AI-based warning systems facilitated 2,500 safe elephant crossings in Coimbatore
In a year, the system has facilitated 2,500 safe crossings of wild elephants across railway tracks.
Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary of the environment, climate change, and forests department, who was pivotal in implementing the project, said that the system generated 5,011 alerts to enable these crossings, helping the department achieve zero elephant accidents.
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Sahu, who used to visit the Madukkarai forest range where the command centre was set up to review the functioning of the early warning system, had posted on her X handle that the result of the early warning system in the past year was 'stunning'.
'AI-powered thermal cameras installed on 12 towers, controlled by a command centre and manned by local tribal youth, monitor railway tracks 24/7, alerting loco drivers and patrolling teams in real-time who will reduce the speed of the train in the stretch. Two underpasses made by railways are being used by elephants extensively; a model of tech-driven wildlife conservation by the Tamil Nadu forest department,' she wrote.
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The department has plans to employ tethered drones to supplement the AI-based system for 24x7 surveillance of elephants and other wild animal movements in the dark area between the two railway lines, Supriya Sahu told TOI. 'The camera will alert the ground control on the elephants' movements, and another drone will be used to chase the animals away from the track.'
With the help of the Tamil Nadu unmanned aerial vehicles corporation, they will engage the drones from the first week of Oct to prevent elephant movements towards the railway tracks in the sandwiched forest area.
N Jayaraj, district forest officer (DFO), Coimbatore, said the department and the railway officials work in sync to prevent accidents based on information generated by AI.
The data generated not only prevents accidents but also provides valuable data on elephant movement, elephant behaviour, profiling of individual elephants, and further morphological and behavioural studies for future decision-making.
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