EO-IR sensors, an automated launch and recovery (mesh net catcher), ideal for maritime operations, and expeditionary military intelligence capabilities.  It is quite graceful in flight, car top or rail launch possible. Aerosonde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjqsSoKNt4c The cruising speed of 111 km/h alone would be too fast.

The Shadow Hawk seems to have many applications in surveillance, law enforcement, target tracking and acquisition. See the Shadow in Action set to ominous music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GlLcI6P-rM The payload size of 10kg, control range of 88km and easy manoeverability and target tracking make it an ideal candidate.

Therefore my top choice would be the Shadow Hawk, by Vanguard Defense Industries.

Length 2.184m

Height 0.757m

Maximum takeoff weight 26kg

Max speed 88.5 km/h

Cruising speed 35 km/h

Control range 24 km

Endurance 3h

Payload 10kg

UAV specifications, source: http://www.uavglobal.com/small-uav-datasheets/