NTT Docomo Business has begun deploying drones to locate and drive away wild bears, in partnership with the village of Showa in Fukushima Prefecture, informed sources have said.
The high-performance drones, featuring a camera equipped with a thermal imaging function, can be effective in the early morning and at night, when bears tend to be active. The aircraft support the long-term evolution, or LTE, wireless communication standard, which is used for mobile phones.
NTT Docomo Business, under the aegis of the group led by telecommunications giant NTT, plans to start offering the service to other municipalities as a new measure to address bear attacks at a time when reports on damage caused by the animals are increasing around the country.
The drones search areas where bears were spotted to help hunters cull them. The thermal camera is used to locate bears if they flee into bushes.
Showa’s local government has conducted patrols using the drones on a regular basis since October. Based on gathered data, the village has set up box traps along routes believed to have been taken by bears and has used speakers equipped on the drones to shoo them away.
NTT Docomo Business, formerly NTT Communications, plans to support the introduction and operation of the drone system at other municipalities so that they can prevent damage from bear attacks.
The company has previously used high-performance drones for infrastructure inspections and disaster response. This summer, the village of Showa began utilizing drones in earnest to search for people who went missing in mountainous areas.
NTT Docomo Business plans to further improve its drones for dealing with wild animals, such as making it possible to operate them from remote areas and equipping them with an automatic detection function using artificial intelligence.