Multi-UAV System Architecture for Environmental Protection Area Monitoring

Environmental Protection Area (APA) are limited regions that have the main goal to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment. However, controlling illegal anthropogenic actions in APAs is a difficult task, thus a proper monitoring system is required to solve this problem. In this paper we present a new communication architecture made with a multi Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) network through XBee modules and an image processing system that uses a pretrained neural network to detect human activities in a Coral Reefs Environmental Protection Area (APARC). Simulations prove that the system is able to change data up to 6.3 km and the image processing algorithm was able to detect boats satisfactorily.