The Information and Public Relations Division of Universitas Brawijaya (DIK UB) held a Casual Talk and Discussion (BONSAI) activity with experts, Wednesday (11/12/2024) with the theme “IoT Technology Innovation for Forest Management at the Widyaloka Building.
In the activity that presented a number of journalists, the three speakers who attended were the Head of the Internet of Things & Human Centered Design Laboratory (IoT & HCD Lab), Vocational Faculty, Rachmad Andri Atmoko, S.ST., M.T., MCF, Coordinator of KJF/Manager of Education, Training and Development of the Forest Area Management Unit (PKH), Rifqi Rahmat Hidayatullah, S.Hut., M.Si, and Head of UPT PKH Dr. Muchammad Roviq, SP.,MP.
Rifqi Rahmat explained that presenting a tool that can monitor biophysics, climate, wildlife, and forest security from forest or land fires is a challenge itself in current forest management. At the same time, a tool that is also weatherproof, anti-theft and also has a long battery life.
“How can UB Forest monitor biophysics, climate, and be equipped with real-time sensors for monitoring forest and land fires. Because so far, forest fire monitoring has been developed via satellite which has the weakness that sometimes information from the satellite is slower since the satellite is constantly moving,” he said.
The development of technological innovations based on artificial intelligence (AI) is in accordance with the long-term management plan of Universitas Brawijaya education and training program from 2021 to 2041. This innovation is implemented at UB Forest through the Smart Forest development program, which uses the Internet of Thing (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In 2024, the development of technological innovations based on Artificial Intelligence for management at UB Forest has begun. The tool will be implemented next year.
Rachmad Andri Atmoko, S.ST., M.T., MCF, who is the head of the Internet of Things and Human Centered Design Laboratory, Vocational Faculty Universitas Brawijaya, explained that the application of surveillance technology in forests faces challenges related to the difficulty of the network to transfer data.
As a solution, the application in UB Forest uses a Radio or LoRa (Long Range) network which has a wider reach but with the consequence that the data transfer is slightly slower than 3G or 4G networks since LoRa is actually only for sending small data.
“That’s where the novelty (of research) lies. We try the LoRa network to send images, the consequence is that the bandwidth is small which causes the sending time to be longer. But, the context in the forest is very useful because there is no internet signal there,” he said.
Rachmad Andri Atmoko, S.ST., M.T., MCF added that the technology being developed can also detect anything such as rare animals, humans to vehicles that pass through sensors with the help of Artificial Intelligence integrated with camera traps. In addition, through Artificial Intelligence, vibrations can be detected so that the potential for forest fires can be mitigated.
“Considering that UB Forest has a large collection of rare plants and can also protect the forests and land of the community around UB Forest,” he said.
The information collected will be sent via the LoRa (Long Range) network to the control center to be displayed on a web-based dashboard, facilitating decision making by forest managers.
UB Forest, which is a forest for learning for Universitas Brawijaya, is not only focused on applied science clusters such as agriculture and forestry. However, it can also be an area for learning and applying information technology. (UB PR/ Trans. Iir)
