Detection and Surveillance of European Water Chestnut

The European Water Chestnut is an invasive plant disrupting Ontario’s water habitats. It’s listed as a prohibited species to help with its management. Ducks Unlimited Canada is working to eliminate this plant in eastern Ontario through monitoring and control efforts. The project aims to enhance these efforts using drone surveillance and machine learning for more efficient plant classification and mapping, aiding in the detection and management of current and emerging infestations.

Problem: The European Water Chestnut (Trapa natans), an invasive aquatic plant with floating leaves, is a serious threat to Ontario’s aquatic ecosystems. It competes with native species and disrupts the ecological balance of the area. The manual review of approximately 1,500 images by Ducks Unlimited Canada staff for identifying this species was an extremely time-consuming process, requiring at least 50 hours of work for each field day.

Solution: Saiwa Company developed an AI-based software capable of operating in offline conditions. This machine learning service can automatically identify the European Water Chestnut in images captured by drones.

Outcome: The project led to a significant reduction in human error and the time required to identify the European Water Chestnut in images. This allowed Ducks Unlimited Canada to more efficiently monitor and control existing populations and prevent the establishment of new ones, thereby strengthening the protection of Ontario’s aquatic ecosystems.

Read Also: Advancing UAV-based EWC surveillance

Project customer: Duck Unlimited Canada Company
Project status: Under development [October 2022 - January 2023]
For more information please contact us via: info@saiwa.ai