In an effort to improve safety in regards to shark attacks, UAS equipped with a shark detection system that is powered by artificial intelligence will be used to patrol some beaches in Australia starting in September.

After being provided a live-video feed via the battery-powered UAS, the UAS operator will use “shark-spotting software” to identify sharks in real time, with more accuracy than the human eye.

Studies have shown that when interpreting data from aerial images to detect shark activity, people have an accuracy rate between 20 and 30 percent.  

According to Dr Nabin Sharma, a research associate at the University of Technology Sydney’s School of Software, that rate can be raised to 90 percent when using detection software.

“It’s not about replacing human beings all together, it’s about assisting human beings to get the work done in a better way with more accuracy. That’s what the application is meant for,” Sharma says through an article with Reuters.

In 2016, the university started working with a commercial UAS company called Little Ripper Group on the shark detection project.

Little Ripper UAS that have the shark-spotter system will use a megaphone to warn swimmers when a shark is detected.

Dr Paul Scully-Power, a co-founder of the Little Ripper Group, says that a life raft and an emergency beacon can be dropped from the UAS, and Scully-Power adds that the company is also developing an electronic shark repellent.

To train the algorithms of the system, and to teach it how to differentiate sharks from other marine creatures, as well as swimmers, surfers and boats, aerial videos of sharks from publicly available sources will be used. This will allow the system to tag sharks and other marine life in real time.

The timing of implementing this technology comes at a critical point in time for Australia. According to the International Shark Attack File of the University of Florida, Australia was second only to the United States in the amount of unprovoked shark encounters with humans in 2016.

This year, after several shark attacks occurred off of Australia’s northeast coast, protective nets were deployed to save lives, but environmentalists say that nets can be dangerous for wildlife.