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How do you measure a tree? - it might seem like a random
question, but getting more accurate information about woodland
resources could transform forest management, giving both profits
and the environment a boost in the process.
That’s according to Enda Keane, chief executive of Cork-based
TreeMetrics,
which has developed a new technology to literally see the
wood from the trees - a laser-based system scans the trees,
then software analyses the data to simulate and optimise how
the resources could be used.
Their high-tech approach is a far cry from the current, hands-on
method of measuring trees. “The standard for over 100 years
has been to walk around the forest and use a calipers to measure
at a height of 1.3 metres above the ground,” says Keane. “You
measure the height of the trees and you get the average taper
of the forest. But it assumes the trees are straight.”
The forester or sawmiller eyeballs the trees to judge the
crookedness, but the poor quality of data that come out of
such an approach has a substantial impact, he adds.
“Globally, on average, 20 per cent of the value of the forest
is lost at harvest time around the world. They lose that value
by producing waste and loss through bad decisions. It goes
back to the old adage that if you don’t measure properly,
you don’t manage properly.”
A trained forester himself, Keane spotted the potential for
laser scanning to measure the shapes of trees while working
in the area of 3D graphics and, in 2005, he co-founded TreeMetrics
with Garret Mullooly.
Working with the University of Freiburg, they developed an
approach where a forester simply puts the scanner on a tripod
at a point in the forest, pushes a button and, within three
minutes, the machine has built up 40 million survey points
from the 360-degree surroundings. A sample is usually done
per hectare, then software that simulates harvesting can make
sense of it all.
“We have developed an automated software now, so you can
walk into the forest and measure the size and shape of trees
for the first time - and, from this information, we can make
better management decisions about the forest resource,” explains
Keane.
“So, you can cut the forest online - remotely in your office
- without having to visit it. You can see where the forest
has grown, where are the defects, where is the value.”
To optimise the software, the company worked with the Science
Foundation Ireland-funded Cork Constraint Computation Centre
(4C) at University College Cork, which partnered with TreeMetrics
in Trio, an Enterprise Ireland project. The experts soon realised
the forest was akin to a factory and standard manufacturing
techniques could be used to optimise it through the modelling
and simulation software.
“It should be like any other factory, you have the raw material
and you should be able to make what you want - so, you have
different amounts of logs and you should cut the forest to
suit the demand,” says Dr James Little from 4C, who explains
that knowing what’s in your forest puts you in a position
to use the resources more profitably and sustainably.
The optimised software has been licenced to TreeMetrics and
a new EU-funded project, Flexwood, is seeing TreeMetrics and
4C link in with European partners to further develop and validate
the approach.
In practice, Keane sees clients using the machinery to scan
forests, then send the data to Ireland for processing. That
arrangement has already worked with a trial in Australia -
and, with relatively little forest coverage at home, Ireland
is well placed to offer such an information-based service,
he says.
“We are not seen as a threat by any other nation. In fact,
people get a good kick out of Irish foresters being the inventors.”
And what about the cost? “Forest measurement was always seen
as a cost, but we turn information into value and profit,”
says Keane, who argues that the bottom line will ultimately
be what drives this kind of technology. “Clean tech is about
making better use of the planet’s resources, but clean technologies
have to offer profit and without people liking it, it’s not
going to succeed.”
As well as tightening forestry usage for business, the company
also has its sights on environmental monitoring, particularly
as the need to track deforestation is becoming more apparent,
says Keane.
“People now realise how important forests are, but we really
can’t say what impact climate change is having on forest health,
vitality and growth, because we really don’t know what we
have out there in the planet,” he says. “Now, people are beginning
to wise up to this and we believe there is truly an opportunity
for an Irish company to become a world leader in the area
of forest measurement and management.”
The company, which is hiring, recently won an IBM SmartCamp
award and is starting to engage with VCs in Europe and the
US.
“We have proven our technology now and we believe we can
become the de facto standard for measuring forests
around the world,” says Keane. “We have a global opportunity
and we just need to grab it.”
Source - The Irish Times
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