Dominique Chabot, PhD
Dominique is lead scientist at droneMetrics. One of Canada’s most distinguished civilian drone aircraft operators, starting in 2007 he completed an MSc followed by a PhD at McGill University focused on developing and implementing applications for small drone aircraft systems in wildlife monitoring and habitat research. He is internationally recognized as a pioneer and leading expert in this field, with several peer-reviewed scientific publications and numerous presentations at conferences centred on wildlife research and management, unmanned systems, and geomatics. Beyond his research on wildlife and habitat applications, he also has prior experience working in the drone services industry as a data collection and processing specialist, where he was additionally involved in agricultural, forestry, energy-utility-infrastructure, construction-development and seafaring applications. Dominique has conducted over a thousand drone flights in total, and possesses extensive knowledge of sensor operation as well as processing, analysis and interpretation of the uniquely high-resolution imagery generated by drones. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Drone Systems and Applications and Adjunct Professor of geomatics for Trent University.
Dominique is lead scientist at droneMetrics. One of Canada’s most distinguished civilian drone aircraft operators, starting in 2007 he completed an MSc followed by a PhD at McGill University focused on developing and implementing applications for small drone aircraft systems in wildlife monitoring and habitat research. He is internationally recognized as a pioneer and leading expert in this field, with several peer-reviewed scientific publications and numerous presentations at conferences centred on wildlife research and management, unmanned systems, and geomatics. Beyond his research on wildlife and habitat applications, he also has prior experience working in the drone services industry as a data collection and processing specialist, where he was additionally involved in agricultural, forestry, energy-utility-infrastructure, construction-development and seafaring applications. Dominique has conducted over a thousand drone flights in total, and possesses extensive knowledge of sensor operation as well as processing, analysis and interpretation of the uniquely high-resolution imagery generated by drones. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Drone Systems and Applications and Adjunct Professor of geomatics for Trent University.
Chris Dillon, MSc
Chris is our remote sensing and geomatics expert. His academic and professional career has been driven by keen interests in geospatial intelligence, aviation, and remote sensing. He completed an MSc in Applied Modelling and Quantitative Methods at Trent University focused on comparative modelling of marine coastal environments using bathymetric LiDAR, multi-beam SONAR and satellite imagery, earning him a prestigious Esri Canada GIS Scholarship. He previously completed a Bachelor’s Degree of Environmental Studies in Geography at the University of Waterloo, followed by a Post-Graduate Diploma in Remote Sensing at the Centre of Geographic Sciences. Chris is also a multi-engine commercial pilot licence holder with over 750 hours in the cockpit. He worked for 8 years in the aerial remote sensing industry as field operations manager, pilot in command, sensor operator and geomatics technician, conducting aerial surveys across Western Canada and the high Arctic, totalling over 3,000 airborne hours. He additionally has prior experience working in the drone services industry as a pilot/operator, trainer, operations manager and data analyst. Finally, Chris is a proud Canadian Forces Intelligence Operator with the 7 Intelligence Company.
Chris is our remote sensing and geomatics expert. His academic and professional career has been driven by keen interests in geospatial intelligence, aviation, and remote sensing. He completed an MSc in Applied Modelling and Quantitative Methods at Trent University focused on comparative modelling of marine coastal environments using bathymetric LiDAR, multi-beam SONAR and satellite imagery, earning him a prestigious Esri Canada GIS Scholarship. He previously completed a Bachelor’s Degree of Environmental Studies in Geography at the University of Waterloo, followed by a Post-Graduate Diploma in Remote Sensing at the Centre of Geographic Sciences. Chris is also a multi-engine commercial pilot licence holder with over 750 hours in the cockpit. He worked for 8 years in the aerial remote sensing industry as field operations manager, pilot in command, sensor operator and geomatics technician, conducting aerial surveys across Western Canada and the high Arctic, totalling over 3,000 airborne hours. He additionally has prior experience working in the drone services industry as a pilot/operator, trainer, operations manager and data analyst. Finally, Chris is a proud Canadian Forces Intelligence Operator with the 7 Intelligence Company.
Publications
- Chabot DC, Stapleton S, Francis CM. 2022. Using Web images to train a deep neural network to detect sparsely distributed wildlife in large volumes of remotely sensed imagery: A case study of polar bears on sea ice. Ecological Informatics 68: 101547.
- McKellar AE, Shephard NG, Chabot D. 2021. Dual visible-thermal camera approach facilitates drone surveys of colonial marshbirds. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation 7(2): 214–226.
- Barnas AF, Chabot D, Hodgson AJ, Johnston DW, Bird DM, Ellis-Felege SN. 2020. A standardized protocol for reporting methods when using drones for wildlife research. Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems 8(2): 89–98.
- Chabot D, Stapleton S, Francis CM. 2019. Measuring the spectral signature of polar bears from a drone to improve their detection from space. Biological Conservation 237: 125–132.
- Desrochers A, Tremblay JA, Aubry Y, Chabot D, Pace P, Bird DM. 2018. Estimating wildlife tag location errors from a VHF receiver mounted on a drone. Drones 2(4): 44.
- Chabot D, Dillon C, Shemrock A, Weissflog N, Sager EPS. 2018. An object-based image analysis workflow for monitoring shallow-water aquatic vegetation in multispectral drone imagery. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 7(8): 294.
- Chabot D, Dillon C, Francis CM. 2018. An approach for using off-the-shelf object-based image analysis software to detect and count birds in large volumes of aerial imagery. Avian Conservation and Ecology 13(1): 15.
- Chabot D. 2018. Trends in drone research and applications as the Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems turns five. Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems 6(1): vi–xv.
- Ahmed OS, Shemrock A, Chabot D, Dillon C, Williams G, Wasson R, Franklin SE. 2017. Hierarchical land cover and vegetation classification using multispectral data acquired from an unmanned aerial vehicle. International Journal of Remote Sensing 38(8–10): 2037–2052.
- Chabot D, Dillon C, Ahmed O, Shemrock A. 2017. Object-based analysis of UAS imagery to map emergent and submerged invasive aquatic vegetation: a case study. Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems 5(1): 27–33.
- Chabot D, Francis CM. 2016. Computer-automated bird detection and counts in high-resolution aerial images: a review. Journal of Field Ornithology 87(4): 343–359.
- Bird DM, Chabot D. 2016. Les drones peuvent-ils aider notre faune? Géomatique 43(3): 23–25.
- Drever MC, Chabot D, O’Hara PD, Thomas JD, Breault A, Millikin RL. 2015. Evaluation of an unmanned rotorcraft to monitor wintering waterbirds and coastal habitats in British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems 3(4): 259–267.
- Chabot D, Bird DM. 2015. Wildlife research and management methods in the 21st century: where do unmanned aircraft fit in? Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems 3(4): 137–155.
- Chabot D. 2015. A pocket guide to high-resolution 2D/3D mapping using off-the-shelf drones and photogrammetry software. Ontario Professional Surveyor 58(4): 12–17.
- Bird DM, Chabot D. 2015. Can drones help our wildlife? Ontario Professional Surveyor 58(3): 8–11.
- Chabot D, Craik SR, Bird DM. 2015. Population census of a large common tern colony with a small unmanned aircraft. PLoS ONE 10(4): e0122588.
- Chabot D, Carignan V, Bird DM. 2014. Measuring habitat quality for least bitterns in a created wetland with use of a small unmanned aircraft. Wetlands 34(3): 527–533.
- Chabot D, Bird DM. 2013. Small unmanned aircraft: precise and convenient new tools for surveying wetlands. Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems 1(1): 15–24.
- Chabot D, Bird DM. 2012. Evaluation of an off-the-shelf unmanned aircraft system for surveying flocks of geese. Waterbirds 35(1): 170–174.