| Company | Forico |
| Country | Australia |
| Website | https://forico.com.au/key-projects-in-estate-monitoring-and-individual-tree-quality-assessment |
| Category | Planning & Inventory › Remote sensing & mapping |
Research project using remote sensing via UAV, airborne and satellite and providing it to forestry industry
Remote data acquisition in forestry refers to the collection of operational, environmental, machine, or biological data from locations in the field without requiring personnel to be physically present at the point of measurement, using sensors, communication networks, and data management systems to transmit information to a central location for analysis and decision-making. The technology encompasses a wide range of implementations: machine telematics systems that continuously stream GPS position, engine parameters, fuel consumption, and productivity data from forest machines to fleet management platforms; environmental sensor networks that monitor soil moisture, temperature, rainfall, and wind speed at remote plantation or harvesting sites; weather stations installed in plantation forests to support fire risk management; load sensors on harvesting and forwarding equipment that record timber volume as it moves through the supply chain; and automated camera traps or acoustic sensors used for wildlife monitoring and biodiversity assessment in forest environments. In commercial plantation forestry, remote data acquisition from machine telematics is now standard practice among major operators, providing real-time visibility over harvesting and silviculture operations across dispersed sites, enabling rapid response to breakdowns, productivity shortfalls, or safety incidents. In Australia, the remoteness of many plantation and native forest operations — including sites in Tasmania, the Victorian Central Highlands, and Western Australia — makes remote data acquisition particularly valuable, as it reduces the need for costly supervisory site visits and enables informed management decisions to be made from urban offices. Remote data acquisition also underpins carbon accounting and regulatory reporting for forestry carbon projects, where continuous or periodic monitoring of stand growth, disturbance events, and environmental conditions must be documented to meet the requirements of the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) scheme and related frameworks. Advances in low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN), satellite IoT connectivity, and edge computing are progressively extending the reach and affordability of remote data acquisition into even the most isolated forestry settings.
A strong candidate that improves assessment and monitoring efficiency, with clear potential for risk reduction through better decision-making, though it still relies on qualitative evidence rather than measured outcomes.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Forico |
| Country | Australia |
| Type | Company |
| Available in AU? | yes |
| FWPA RD&E | 7.4 |