Systems and methods for avian flock flight path modification using uavs

Abstract

Systems and methods for autonomously herding birds in accordance with embodiments of the invention are illustrated. One embodiment includes an autonomous flock herding system, including a bird location sensor, a drone; and a control system, including a processor, and a memory, the memory containing a flock herding application, where the application directs the processor to obtain bird position data from the at least one bird location sensor, where the bird position data describes the location of birds in a flock of birds, determine if the flock of birds will enter a protected zone, generate a set of waypoints using a flock dynamics model, instruct the unmanned aerial vehicle to navigate to at least one waypoint in the set of waypoints such that the flock of birds will, in response to the presence of the unmanned aerial vehicle at the at least one waypoint, change trajectory away from the protected zone.