Core Ultra 200V to the Rescue for Near-Extinct Bears

Biodiversity conservation and human-wildlife coexistence are key priorities for the team at Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, in the Apennine Mountains of Italy, where the Marsican brown bear is among the park’s residents. To protect and preserve the bear – a near-extinct subspecies of the Eurasian brown bear – the Salviamo L’Orso association (“Let’s save the bear”), together with Intel and the University of L’Aquila, has implemented an AI-powered wildlife protection program in the park.

Combining the latest Intel® Core™ Ultra 200V series processors with the OpenVINO™ software tool kit and Reolink outdoor cameras, the Wild Animals Detection and Alert System (WADAS) provides a cost-effective and scalable solution. It works without dedicated graphics processing units (GPUs) or cloud infrastructure and is easily deployable on the go, even in rural environments. Intel Core Ultra 200V’s integrated AI engines allow for an efficient hardware allocation strategy: The neural processing unit (NPU) handles detection (like animal, car, human) and the integrated GPU performs classification (like bear, deer, wolf).

WADAS uses this near-real-time information to alert authorities or park rangers when needed. It can also trigger Internet of Things actuators, including illuminated road signs to prevent fatal accidents and smart feeders to improve the animals’ coexistence in populated areas.

“Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park represents one of Italy’s oldest protected natural areas, where endangered wildlife species cohabit with local communities in a subtle balance. AI has the potential to improve the security of this coexistence by using real-time sensors, data and actuators, increasing the safety of people while protecting wildlife,” said Stefano Dell’Osa, functional safety software architect at Intel, project lead at WADAS and volunteer at Salviamo L’Orso.

More: WADAS Announcement (Salviamo L’Orso) | Wild Animals Detection and Alert System (WADAS) and OpenVINO: AI-Powered Wildlife Protection (Medium)