UAVaid and artificial intelligence (AI) specialist Archangel Imaging have signed an MOU of cooperation for integrating advanced AI capabilities into unmanned aircraft.
The strategic partnership will support the development of technologies integrating edge-based ‘Artificial Intelligence’ processing into drone navigation systems and onboard aerial camera image analysis. It is hoped that this development will lead to faster initial response capabilities to large scale natural disasters, such as floods and wildfires, and improved accuracy of (drone) aerial surveillance to support wildlife (anti-poaching) and environmental protection.
UAVaid operate a fleet of specialist drones for global development (GD) and humanitarian applications in remote and difficult to reach areas of the developing world. Archangel Imaging’s smart devices, such as AI cameras and navigation units, can be retrofitted to other machines to make them smarter and more resilient in challenging environments, from enabling drones to navigate independently in GNSS denied environments to detecting poachers in expansive national parks.
UAVaid technical lead, James Ronen, said “the technical collaboration integrating these cutting-edge technologies will bring new levels of operational capability, increasing accuracy and endurance of drone surveillance and monitoring, and builds on our previous technical collaboration with Archangel Imaging.”
Charles Smith, commercial lead for Archangel Imaging, said “Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at Archangel Imaging, and we are delighted to announce this formal relationship with UAVaid. We’ve already seen success with UAVaid and this agreement builds a fantastic foundation for the use of AI for good.”
UAVaid commercial lead, Daniel Ronen, said “we are delighted to further extend our relationship with Archangel Imaging. This agreement follows our recent deployment in West Africa, where we identified numerous use-cases where this direction of technology development could be of potentially game-changing value to the welfare of remote communities and environment, particularly in mitigating the impact of climate change.”
