Recording koala bellows could be a key to their recovery
A new project is trialling AI bio-inspired sensor technology to record the mating calls of endangered koalas and lead to better protection efforts.
Beau is a male koala at Secret Creek Sanctuary. His mating bellow has been recorded by an acoustic sensor in the trial. Credit: Andrew Lothian.
The deep bellows and grunts made by male koalas during the native animals mating season are being recorded by a new sensor technology trial in the Blue Mountains to determine the effectiveness of this world-leading technology in the Australian bush.
The artificial intelligence powered EcoEar device has been developed at the International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems (ICNS) at Western Sydney University in a NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) project aimed at tracking endangered koala populations in New South Wales.
This unique acoustic sensor is fixed to trees and only activates and records during koala vocalisations, streamlining the koala survey process and providing data that ecologists can immediately use.
Click the photo to read an ABC News report on the pilot project. Credit: Andrew Lothian
The device has the potential to be more efficient and cost effective than current options that use large amounts of storage and battery to generate large amounts of data which then require manual analysis by an ecologist.
The devices have been deployed at Mittagong, Secret Creek Sanctuary at Cobar Park, and Kanangra-Boyd National Park.
The EcoEar project was initiated by the NSSN and led by Biodiversity Monitoring Services in collaboration with ICNS.
“This is a great example of an NSSN project, which brings together world class sensing research from NSW universities with the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer and industry to develop innovative solutions to key challenges: in this case, monitoring endangered koalas in the wild,” NSSN Co-Director Professor Julien Epps says.
“NSSN is proud to have enabled this collaboration between Biodiversity Monitoring Services and Western Sydney University and supported it to attract funding. We are excited that there is further potential to roll out this smart sensing technology to detect the calls of other endangered species, including large forest owls and gliders.”
Biodiversity Monitoring Services principal ecologist and director Andrew Lothian installing the EcoEar on a tree and (INSET) a close up of the EcoEar. Credits: Andrew Lothian.
“This device can allow ecologists to assess koala occupation across a landscape, then facilitate informed decision making with regards to protecting important habitat and improving koala populations in NSW and beyond,” Biodiversity Monitoring Services principal ecologist and director Andrew Lothian says.
Researchers say the EcoEar project is based on neuromorphic engineering and has the potential to be a useful additional tool for surveying and monitoring koalas.
“Neuromorphic engineering is based on biology and biological systems that are very good at being small, power efficient and can work autonomously and for long periods of time in the environment,” Senior Lecturer in Neuromorphic Systems at ICNS, Dr Saeed Afshar says.
“The technology we have developed at ICNS uses bio-inspired AI technologies that only use power when something important happens in the acoustic environment. The result is that the amount of power and storage is significantly reduced, and data can be efficiently used by ecologists.”
This project is being funded through the NSW Small Business Innovation & Research Program, which called for new technologies to survey koala populations more efficiently.