On-site and virtual registrations to this year’s annual ForestTECH 2023 event along with the pre-and post-conference workshops continue to flow in. As well as a large international contingent of presentations …
The trees come back – looking back 42 years
Some of the worst eroded pasture land in New Zealand can be seen in the East Cape region of the North Island. This film, produced 42 years ago, explains in …
Revolutionising Earth observation with Lidar-based mapping
Geospatial satellite startup NUVIEW on an ambitious mission Anew and ambitious startup called NUVIEW entered the geospatial satellite industry in May 2023, following a lengthy period in ‘stealth mode’. In …
Tree seedlings – grown at speed
For the first time in Australasia, a unique system of raising tree seedlings is going to be unveiled to the local forestry industry. Using the concept of vertical farming systems …
CSIRO launches national soil data & information tool
Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has launched a new tool that will help Australia sustainably manage a critical natural resource which sustains lives and livelihoods. Now live and available for …
Kea Atmos stratospheric aircraft takes flight
New Zealand’s first solar-powered stratospheric aircraft has been built and flight testing has commenced. This aircraft will be a game-changer for collecting high-resolution aerial data for applications such as extreme …
NEON adds drone-based Leaf Sampling Protocol
Treetop leaf sampling ( canopy foliar sampling) at forested NEON (The National Science Foundation’s National Ecological Observatory Network ) field sites just got a whole lot easier. We’ve added a …
Engineered magic: wooden seed carriers
Geometric design and engineering of biodegradable materials could improve versatility, efficiency of aerial seeding How seeds implant themselves in soil can seem magical. Take some varieties of Erodium, whose five-petalled …
Plantma planting trials and expansion ongoing
After a long time of preparation and transportation, a PlantMax X2 Planting unit is operating in Brazil. In collaboration with partners at Timber in Curitiba Plantma Forestry has done a …
ChatGPT and AI will disrupt these industries
ChatGPT is the world’s most powerful AI chatbot. It offers a human-like alternative to search engines and can do everything from compile a menu to writing a TV script to …
Autonomous planting machine runs for first time
The autonomous planting machine project Autoplant is getting closer to reality. In September 2022 the first test of a complete machine was made in Bräcke, mid-Sweden, close to the Bracke …
Mechanised planting on steeper slopes
As part of the just completed ForestTECH 2022 series, advances being made operationally in mechanised planting along with recent commercial trials from across Australasia, Europe and in South America featured …
World’s first service for capturing tree trunk data using camera drones
Katam continues to provide global forestry with services for precise decision support and increased wood growth and quality. By using autonomous drones for video recordings, Katam now introduces an additional …
Jetson ONE – World’s first EVTOL work trip
At the end of last year, we covered a story from Jetson (for those old enough you’ll remember well from your childhood those cartoons in the 1960’s that crossed our …
Ultra-long range hydraulic drone lifts serious weight
A unique heavy-lift UAV out of Edinburgh promises to obliterate the power and range of electric drones using a Rotax engine and bent-axis hydraulic motors similar to those used on …
Mobile terrestrial laser scanning of NSW native forests
In 2021, mobile terrestrial LiDAR data and ground-based measurements were collected across 15 native forest plots in coastal NSW as part of a small pilot program. This remotely sensed LiDAR …
Ash forests to forests of ash
Desperate efforts to regenerate Victoria’s towering ash forests, which are being regularly decimated by bushfires, involves a dedicated group searching high and low to bank enough seeds for their survival. …
A 6.2m electric drone for forest thinning
Airforestry has been in stealth mode since the start of 2020. But now they finally reveal their pioneering technology for forest management. “We have been working in secret for almost …
Autonomous drone swarm flies through forest
An algorithm guides the drones to avoid collision, fly efficiently and as a team. This is part of an experiment led by scientists from Zhejiang University in China. The drone …
NASA releases new forest biomass-carbon product
NASA’s GEDI mission has reached a major milestone with the release of its newest data product, which provides the first near-global estimate of aboveground forest biomass and the carbon it …
Rocket Lab catches falling rocket booster
Rocket Lab successfully catch falling rocket booster with a helicopter. Rocket Lab has successfully caught one of its Electron rocket boosters, using a helicopter, as it parachuted back towards the …
Autonomous drones fly through forests
Expert human drone pilots have proven incredibly adept at piloting UAV through complex courses at high speeds which are still unmatched by autonomous systems. But researchers at the University of …
Celebrating tree planting – with a film festival
“Tree planting transforms us. These are our stories.” On 19 March The 2022 virtual Tree Planting Film Festival entitled We Are the Landscape, provided an inside look into what it …
The Digital Forester: thoughts from a Canadian forester
Adam Dick is a Science Advisor at the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Canadian Forest Service and joins us from Fredericton. Adam was one of the champions that brought lidar enhanced …
Development of a canopy sampling drone
This video is part of the paper, “Design and Testing of a Novel Unoccupied Aircraft System for the Collection of Forest Canopy Samples,” by researchers from the University of Tasmania …
Stora Enso precision forestry innovations
As part of the eagerly awaited annual forest technology event, two key presenters from the European forestry giant, Stora Enso Oy will be presenting as part of ForestTECH 2021/22. The …
Dawn joins NZ Gov’t programme to accelerate integration of remotely piloted aircraft
Dawn Aerospace has joined the New Zealand Airspace Integration Trials Programme (AITP). The news was announced yesterday by Minister of Research, Science and Innovation, Hon Megan Woods. The AITP’s mission …
Recognition for bushfire safety contributions
It was an interest in trees, not fires that set CFA Deputy Chief Officer Alen Slijepcevic on a path that led him around the world where he is today found …
EnviroSatTools: A collaborative satellite data workspace
The past 50 years have seen rapid changes across landscapes, with forests and wetlands alike converted for agricultural use or, conversely, re-afforested due to policy or economic drivers. While official …
Radically different Transwing eVTOL design offers some huge advantages
Southern California’s PteroDynamics has somehow escaped our attention thus far, but this company’s radically different take on the electric VTOL aircraft is well worth a look, and the company claims …
Woodsat wooden satellite completed a successful stratospheric flight
WISA Woodsat wooden satellite completed a successful stratospheric flight on Saturday 12 June 2021, when a test model of the satellite was sent on a flight from Heureka Science Center …
New foliage sampling tool available
The DeLeaves canopy sampling tool was designed and developed in a research laboratory specializing in aerial robotics at the University of Sherbrooke, back in 2017. Suspended under an unmanned aerial …
Results from early forest fire detection technology
A new camera-based fire detection system has been trialed in Tasmania for the first time by forest management company SFM. The Firehawk system provides real time fire detection allowing for …
Making It Work: Forestry data firm branches into mobile technology
Treemetrics, the Cork-based forestry data company, has launched a new remote valuation tool for private forest owners in partnership with Arboreal, an iPhone app developer in Sweden. Enda Keane, Treemetrics’ …
Australian drone registration site now open
CASA’s drone registration site is now open and if you operate drones for any purpose other than just for fun, you must register them by 28 January 2021. This applies …
Nine SuperDoves for next Rocket Lab launch
Editors Update: Rocket Lab successfully launched on 28 October 2020 (see a video of the launch below). Planet’s next scheduled launch of Flock 4e’, a total of 9 SuperDoves on …
New drone technology promises a 5-minute recharge
Twelve months ago, ultra-fast charging (UFC) pioneer, StoreDot, achieved a world first with its partner BP by successfully fully-charging a two-wheeled electric vehicle in just 5 minutes. Today, the company …
GDC drones prove worth
Drones have become a valuable asset for the Gisborne District Council. with three machines proving their worth several times over. Use of the drones has grown extensively over the three …
Aerial tree planting systems being showcased
ForestTECH is this region’s most popular annual independent forestry technology series. This year, in addition to advances being made in remote sensing and forest inventory, for the first time, one …
Drone ‘mosaic’ to help environmental management
A drone “mosaic” of harvested forestry blocks is letting Marlburians see the wood for the trees, and could cut down environmental issues. In New Zealand, Marlborough company GeoInsight Limited is …
Remotely operated robot herds NZ sheep
In recent tech events run by the Forest Industry Engineering Association we’ve profiled world leading robotics technologies that are being developed by US-based robotics company, Boston Dynamics. Their “dog-like” Spot …
Tree planting drones working on forest restoration
On land north of Toronto that previously burned in a wildfire, drones are hovering over fields and firing seed pods into the ground, planting native pine and spruce trees to …
Entel AI and DataRobot use AI to fight forest fires
Climate change and catastrophic weather phenomena dominated much of the global headlines in 2019, with devastating reports of earthquakes, hurricanes, and other powerful forces of nature destroying homes and lives. …
What is Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging?
Been wanting to know more about Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging? To appreciate the significance of airborne hyperspectral imaging, Analytik has created an informative video to understand what hyperspectral imaging is, and how …
NASA’s new global groundwater maps
NASA researchers have developed new satellite-based, weekly global maps of soil moisture and groundwater wetness conditions and one to three-month U.S. forecasts of each product. While maps of current dry/wet …
Surveying seedlings for precision forestry
In the last few decades, the forestry sector has embraced a range of new precision management tools and techniques to manage forests on a new scale. Precision management is based …
Climate right for raising tech funds
Startups are capitalising on renewed interest in environmental solutions after Australia’s bushfires brought climate change to the front of investors’ minds. “We’ve got a problem in front of us. If we don’t …
World’s first autonomous UAV flight under a forest canopy?
An unmanned aerial vehicle made what is believed to be the world’s first autonomous flight under a forest canopy in Rotorua, New Zealand in late November 2019. Remote sensing scientists …
500 billion trees by 2060 – using drones
• UK company Dendra plans to plant 500 billion trees by 2060 – using AI and drones.• The drones can plant 120 seedpods per minute.• The WWF estimates we’re losing …
Huge autonomous drone completes maiden flight
Another delivery drone has just buzzed into view, and this one’s a giant. Built by aerospace manufacturer Bell, the Autonomous Pod Transport 70 — or APT 70 for short — …
UAV advancements for forest inventory
Every year, over 250 resource managers, remote sensing, GIS and mapping specialists, inventory foresters and technology providers from throughout Australasia (and more recently SE Asia) meet up at the annual …
Drone swarms for tree planting and spraying operations
Towards the end of last year we covered an article about a Seattle Startup company, DroneSeed that was automating tree planting and spraying operations using drones. Their custom UAV platforms, …
Hi-tech shirt for forestry workers
A shirt with built-in sensors could help reduce fatalities in New Zealand’s forestry industry. Researchers at the University of Waikato are developing a hi-tech way to keep forestry workers safe …
Unmanned Helicopter for Heavy Lifts
A Robinson R22 helicopter was converted by UAVOS to an unmanned drone. UAVOS— which specializes in the design, development and manufacturing of unmanned vehicles and autopilot systems — successfully completed in-air programmed missions with …
SpaceX goes big for launch
SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, successfully launched in May its first five dozen Starlink telecommunications satellites. This is the first step in the Starlink project, which aims …
Amazon’s new transforming Prime Air delivery drone
Amazon has unveiled the latest version of its Prime Air delivery drone, a hybrid aircraft that’s capable of vertical takeoff and landing as well as sustained forward flight. The company says …
Introducing Scale-Up NZ: The gateway to innovation ecosystem
A free online platform has just been launched to connect New Zealand businesses with funders, incubators, multinationals and other collaborators. Scale-Up NZ, from Callaghan Innovation, shines a light on our …
World-First Approval For Drone Deliveries Of Food And Medicine In Australia
Google’s parent company has launched a world-first commercial air delivery business in Canberra’s north, delivering gelato and golfing equipment by drone directly to homes. Wing, run by Google’s overarching company …
Trimble Unveils Next-gen Mixed-reality Device with Microsoft HoloLens 2
Trimble has announced a new wearable hard hat compatible device that enables workers in safety-controlled environments to access holographic information on the worksite—the Trimble® XR10 with HoloLens 2. In addition, …
Drone sets a new world record
During FPT Industrial’s Tech day, FPT Industrial and Forvola broke the Guinness World Record for the heaviest payload lifted by a drone. With 16 propellers giving it enough oomph to …
Delair Launches Aerial Intelligence Platform
Delair, a leading supplier of commercial drone solutions, has unveiled Delair Aerial Intelligence, a comprehensive platform for converting drone-based images into actionable business insights. The new cloud-based solution provides a …
Drone delivery takes off in Australia
At Amsterdam Drone Week, James Burgess of Google X spinoff Wing showed a system of drone delivery that’s made over 2500 customer flights in a test outside of Canberra, Australia. …
DroneSeed automating tree planting
Wildfires are consuming North American forests and grasslands faster than we can replace them. It’s a vicious cycle of destruction and inadequate restoration rooted, so to speak, in decades of …