Artificial Intelligence to take care of our fauna

Researchers from the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Sevilla (IMSE-CNM) and the Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD) have joined forces to carry out a study on biodiversity conservation, objective number 15 of the Agenda de Desarrollo Sostenible. This research, which began in 2022 within the framework of the LIFE project and is currently being carried out within the ULTIMATE project, is part of the Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia of the 2021 call for proposals on "Proyectos de Transición Ecológica y Transición Digital".

The article, which has been published in the journal Ecological Informatics under the title "Reliable and efficient integration of AI into camera traps for smart wildlife monitoring based on continuous learning", proposes the improvement of camera traps that facilitate the detection of animals through artificial intelligence. This study has been a real challenge for its researchers because from a technological point of view, bringing AI to places where there are hardly any communications infrastructures is not an easy task and requires optimizing the programs. << Our experience in the design of microelectronic hardware has allowed us to face the challenge of capturing these images in complex scenarios and processing them in the smart camera itself. The work of Dr. Velasco Montero is very notable, as it has allowed us to adapt the algorithms to very demanding operating conditions. It is enough to consider, for example, the changes in lighting throughout the day, or due to the weather.>> says one of the main researchers of the project, Ricardo Carmona.

This cutting-edge system has countless benefits, as in addition to considerably reducing the manual work of reviewing the images taken, it allows the presence of animals to be detected in real time, facilitating rapid response actions. Another advantage of integrating AI into the camera itself is the reduction in storage and data to be transferred and analyzed, as it filters the information, discarding that which is not of interest. All this allows the biologist to focus directly on the analysis of the data, such as behavioral patterns, population monitoring, etc...

This innovative method has been integrated into a hardware prototype developed at the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Sevilla and has been put into practice in the Parque Nacional de Aracena. As for its application, although it was initially in a local environment, it has sufficient potential to be adapted at a national level thanks to the generality of the work environment that this smart camera allows.

The collaboration between the two entities has been favoured thanks to the proximity of their facilities, as both are based within the Cartuja campus. Added to this condition is the confluence of organisations and their funding, among which are the LiFE programme, the Ministerio de Transformación Digital, the Cátedra USECHIP and the Plan Complementario en el Área de la Biodiversidad (PCBIO).