Drones and artificial intelligence will do the work of humans in scouring the nation’s forests and identifying dead trees caused by pine wilt disease. (Image: Korean Forestry Promotion Institute)
DAEJEON, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – Drones and artificial intelligence will do the work of humans in scouring the nation’s forests and identifying dead trees caused by pine wilt disease.
The Korea Forestry Promotion Institute has developed artificial intelligence which employs an algorithm that can accurately pinpoint objects 10 centimeters tall from a single bird’s eye view photo snapped by a drone. Equipped with this highly precise technology, the AI will amass data of dead pine trees in a database which the institute has stated will be used for training purposes.
Pine wilt disease effectively strangles trees to death as tiny roundworms infiltrate the inner workings and block off the channels through which water and nutrients flow. (Image: Yonhap)
Previously, the only way of accumulating data regarding the spread of pine wilt disease was for experts to take to the field and examine each tree in person. This method had the disadvantages of not only being slow and expensive, but could also generate varying results depending on the expert’s level of training and exhaustion.
Pine wilt disease effectively strangles trees to death as tiny roundworms infiltrate the inner workings and block off the channels through which water and nutrients flow. Earning the moniker “the Black Death of pine trees” for the threat it poses to forests, the presence of the disease in the country was first discovered in 1988 in Busan.
Previously, the only way of accumulating data regarding the spread of pine wilt disease was for experts to take to the field and examine each tree in person. (Image: Yonhap)
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
