🦅 WildHawk — Animal Surveillance Drone

WildHawk is an autonomous wildlife surveillance and deterrence drone designed to monitor animal movements near residential or agricultural zones and safely guide them back to their natural habitat.

Developed between October 2024 – December 2024, this system combines edge AI vision, autonomous navigation, and ROS 2-based mission coordination to deliver real-time animal tracking and behavioral analysis in the field.

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🧠 System Overview

           ┌────────────────────────────────────┐
           │       Onboard Raspberry Pi         │
           │ • TensorFlow Lite + MobileNet V2   │
           │ • Animal Detection & Classification│
           │ • ROS 2 Nodes for Mission Control  │
           └──────────────────┬─────────────────┘
                              │
                              │ DDS (ROS 2 Communication)
                              ▼
           ┌────────────────────────────────────┐
           │        PX4 Autopilot (Pixhawk)     │
           │ • Flight Control & Stabilization   │
           │ • Telemetry via MAVLink            │
           └──────────────────┬─────────────────┘
                              │
                              │ MAVLink + ROS 2 Bridge
                              ▼
           ┌────────────────────────────────────┐
           │     Ground Station (QGroundControl)│
           │ • Live Video & Telemetry Feed      │
           │ • Mission Monitoring Interface     │
           └────────────────────────────────────┘

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🖼️ Project Media

Drone Prototype	System Architecture	InterIIT Expo

Additional visual assets are included in the media/ folder:

media/
├─ images/      # Photos and frame captures
├─ videos/      # DART animation, demo flight videos
├─ posters/     # Project poster and banner

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🎥 Featured Video

🎬 Watch WildHawk 1.0 Project Videos

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⚙️ Hardware & Software Setup

🧩 Hardware Components

• Pixhawk Cube Orange+ — running PX4 Autopilot
• Raspberry Pi 4 B (8 GB) — companion computer for onboard AI
• Camera Module — CSI/USB camera for real-time video
• Telemetry — Wi-Fi or 915 MHz radio link to Ground Station
• Battery — 4S Li-Po (5200 mAh) with 20–25 min endurance

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🧰 Software Stack

Component	Purpose
PX4 Autopilot	Flight control firmware
ROS 2 Humble	Middleware for inter-process communication
TensorFlow Lite + MobileNet V2	Real-time object detection on edge
OpenCV	Frame preprocessing and tracking
QGroundControl (QGC)	Mission planning and telemetry monitoring
DDS (Fast RTPS)	Low-latency message exchange between nodes

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🧩 Installation & Setup

1️⃣ PX4 Autopilot

Follow PX4 installation:

git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git
cd PX4-Autopilot
make px4_sitl gazebo

2️⃣ ROS 2 Environment

Install ROS 2 Humble:

sudo apt install ros-humble-desktop
source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

Create workspace:

mkdir -p ~/wildhawk_ws/src
cd ~/wildhawk_ws/
colcon build
source install/setup.bash

3️⃣ Python Dependencies

pip install tensorflow-lite opencv-python numpy pyserial

4️⃣ Launch Order

1. Start PX4 SITL or connect real Pixhawk

2. Start ROS 2 Nodes:

   python3 mission.py

3. Open QGroundControl for live visualization

4. Observe autonomous detection → response → deterrence cycles

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📁 Project Structure

WildHawk_1.0/
├─ src/
│  ├─ detection_node.py          # Animal detection using TFLite
│  ├─ tracker_node.py            # Behavior tracking logic
│  ├─ px4_bridge_node.py         # MAVLink–ROS 2 communication
│  └─ mission_coordinator.py     # Mission management
├─ media/
│  ├─ images/
│  ├─ videos/
│  └─ posters/
├─ launch/
│  └─ detection_and_nav.launch.py
└─ README.md

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🏆 Achievements

🏅 This project was showcased at InterIIT Tech Meet 13.0 organised by IIT Bombay

• Demonstrated edge inference, real-time tracking, and autonomous deterrence using ROS 2.
• Received appreciation for low-latency control and animal-friendly intervention design.

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👩‍💻 Developers

Project Lead: Sahil Lakhmani
Institute: IIT (BHU), Varanasi
Club: Aero-Modelling Club, IIT (BHU)

Project Assistant: Shaneshraje Kadu
Institute: IIT (BHU), Varanasi
Club: Aero-Modelling Club, IIT (BHU)

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📜 License

This project is released under the MIT License. Use, modify, and distribute with proper attribution.

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📬 Contact

📧 [lakhmanisahil8@gmail.com] 🌐 GitHub: @lakhmanisahil

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🦅 “Guarding the wild with intelligence — WildHawk.”