We met up with a customer who helps wind farms clear a show-stopping hurdle.
Oslo, October 2023
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– Our vision is to help industry and nature to coexist, says Spoor’s CEO & Co-founder, Mr. Ask Helseth.
The 34-year-old product developer leads a hand-picked team in tackling one of the catch-22s of our time: In our effort to protect the environment, we sometimes introduce new challenges to the environment.
In Spoor’s case, the issue at hand is the rise of the wind industry, coupled with the decline of the global bird population. While essential to meeting renewable energy targets, wind turbines have been known to harm or disrupt migratory birds. As a result, bird-related regulations are among the main reasons why wind projects get halted, often at huge cost to the investors and ultimately the consumers.
So far, the solutions available to wind farm developers have been inadequate. But now that Spoor has entered the scene, hope is on the horizon. Hope, and network cameras.
Taking stock of the flock
Wind farm developers are required to monitor bird activity both prior to installation and during operation. But collecting the data is anything but trivial.
Though ornithologists are no strangers to rough weather, this is a different ballgame. The sites, in particular the offshore ones, are located in extremely harsh environments, they span huge areas, and the turbines operate around the clock. Luckily, Spoor has found a way to gather the insights humans simply cannot.
“Our solution can detect and track birds up to
two kilometers away.”
They deploy specialized network cameras (more on that later) at selected locations in and around the wind farm. By using a combination of computer vision, image processing, and AI models, Spoor analyzes the footage for motion. Out comes the data site developers need to take appropriate compliance measures – and to secure the go-ahead from authorities.
– Our solution can detect and track birds up to two kilometers away. We build datasets by logging their movements over time, in three dimensions. This helps developers place the site out of harm’s way. And because the system also works in real-time, you can program turbines to slow down if birds are on the collision course, says Ask.
Above (from the left): Helge Reikerås (Spoor), Scott Behrnes (Spoor), Fredrik Nemeth Preus (Axis), Ask Helseth (Spoor), Martin Gren (Axis), Tine Thorsen (Hatteland Technology), and Andrew Watts (Spoor).
Getting the hardware right is crucial
In a sense, the project can be likened to a mini moon landing, in that you place sophisticated IT systems in terrible environmental conditions. No matter how good your code is, it matters little if the hardware crumbles. As such, picking the right gear is top priority.
But how do you identify the right hardware for a completely new application?
Betting on domain expertise, Spoor decided to look for a partner with maritime experience. They soon came across Hatteland Technology and key account manager Tine Thorsen, who has worked with surveillance solutions across multiple different fields. Offshore bird tracking was a first for her, but Tine’s insights have accelerated Spoor’s search for the right equipment.
Tine explains how the project has won hearts within all the departments at Hatteland Technology, from sales and the technical staff, to support and marketing.
– It seems everyone wants to take part in this project, it actually brings the whole company together. We’re all rooting for Spoor and want to give them the best possible chance of succeeding.
Above (from the left): Fredrik Nemeth Preus (Axis), Tine Thorsen (Hatteland Technology),
and Martin Gren (Axis) engaged in conversation.
According to Andrew Watts, VP Innovation & Partnerships at Spoor, the cooperation with Hatteland Technology has brought to the table something they themselves were lacking.
– We’ve benefitted from having a lot of key competence from Hatteland Technology that we really need and that we don’t have in-house. I think they have been extremely good at being adaptive. Because this is a new use case, it’s new technology, it’s constantly under development and we’re at a relatively early stage. So, you need people who are curious, patient, and competent to go on a journey with together. I think the collaboration has been very rewarding, he says.
Network camera giant Axis enjoys a good challenge
One of the brands Tine works with a lot is Swedish surveillance pioneer Axis. Knowing their portfolio of cameras inside-out, she picked out a few units she considered suitable for what Spoor was trying to do. Since then, Spoor has tried out those cameras in different settings and configurations. The results are great so far, even without customizations.
Our meet-up on this autumn day in downtown Oslo is the first in-person meeting between Spoor and Axis. It’s a significant step, as it allows Axis to get an even deeper understanding of Spoor’s unique challenges and how they might be of help going forward.
– As a distributor, our role is to provide access to the best equipment for any given task. These cameras are already excellent, but sometimes, and especially for new use cases, it’s helpful for system integrators and equipment manufacturers to meet and refine the solutions together. We try to facilitate that, Tine says.
“Today is a perfect example of Hatteland Technology bringing a manufacturer directly to us and enabling that dialog (…)”
For Spoor and others who require non-standard equipment, the chance to talk to the people behind the products is valuable.
– We need to have a close dialog with the original manufacturers, because we have some unusual requirements. Today is a perfect example of Hatteland Technology bringing a manufacturer directly to us and enabling that dialog, enabling that conversation, Andrew asserts.
Martin Gren, CEO and co-founder of the Swedish network camera giant, enjoys the rendezvous as well. He says Spoor’s unconventional way of using network cameras offers a welcome challenge to Axis.
“I think it’s an amazing company, how they’ve managed to put up the cameras in these super harsh environments.”
– This is the way to stay competitive. You always have to challenge yourself and really listen to customers in order to understand what you need for the future, he says.
Mr. Gren should know, being no newcomer to innovation himself. He invented the world’s first IP camera and was instrumental in the surveillance industry’s transition to digital — to name but one of his achievements. He is full of praise for Spoor.
– I think it’s an amazing company, how they’ve managed to put up the cameras in these super harsh environments — it’s probably some of the most challenging environments you can have, and they obviously get it to work, so it’s quite impressive.
Above: Martin Gren, CEO and co-founder of Axis, is full of praise for Spoor.
A wind-win scenario
Spoor has already come a long way and get plenty of requests for their solution, and not only from wind power developers. Birds are a challenge for many industries. For the foreseeable future, however, the team plans to stick to their core market.
– There’s definitely a very strong need for what we do in the wind industry. Once we’ve established ourselves firmly in that market, maybe we’ll start to dip our toes in some other verticals. But our main focus will be wind and birds, hopefully with a bigger team and a bigger portfolio of projects, Ask says.
“This is a massive new data set that we’re hoping will fundamentally transform our understanding
of bird activity on and off shore.”
Andrew notes that the company isn’t just helping the wind industry. He says the data Spoor collects is a treasure throve for scientists and biologists, who haven’t had the means to monitor migratory birds at this scale:
– There is so little data. There is tracking data for example around migratory routes of birds that are relatively small samples, and there are some brilliant scientists who are modelling bird behavior and bird migration. But in terms of direct empirical data that you can go back and verify, there’s a huge data gap, and that’s why we’re working with ornithological scientific organizations and environmental NGOs, because they want that data. This is a massive new data set that we’re hoping will fundamentally transform our understanding of bird activity on and off shore.
To learn more about Spoor’s technology, go to www.spoor.ai.
For more information about Axis, go to www.axis.com.
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