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Norwegian Infrastructure for Drone-based Research, Mapping and Monitoring in the Coastal Zone Innovation in the world of drone-based research. Learn More

Norwegian Infrastructure for Drone-based Research, Mapping and Monitoring in the Coastal Zone Innovation in the world of drone-based research. Learn More

SeaBee: Innovating Drone-Based Research in Norway’s Coastal Zones

Pioneering the future of coastal monitoring through cutting-edge drone technology and collaborative expertise.

What is SeaBee?

SeaBee unites experts from diverse fields to revolutionise drone-based scientific research. By building a cohesive national network, we make it easy to share and use drone-collected data, giving us a clearer picture of Norway’s natural environment. Our innovative use of drone data feeds into machine learning algorithms, automating data analysis and empowering researchers to work faster, smarter, and more effectively—turning complex data into actionable insights with unprecedented efficiency.

Our Work

SeaBee tests infrastructure and equipment to refine and develop the infrastructure capabilities in a real-world setting. The four applications below show the latest results.

Water Quality

Water Quality

This application activity will start in 2023 and focus on water mass characteristics, including water transparency (relevant to the topic of ocean darkening), harmful algal blooms, and more ...
Coastal Habitat Mapping

Coastal Habitat Mapping

This SeaBee application focuses on developing protocol for habitats in the coastal zone, including seafloor substrate types, subsurface vegetation (such as seagrass, seaweed, and kelp), and other management-relevant species, such as blue mussels, the invasive Pacific oyster, and opportunistic turf algae ...
Monitoring coastal seal colonies

Monitoring coastal seal colonies

The fieldwork for SeaBee’s marine mammal application testing starts officially in 2023, but drones have been used to count seals in Norway for the last 5-6 years with a normal (Red Green Blue/RGB) camera ...
Counting seabird populations

Counting seabird populations

Until now, NINA has been mapping and annotating bird nests, mostly of black-headed gulls, in the Oslofjord. A joint survey with IMR was initially planned in 2020 to conduct fieldwork relating to seabirds and mammals but this was not possible due to COVID-19 ...

Latest News

Stay updated with the latest stories and news from SeaBee, including project milestones, events, and research achievements. Our news section will provide a cohesive narrative of our progress.

Coastal Habitat Mapping with Uav Multi-Sensor Data: An Experiment Among Dcnn-Based Approaches

Coastal Habitat Mapping with Uav Multi-Sensor Data: An Experiment Among Dcnn-Based Approaches

With recent abundant availability of high resolution multi-sensor UAV data and rapid development of deep learning models, efficient automatic mapping ...
SeaBee Stakeholder Event

SeaBee Stakeholder Event

Over the past four and half years, SeaBee has built up an operational drone infrastructure with a wide range of ...
Drone-Based Mapping and Monitoring of the Coast

Drone-Based Mapping and Monitoring of the Coast

On the 23rd of September, The Norwegian Water Association hosted an event on drone-based mapping and surveillance of the coast ...
Joint Formentera Drone Mapping Campaign

Joint Formentera Drone Mapping Campaign

Take-off with green LIDAR sensors mounted on a drone for high resolution 3D scanning of seagrass meadows at Formentera in ...

What We Do

SeaBee tests infrastructure and equipment to refine and develop capabilities in real-world settings. Our work includes collecting data on the ground, using traditional benchmark methods and new technologies, to validate SeaBee’s drone products and further improve their automated generation. We utilise existing national data collection programs to support field campaigns in areas such as coastal ecosystem monitoring, seabirds, marine mammals, and surface water applications.

SeaBee’s practical applications often involve providing ground-truth data for drone product validation, with close collaboration to produce validation protocols for research, mapping, and monitoring.

Read more about product validation here.

Read more about 2024 activities here.

Resource Library

The latest publications and outreach activities from the SeaBee team. Explore our collection of research papers, reports, videos, presentations, and storymaps that showcase our findings and contributions to coastal research.

SeaBee presented by Kasper Hancke, Oceanus Seminar Series

SeaBee presented by Kasper Hancke, Oceanus Seminar Series

Seabee - a Norwegian Infrastructure for Drone-based Research, Mapping and Monitoring in the Coastal Zone (www.seabee.no) ...
Counting Seals Using Drones

Counting Seals Using Drones

Martin Biuw is a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research. As part of his ...
SeaBee: The complete package

SeaBee: The complete package

An overview of what SeaBee Research Infrastructure has to offer as a complete package for coastal ...
SeaBee Drone Infrastructure Specification & Establishment

SeaBee Drone Infrastructure Specification & Establishment

Led by Anders from NIVA - Norsk institutt for vannforskning , this work specifies user requirements, ...

Equipment

Drones, Sensors, and Software – At SeaBee, we utilise a diverse fleet of drones, advanced sensors, and sophisticated software to revolutionise data collection and analysis. Explore our library below to discover the cutting-edge equipment that powers our research and enables groundbreaking environmental insights.

Check out the latest innovations in our inventory:

Green bathymetry LIDAR

Green bathymetry LIDAR

The YellowScan bathymetric LiDAR is an innovative solution for exploring underwater and ground topography with a single-button operation ...
DeltaQuad Evo

DeltaQuad Evo

A fully autonomous, commercial grade, Vertical Takeoff and Landing drone with smart technology ...
Mugin-2 Pro 2930MM H-tail Full Carbon Fiber VTOL UAV

Mugin-2 Pro 2930MM H-tail Full Carbon Fiber VTOL UAV

A fully autonomous, commercial grade, Vertical Takeoff and Landing drone with smart technology ...
Blueye ROV

Blueye ROV

Blueye drone - Det ultimate verktøyet for profesjonelle. Rask og brukervennlig inspeksjon av dine eiendeler under vann ...

Our Partners

SeaBee is a collaborative effort involving multiple partners, including academic institutions, industry players, and government agencies. We are funded by the Norwegian Research Council (No. 296478 in Prosjektbanken). Our partnerships extend to subcontractors specialising in drone technology and sensor development, ensuring that we have the expertise needed to lead in this area of research and innovation.

Implementing Partners
GRID-Arendal
Institute of Marine Research (IMR)
Norwegian Computing Centre (NR)
Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (NINA)
Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)
The Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)
Subcontractors
SpectroFly
TIEPOINT
Financed by
The Research Council of Norway

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