Researchers at the Institute of Man-Machine-Interaction at Germany’s Rhenish-Westphalian Technical University (RWTH) Aachen University have combined space and robotics technology to develop a precision forestry positioning system that allows more efficient forest planning and harvesting. The system, which combines remote sensing maps from airplanes with satellite navigation data, has helped catalogue 240 million single trees in the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia. The information is used to plan which trees to cut, and when. Harvesters then use the data to identify specific trees to cut, which improves the efficiency of harvesting, optimizes overall wood production, and reduces costs. The system won the North Rhine-Westphalia Region’s 2008 European Satellite Navigation Competition, which was supported by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Technology Transfer Program Office (TTPO) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. “We already have one harvester in operation with our system onboard,” says Jürgen Rossmann, the professor at RWTH Aachen University who led the research team. “As the prototype works well, we are fairly close to the stage where we can go into production. Another six to 12 months, and we should be there.”

ESA’s TTPO is responsible for defining the overall strategy for the transfer of space technologies, including the incubation of start-up companies and their funding. The objective of the precision forestry positioning system is to automate and optimize the work involved in foresting, from the early planning of the forest to the final cutting of single trees, to better compete on the world market and to overcome efficiency problems related to the forest ownership structure of the region. “Precision farming is important in today’s agriculture, where farmers can save money with the use of satellite navigation systems,” explains research collaborator Arno Bücken. “However, the accuracy of the GPS navigation system, which is of 20 to 30 meters, is not enough to identify single trees in a forest. We found a solution to this problem, which increases the accuracy to 50 centimeters by using GPS as the initial reference position, and then taking remote sensing data to identify the single trees in the forest.” Each tree is not only known by its geo-coordinate, but trees also are time-stamped and measurement data archived. This makes it possible to see how the trees grow, Rossmann says. “Before the invention of this system, forest workers made their decisions based on visual inspections of the forest — a much slower and less efficient method requiring higher skilled workers on a full-time basis,” he explains. “Equipped with precise sensors and positioning systems, our solution helps locate and coordinate forest machinery and workers.” The system can even remember where a tree was cut and who owns it — a feature that’s well suited to the North Rhine-Westphalia region, where two-thirds of the privately owned forest consists of parcels of 0.5 to 1.5 hectares. The ability to identify felled trees and assign them to the correct owner using geo-tags allows different owners to harvest together, reducing costs.

Go to: ESA Portal

Posted July 1st, 2009 under Tech Transfer

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