Aerial Wildlife Tracking

The Aerial Wildlife Tracking drone will primarily use OpenCV and PyTorch for animal identification and tracking. Prior to starting this project, I had no experience with programming in Python and have spent the majority of the project time learning the language. I also had no experience with Ubuntu nor any of the software, really. So my focus shifted from fully implementing the drone's function to using it as a learning platform. I fully intend to accomplish my project's proposed task of identifying and tracking wildlife from the air- but unfortunately that will not occur prior to the contest deadline.

The majority of my time has been spent primarily learning Python and OpenCV. Initial attempts to gain some functionality from the NavQ proved unsuccessful (not due to the hardware, but rather my lack of understanding and knowledge). So I purchased a Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi Camera to use as a test/learning platform.

Performing animal recognition with the Raspberry Pi proved the next step, and is currently ongoing. I turned to the the official OpenCV and PyTorch online training and am currently following that curriculum.

Project page will be updated on a monthly basis to track the progression of both my learning and the UAV project.

Thank you to NXP for providing an exciting platform for users like myself to develop and learn new skills!