A multiuse water-landing fixed-wing unoccupied aerial vehicle for use in small island developing states and beyond; development, operations, and methods

Remote marine locations, including small island developing states (SIDS) or marine and freshwater protected areas in the Global South, face many challenges when building strategies for (for example) monitoring illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in their waters.

Compounding factors limiting surveillance capacity include economic constraints, limited incountry technical expertise and extensive geographical areas to manage.

A fixed-wing water-landing unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) prototype was extensively trialled over five years to ascertain its viability as an evidence-gathering tool to support vesselbased compliance and enforcement activities at sea. Additionally, the system’s viability as an ecological and anthropogenic marine debris (AMD) data-gathering tool was tested around islands.

This thesis uses a multidisciplinary approach to answer the research questions. The placement of the UAV in real-world environmental data gathering was explored, with its inclusion in a SIDS-based multi-system fleet for a nationwide AMD quantification programme.

To augment the technical elements of the thesis, this research tested if a citizen science approach could be used to collect AMD data using new data collection methods using UAVs. A technology acceptance model was created and tested to see if barriers to technology use existed in a Maldivian resort where UAV methods for AMD quantification were being trialled. Thesis approaches overall, include engineering, ecological statistical analysis, social science methods and spatial analysis methods.

It was found that the first iteration of the system was unreliable, lacked robustness and took too long to get airborne, meaning it was unsuitable for IUU activities. Technical reports underpinned the system development led by client objectives, and a new, robust, and simplified system was designed and presented in this thesis. Improvements include a modular internal design, rewiring all components and simplifying access to the internal parts. Optimised vesselbased operations are presented. The UAV functioned well as a surveying tool to gather usable imagery in remote marine locations for calculating the abundance of sharks around two island types, in conjunction with a new computer vision technique for delineating trees, sea and sea glitter in UAV images. For the first time, it was found that a multi-method approach, combining beach sampling and UAVs, can be a powerful and simple tool for gathering data across the Maldives. The results showed that females have less confidence in using UAVs to collect data outside of their regular jobs, and people under thirty have less confidence in their ability to fly UAVs. The global beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) administration and regulations are explored in five case studies, and it was found that the Maldives is unprepared to begin BVLOS operations. As such, suggestions for the integration of BVLOS operations into the Maldives are presented, and its success could be underpinned by effective technology acceptance strategies outlined in this work. The research overall, identifies several key areas for future investigation, including more advanced and lighter camera systems and more research into technology acceptance of these systems. These directions are essential for advancing the field and addressing unresolved issues highlighted by this study.

The practical implication of the UAV applies primarily to Global-South based end-users such as marine protected area managers, rangers, and other coastal governance teams. These teams are often reliant on boat patrols which are costly in terms of fuel and staff time. Additionally, the UAV can be a viable solution for large vessel-based deployments who need to survey large remote oceanic locations for illegal fishery activity or for wildlife surveys, which would otherwise require lengthy dive expeditions or expensive patrols.

Currently, there is no water-landing fixed-wing UAV that is designed around being low-cost, fixable in the field and usable by non-technical users. Although UAV technology is being utilised in many different fields, it is apparent that there is no way to quantify or understand the technology adoption likelihood of the end-users of UAVs in marine conservation or SIDS. Presented here is a novel technical system for gathering aerial imagery. Giving end-users the ability to patrol their areas of interest easily and safely can offer many societal and environmental benefits. These benefits could include stronger overall marine governance and deterrence in the area leading to healthier fish populations, upskilled end-users, saved funds which could be utilised elsewhere and data gathering on difficult to survey wildlife.