1. Due to the costs of related technologies, tracking studies typically use low numbers of animals as representative samples for whole group or species analysis, often without clear knowledge as to how representative these numbers are.
2. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has the potential to considerably improve radio‐frequency (RF)‐based tracking systems. This includes improved line‐of‐sight visibility, access and range in difficult terrain and an increase in achievable spatial accuracy.
3. This paper presents details of a fully custom‐built active RF identification tag and receiver system bespoke to UAVs, compatible with both multi‐rotor and fixed‐wing platforms. Using sheep as a model, we show the suitability of this system for tracking large terrestrial mammals.
4. During static testing using both platform types, we calculated a spatial accuracy of 58.5 m (based on 95th percentile/R95 parameter) for this system using data from 14 flights (n = 175 tag interactions). When tested on sheep, working tags were detected 93% of the time over seven conducted flights.
5. We provide practical considerations for operating this system on a UAV platform, address concerns relating to the system and identify future areas of research both for this system and other UAV‐based RF tracking systems.

中文翻译：

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定制的低成本系统，用于使用多旋翼和固定翼无人机进行无线电跟踪动物

1. 由于相关技术的成本，跟踪研究通常使用少量动物作为代表样本进行整个群体或物种分析，而通常不清楚这些数字的代表性。
2. 无人飞行器（UAV）的使用有可能大大改善基于射频（RF）的跟踪系统。这包括在困难的地形中提高了视线的可见性，通行性和范围，并提高了可达到的空间精度。
3. 本文介绍了完全定制的有源RF识别标签和针对无人机的定制接收器系统的详细信息，该系统与多旋翼和固定翼平台兼容。以绵羊为模型，我们证明了该系统对跟踪大型陆地哺乳动物的适用性。
4. 在使用这两种平台类型的静态测试期间，我们使用来自14个航班的数据（n  = 175个标签交互作用）为该系统计算了58.5 m的空间精度（基于95％/ R95参数）。在绵羊身上进行测试时，在7次飞行中93％的时间都检测到了工作标签。
5. 我们提供了在UAV平台上操作系统的实际考虑，解决了与系统有关的问题，并确定了该系统和其他基于UAV的RF跟踪系统的未来研究领域。