The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is to create an artificial intelligence (AI) and technology-powered high-tech ‘digital twin’ to help Indigenous rangers manage feral herds on their land.
Research Scientist with CSIRO, Andrew Hoskins said the highly accurate digital twin, dubbed SpaceCows, was part of a collaborative satellite herd-tracking program with Microsoft that aimed to turn the destructive pests into economic, environmental and cultural opportunities for Indigenous communities across Northern Australia.
“The biggest challenge for feral animal management is locating the animals across sometimes inaccessible terrain,” Dr Hoskins said.
“Microsoft’s technologies harness data from tagged animals and Low Earth Orbit satellites, enabling us to see the landscape and forecast the movement of feral herds,” he said.
“These insights are critical for Indigenous rangers to determine the best time and place to ethically muster or to decide if an alternative population control measure is needed.”
Dr Hoskins said feedback from rangers on the ground would be used to finesse the machine learning models which, when combined with up-to-the-minute space sourced data, would help rangers make informed real-time decisions about managing feral animals and allocating resources.
He said AI would also be deployed to help plan the best routes for rangers to reach the animals using quad bikes or helicopters, with issues such as terrain and on-ground conditions factored in to maximise impact.
Dr Hoskins said SpaceCows was a partnership between: The CSIRO; the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA); James Cook University; Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation; Aak Puul Ngangtam; Normanby Land Management; Charles Darwin University; satellite IoT company Kinéis; and Microsoft.
