Next forest planner
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | STIFT SKOGSBRUKETS FORSKNINGSINSTITUT, SKOGFORSK - Skogforsk Stiftelsen Skogsbrukets Forskningsinstitut Uppsala |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 973 387 |
| Project duration | May 2018 - June 2019 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Drones |
| Call | Drones of the future - Drones for citizens and community |
Important results from the project
The project aimed at streamlining forest data collection by demonstrating a drone who navigates inside the forest with the possibility of data collection of various mounted sensors. The project goal of showing autonomous drone flight was achieved at the demonstration days in Västervik. In parallel with this project, a project was reported to the Brattås Foundation, which showed how small mobile laser scanners can be used to measure the forest. Together, these two projects show a concept with a drone who travels through the forest and how mobile sensors can measure the forest.
Expected long term effects
The result showed the possibility of introducing autonomous drones flying in the forest. It may work with a drone as a data collector in planning of logging operations. Together with other technology regarding forestry, this contributes to increasing the attractiveness of working in the sector. The project also contributes to more developers contributing to a service development as the problem is clearly described. At the same time, many challenges remain regarding flight time, reliability and user-friendliness. The project also received great interest from other industries.
Approach and implementation
The project´s structure included interviews with potential users both in forestry and other industries, which provided important feedback both to development and steps towards productification. The efforts benefited from parallel projects that contributed to the project having significant development to handle the challenges that exist around being able to navigate without GNSS and that the drone perceives his surroundings to avoid collisions on his way between the trees. The project group´s composition with different skills contributed to the successful result.