Especially amid the era of climate change and escalating natural hazards, intact forests, particularly protection forests, serve as a natural barrier against events like avalanches or rockfalls. Knowledge and dependable data regarding their status and alterations are crucial for sustainable forest management. Evaluating protection forests, however, proves challenging due to their often undeveloped nature and location in rocky and steep terrain.
A three-year research initiative by the Austrian Federal Forests (ÖBf) in collaboration with the Center for Vision, Automation & Control at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology (VAC) and the Federal Research Center for Forests (BFW) aims to digitally document forest stands. This effort seeks to gather data and analyses on forest health, providing a foundation for sustainable reforestation—particularly in remote forest areas that are difficult or impossible to access by foot. The partners will explore how artificial intelligence can aid in monitoring native forests during the era of climate change and ascertain the degree of regeneration to inform forest management. Additionally, specialized laser scanning systems (LiDAR technology) will be deployed, leveraging the properties of emitted and reflected light beams to digitally map the 3D structure of vegetation and the underlying terrain.
Drawing upon AIT's extensive experience and expertise in autonomous systems, the partners are enhancing existing methods and devising a contemporary digital monitoring approach for forestry practices. "We are digitizing the entire data flow to more easily address crucial questions about the health and condition of the forest on an ad hoc basis. Furthermore, the impact of detrimental events can be more effectively assessed," explains Manfred Gruber, Head of the Competence Unit Assistive & Autonomous Systems at the AIT Center for Vision, Automation & Control.
Links
Press release Österreichischen Bundesforste
AIT Competence Unit Assistive & Autonomous Systems
Contact
Phillipp Fanta-Jende
Senior Scientist
Assistive & Autonomous Systems
Center for Vision, Automation & Control
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
+43 664 88390736
phillipp.fanta-jende@ait.ac.at