An Operational Framework for Low-Altitude BVLOS UAV Surveys in Coastal Areas: A Case Study in Derelict Fishing Net Detection

Abstract

Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) is a persistent form of marine pollution requiring survey approaches capable of resolving individual items across large spatial extents. While uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) can capture imagery at resolutions sufficient to resolve individual debris items, their use remains largely constrained to visual line-of-sight (VLOS) operations, limiting large-scale coastal monitoring. This case study develops and field-tests an operational framework for low-altitude beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) UAV surveys, in which DEM-based communication viewshed modelling incorporating first Fresnel zone clearance is used to plan BVLOS missions. A lightweight fixed-wing UAV flown at 60 m AGL completed 20 missions across 210 km of remote northern Australian coastline. Communication viewshed modelling reliably guided mission planning with 90.5% of waypoints placed within predicted high-clearance zones maintaining moderate-to-strong command-and-control (C2) link quality in flight. Manual screening confirmed that the resulting imagery was of sufficient quality, with 291 derelict fishing nets detected. In a simulated VLOS operational scenario, 76.3% of these detections fell beyond VLOS range, and equivalent coverage would require an estimated 8.8-fold increase in mission count. These findings demonstrate that fixed-wing UAVs operating under low-altitude BVLOS conditions can support large-scale image acquisition in remote coastal areas, particularly when enabled by communication-aware mission planning.