Aerial Conservation Monitoring (ACM) provides AI-powered aerial census infrastructure that delivers fast, georeferenced wildlife counts to strengthen conservation decision-making. The system uses onboard AI inference during fixed-wing flights to produce structured, GIS-ready datasets compatible with platforms like EarthRanger. ACM replaces episodic helicopter surveys with repeatable, lower-cost census across full conservancy landscapes, validated through a proof-of-concept deployment at Borana Conservancy.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Traditional aerial surveys for wildlife census are expensive, infrequent, and manually processed, limiting the ability of protected areas to monitor species populations effectively. Without reliable, repeatable data, conservation managers struggle to protect species, manage human-wildlife pressure, and plan strategically across large landscapes.
Solution
Aerial Conservation Monitoring (ACM) provides AI-powered aerial census infrastructure that delivers fast, georeferenced wildlife counts to strengthen conservation decision-making. The system uses onboard AI inference during fixed-wing flight deployments to detect and count animals in real time, producing structured, audit-ready datasets compatible with platforms such as EarthRanger and existing GIS workflows. ACM replaces episodic helicopter surveys with repeatable, lower-cost fixed-wing deployments that cover full conservancy landscapes, enabling single-species and multi-species population validation. The platform supports scheduled monitoring cadences, including bi-annual elephant census, high-frequency rhino verification, multi-species estate reporting, and livestock enumeration for grazing management and long-term biodiversity tracking.
Target Audience
Primary customers are protected area managers, conservation organizations, and wildlife monitoring agencies responsible for landscape-scale species census and biodiversity tracking across African conservancies.
Features
- Onboard AI inference for real-time detection and counting of wildlife during fixed-wing flights
- Structured, GIS-ready outputs compatible with EarthRanger and existing GIS workflows
- Single-species and multi-species census capabilities across full conservancy landscapes
- Recurring monitoring cadence supporting bi-annual elephant census, rhino verification, and livestock enumeration
- Georeferenced, audit-ready datasets for population validation and long-term biodiversity tracking
- Field-validated deployment model proven at Borana Conservancy