SMT007 Magazine

SMT007-Oct2019

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OCTOBER 2019 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 35 fluence of two rivers, you'd be able to monitor all of the traffic that goes up and down it." Well, what if you put a RiverGuard AI with our gateways linked by LoRa to a satellite modem, and then be able to have a satellite modem linked to a laptop in a village of indigenous groups where they can look at who is entering their reserve on the screen? The key point is all of those applica- tions use the same hardware platform. We're changing the DNN model we run on the Myriad chip to have this different use case, and it saves on manufacturing costs too. We're making the same hard- ware device, but the software varies. Johnson: Where you're pushing bound- aries is not where one would immediately think; you're pushing boundaries around extreme conditions. The technology that you're working on includes improving the sleep mode, battery life, AI-based image processing on the edge, and managing hardware so that it's much more rugged and durable, and much easier to hide. All of that technology is cutting-edge development for you and your team, but will also trickle back into consumer goods over the years. Dinerstein: Definitely. Nobody wants cheap stuff that breaks easily or doesn't work. If it works in Africa, it can work anywhere. Johnson: Given that, what does your develop- ment environment look like? Dinerstein: It's quite philanthropic. For instance, for us to gain access to the Myriad 2 chip and program it, Intel has given us tremendous in- kind engineering support and critical access to their hardware and software libraries. Their contribution has been huge. And Sigmatron International, as the manufacturer, has helped us by absorbing some of the costs. We're a very small non-governmental orga- nization (NGO) with 20 people. I used to be a chief scientist at the World Wildlife Fund for 25 years, but I moved my operation to RESOLVE to get away from the bureaucracy and be able to innovate again. I have to be chief strategist, fundraiser, and communicator, and part-time engineer. My Ph.D. is in both wildlife and con- servation biology, but thanks to working with Steve Gulick and the engineers at Intel over the last five years, I've had a crash course in elec- trical engineering, manufacturing, and com- puter science. Being a tiny NGO, we have to do everything, so it's a lot of work. The way that we've been able to do this is through creative partnerships and by picking the best groups out there. We wouldn't be where we are today without Intel, Inmarsat, Sigmatron International, Microsoft, and Google, who have helped us a lot. And we would be nowhere without the generous support from our donors, such as the Wild- cat Foundation, the Stadler Family Foundation, OneEarth (formerly the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation), Weeden Family Foundation, Operation Diana, Global Conservation, the Band Foundation, the Arcus Foundation, Mar- shall Field, Lori Price, Anne Pattee, and others. Johnson: Eric, this has been great. Thank you for sharing your work with us. Dinerstein: Absolutely. Thanks for including us in the conversation. SMT007

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