€1M for real-time satellite coms & data-analytics platform

Coillte, Ireland’s national forestry company, has announced a major €1 million contract agreement, with Cork-headquartered Treemetrics to roll out a pioneering real-time satellite communications and data-analytics platform for forestry harvest control. An Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D was joined by Coillte Chief Executive Fergal Leamy and Treemetrics CEO and co-founder Enda Keane in Government Buildings to mark the agreement (photo).

The Treemetrics technology platform, a world first for the forestry industry, is designed to optimise operational efficiency, reduce waste and improve environmental sustainability. Treemetrics developed the ground-breaking communications technology working in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) over the past four years.

The satellite communications platform communicates directly with harvest cutting machines ensuring that they always have 24/7 connectivity, thus delivering positioning and mapping services to the driver-operators as well as sharing data about the tree-logs in real time with the forest managers and sawmill wood buyers.

Marking the announcement An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, T.D said: “After a chance meeting on a Dublin Street some years ago, I have followed with interest the Treemetrics story of success. Now, as then, I am happy to support them as their visions mature into pioneering solutions for the forestry sector”.

The Treemetrics technology platform aims to improve management of forestry resources by real time monitoring of the harvesting process, providing tree quality mapping and a reduction in travel costs to and from forest sites through In-Vehicle-Navigation and improved Inventory mapping.

Fergal Leamy, Chief Executive, Coillte said “Coillte is on a path to becoming the best forestry and land solutions company in Europe. Our increasing use of technology will be crucial over the next few years as we aim to create the connected forest. I am delighted to be working with world leading technology companies like Treemetrics, who also happen to be based in Ireland, as we develop innovative solutions to how we manage our forests”.

Enda Keane, CEO and Co-Founder, Treemetrics, said “Treemetrics are very grateful for the support we received from the European Space Agency, our technology partner and to Coillte our valued Irish customer, to enable us to deliver the ‘Internet of Trees’ platform, providing real time data analytics and transformative insights, that will deliver great benefits to the Irish forestry industry, in terms of environmental sustainability, management optimization and improved profitability.”

Source: Treemetrics