Development of ecological survey technology for wild beasts using ICT

Recently, research on solving regional problems through industry-academia-government collaboration has been
promoted in Sanyo-Onoda city area. As part of this research, through a proposal from Mr. Nakamura of West Japan Jibie Farm, a study on "Countermeasures against wildlife damage using drones and ICT," was started from April 2020. Thetemporal goal of the research was defined to be "ecological survey of wild boars utilizing ICT", i.e. (1) survey of traces ofwild boar inhabitation by actually exploring the mountain area, (2) the development of remote observation technology of wild boars at Wallows and Beast Roads discovered by reconnaissance, and (3) the development of infrared photography technology during midnight by drone in open areas.
The results of research can be summarized as follows. (1) A total of about 17 km was explored in the back mountains of the Kataobata and Imojiya area, two Wallows and one Beast Roads were found, and a remote observation camera was set up. (2) We developed an extremely power-saving system that can monitor the nighttime behavior of wild boars over a wide area in deep mountainous areas where it is difficult to access frequently. The system combines a 2.4GHz wireless terminal (Twelite), an infrared sensor for detecting wild boars, an LPWA wireless network, and a solar cell. (3) A total of 146 night-behavior wild boars were confirmed. It was revealed that wild boars act relatively early from 19:00 to 23:00, and that deers have begun to advance into the Asa area (10 cases). (4) The night photography of wild boar by drone was successful for the first time at 21:00 on March 19, 2021. Since it was assumed that the fallow reed bed in the Kataobata area was a roost of wild boars, we developed an automatic surveillance recipe and patrolled at night.