This text printed in collaboration with JUIDA, the Japan UAS Industrial Improvement Affiliation.
Japanese expertise firms Optim and Kyuden Drone Service (KDS) have developed a brand new “Lifeless Tree Detection AI Service” that mixes synthetic intelligence with drone-mounted multispectral cameras to establish dying bushes earlier than they pose security dangers to vital infrastructure.
Addressing Rising Environmental Dangers
The service responds to rising considerations about tree-fall injury attributable to extreme climate occasions together with typhoons and heavy rains. Conventional guide surveys of enormous areas require vital time and labor, creating gaps in danger evaluation that the brand new AI-powered system goals to remove.
“By integrating Optim’s AI evaluation expertise, we will now routinely detect useless bushes by way of our administration software program,” the businesses introduced. The system builds on KDS’s current multispectral imaging capabilities by including automated detection and visualization options.
Discipline Testing with JR West Japan
West Japan Railway Firm (JR West) has been testing the expertise since 2022, initially with QDS’s unique service and now with the improved AI model. Discipline verification performed in June 2025 alongside railway corridors used a number of drone platforms together with the Trinity Professional vertical takeoff fixed-wing drone from Quantum Techniques and DJI’s Phantom 4 Multispectral.
The system offers three key capabilities: automated useless tree detection utilizing seen and NDVI imagery, distance measurement with automated cross-section technology, and integration of topographical information from Japan’s Geospatial Data Authority.
Technical Integration
Gear utilized in testing included MicaSense’s Altum-PT multispectral digicam and Optim’s “AI Inspection for Infra” evaluation platform. The system can assess tree well being, calculate danger ranges utilizing distance measurements, and visualize outcomes on interactive maps.
Each firms see vital market potential as infrastructure operators search proactive options to forestall weather-related injury. KDS, established in April 2024 as a by-product from Kyushu Electrical Energy, brings intensive expertise in energy infrastructure drone inspections to the partnership.
Extra data, together with the unique press launch (in Japanese), is on the market right here.
About Optim Co., Ltd.
Optim makes a speciality of web infrastructure optimization expertise, creating options that make digital providers extra intuitive and accessible. Based in 2000, the corporate transforms complicated web interactions into seamless experiences by way of proprietary optimization applied sciences. Based mostly in Tokyo, Optim offers software program licensing, IoT platform providers, distant administration options, and technical assist. The corporate’s infrastructure inspection portfolio consists of OPTiM AI Inspection for Infra (AI-powered picture evaluation), Civil ReSnap (close-range visible inspection assist), and electric-assist tunnel images programs.
About Kyuden Drone Service Co., Ltd.
Kyuden Drone Service, established in April 2024 as a subsidiary of Kyushu Electrical Energy Co., leverages intensive expertise in energy infrastructure drone inspections to serve regional communities nationwide. The Fukuoka-based firm operates complete drone providers together with inspection options (confined house, automated patrol, underwater, bridge/tower, thermal imaging), surveying providers (LiDAR, photogrammetry, software program growth), aerial images (4K/12K manufacturing, 360° seize, stay streaming, 3D modeling), proprietary applied sciences (forest timber quantity AI, useless tree detection programs), and tools gross sales (IBIS2, Skydio collection, ELIOS3 platforms).
Learn Extra
Ian McNabb is a journalist specializing in drone expertise and life-style content material at Dronelife. He’s primarily based between Boston and NH and, when not writing, enjoys mountaineering and Boston space sports activities.