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In March 2026, GSA Corporation conducted its first autonomous forest flight in Japan using a Deep Forestry drone in Sammu City, Chiba Prefecture.
Deep Forestry is a drone-based system developed by Sweden-based Deep Forestry AB to fly autonomously beneath the forest canopy and collect three-dimensional forest data. Even in forest environments where GPS signals may be weak or unavailable, the drone detects and avoids surrounding trees while collecting detailed data from within the forest.
During the flights, we evaluated the drone’s operation in a Japanese plantation forest, including its autonomous navigation, tree-avoidance capabilities, and the overall data collection process.
The collected data is processed using Deep Forestry’s dedicated AI software and converted into 3D point-cloud data of the forest, as well as information on individual trees, including their location, height, diameter at breast height, stem shape, and estimated timber volume.
These flights represented an important first step for GSA in introducing Deep Forestry’s technology to Japanese forest environments and expanding its potential applications in forest surveying, forestry operations, research and development, and vegetation management around infrastructure assets.
You can see the drone flying autonomously beneath the forest canopy in the video below.
GSA Corporation will continue to conduct flights and surveys in a variety of forest environments across Japan to further evaluate Deep Forestry’s technology and develop practical applications for the Japanese market.
In addition to providing the drone and AI analysis software, GSA also offers forest 3D surveying services covering drone operation, data analysis, and delivery of the final survey outputs.
Contact
GSA Corporation
Email: swatanabe@gsacorp.co.jp
