Listening to the rainforest to save it
Huawei and NGO Rainforest Connection (RFCx) are working together to refine a rainforest research platform that includes
equipment collection, storage services, and intelligent analytics. The news was shared during HUAWEI CLOUD SUMMIT 2019 in Singapore last week.
US-based RFCx was founded in 2014 to help protect the world from illegal deforestation and illegal poaching. The organisation has projects in Indonesia among other countries.
RFCx creates solar-powered audio monitoring systems called Guardians which are powered by old Huawei cellphones. Huawei's mobile phones can work around the clock for two years, collecting audio and uploading it to the cloud in real-time. Huawei's big data service then stores and manages the data.
With help from telco towers and the cloud, the phones make a call every second to artificial intelligence (AI)-equipped servers so that the complex sounds of the rainforest can be captured throughout the day, and in all weather conditions. If any unusual sounds are heard, such as chainsaws or trucks, rangers are notified in real-time and sent the location for further investigation.
The first challenge was about logistics. RFCx had to collect audio and then transmit it in a high-temperature, high-humidity environment with no fixed power supply, after which it had to store and manage the database safely and efficiently. RFCx then had to develop an algorithm which worked in real-time to filter out the sounds of the rainforest and identify illegal activities accurately while pinpointing their exact locations.
Huawei has now begun to work with RFCx to develop a more accurate intelligent algorithm based on HUAWEI CLOUD AI and its AI development platform ModelArts to achieve more accurate identification of chainsaw noises and truck sounds.
RFCx and Huawei are also working on understanding endangered species better through identifying animal sounds in the rainforest. Huawei is helping RFCx build intelligent models that detect and analyse sounds from spider monkeys, providing information about their habitat, threats and behaviour.
Edward Deng, President of HUAWEI CLOUD Global Market said that once the analytics have been proven to work, that the technology can be brought to more countries.
"We welcome local companies (to work with us)," he said. "If you have an idea, we are open to discussion."
US-based RFCx was founded in 2014 to help protect the world from illegal deforestation and illegal poaching. The organisation has projects in Indonesia among other countries.
RFCx creates solar-powered audio monitoring systems called Guardians which are powered by old Huawei cellphones. Huawei's mobile phones can work around the clock for two years, collecting audio and uploading it to the cloud in real-time. Huawei's big data service then stores and manages the data.
With help from telco towers and the cloud, the phones make a call every second to artificial intelligence (AI)-equipped servers so that the complex sounds of the rainforest can be captured throughout the day, and in all weather conditions. If any unusual sounds are heard, such as chainsaws or trucks, rangers are notified in real-time and sent the location for further investigation.
The first challenge was about logistics. RFCx had to collect audio and then transmit it in a high-temperature, high-humidity environment with no fixed power supply, after which it had to store and manage the database safely and efficiently. RFCx then had to develop an algorithm which worked in real-time to filter out the sounds of the rainforest and identify illegal activities accurately while pinpointing their exact locations.
Huawei has now begun to work with RFCx to develop a more accurate intelligent algorithm based on HUAWEI CLOUD AI and its AI development platform ModelArts to achieve more accurate identification of chainsaw noises and truck sounds.
RFCx and Huawei are also working on understanding endangered species better through identifying animal sounds in the rainforest. Huawei is helping RFCx build intelligent models that detect and analyse sounds from spider monkeys, providing information about their habitat, threats and behaviour.
Edward Deng, President of HUAWEI CLOUD Global Market said that once the analytics have been proven to work, that the technology can be brought to more countries.
"We welcome local companies (to work with us)," he said. "If you have an idea, we are open to discussion."
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