Prof. Chiu Siu-wai (right), School of Life Sciences, and Prof. Cheng Chun-hung (left), Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, and their team have developed an innovative Tree Guard Monitoring System, with a sponsorship from the Chung Chi College. The automatic monitoring system allows round-the-clock surveillance against tree theft, as well as risk of collapse for sick and tilt trees. The system can be adopted by country parks, property management and garden management authorities.

The system consists of multiple sensors, such as sonic, temperature, humidity and tilt sensors, which are integrated into a hardware device with wireless communication capabilities for continuous monitoring. When the device is mounted on the tree, alerts are sent to the control room when abnormal activities on the trees, such as sawing and hammering, are identified. The same principles can be applied to monitoring tilt and sick trees.

With the help of the system, Professor Chiu hopes to set an early warning mechanism for trees with collapse risk, so that preventive measures can be carried out as early as possible to avoid accidents and casualties in future.

For details, please click here.