MISTRA DIGITAL FOREST 2019 1
MISTRADIGITALFOREST Collaboration with Canada aro
und common challenges in digitalising forestry Mistra Digital Forest comprehends a number of international collaborations – including with Canada – a country that shares the same ambitions regarding digitalisation of forestry that Sweden does. As part of the collaboration, in the autumn of 2019, Skogforsk, one of the program partners in Mista Digital Forest, participated in a study trip to Canada with a focus on digitalisation and automation in forestry. – The Canadians show great interest in forestry and automation and what we are doing in Sweden, says Erik Willén, Process Manager in digitalisation at Skogforsk. He is the leader of the work dealing with efficient forestry in Mistra Digital Forest, and one of the participants in the study trip. The trip began with a visit to Laval University in Quebec where the Swedish representatives met the research consortium for FORAC, which currently consists of 13 active students. FORAC, which stands for Forest to Customer, is a new research program in Canada focusing on data management and decision-making for a more efficient timber supply system. Like Mistra Digital Forest, the program is implemented in close collaboration with industry – in this case in Quebec. During a visit to the McGill Uni Robotics Lab in Montreal, which is part of a robotics network with close links to the mining industry and other industries, the participants were taken on a tour. Amongst other things, they studied the simulation of crane movements, robotics for felling and autonomous driving with models. The study trip was concluded together with the Forestry 4.0 steering group – an initiative that was launched in Canada nearly two years ago, and can be compared to the Canadian equivalent of Mistra Digital Forest. Francis Charette, Associate Research Leader at FPInnovations, who are behind the initiative, also participated in Mistra Digital Forest’s first program conference in May 2019, to present Forestry 4.0. During the study visit to Canada, the Canadian Steering Group for Forestry 4.0 outlined a number of successful contributions. Among the achievements they highlighted were successful attempts at platooning (timber trucks that communicate wirelessly, and run closely after one another), mobile laser scanning tested on miniature vehicles prior to mounting on forest machines, and satellite communication in the forest, where great hopes rest on low-flying satellite systems. In turn, Skogforsk presented Mistra Digital Forest: Francis Charette, Associate Research Leader at FPInnovations and Coordinator of Forestry 4.0, together with Erik Willén and Olle Gelin from Skogforsk. – I felt that there was a great deal of interest in how our future cooperation could be further developed, and many reflections about it, concludes Erik Willén. 10 Photo: Image from study trip in Canada