IN THE NEWS | Oceanit at the 2018 Pacific Risk Management Ohana Conference

The PRiMO (Pacific Risk Management Ohana) Conference was held from August 6-9 at the Honolulu Convention Center. PRiMO’s theme for 2018 was “Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction.” Oceanit was represented by innovators Dr. Michael Foley and David Takeyama who presented two computer vision technologies in development here at Oceanit in Honolulu.

PRiMO is a Pacific Island-specific organization which works to connect organizations and individuals into varied working groups to create and implement plans that improve resiliency within the Pacific region.

Mike Foley, Oceanit’s lead coastal engineer, presented iBeach, Oceanit’s method of observing shorelines using computer vision technology. iBeach was built upon VIPA , Oceanit’s Versatile Image Processing Architecture system. iBeach can monitor beach health and shoreline erosion from a variety of video data sources and chart changes over long periods of time for very low costs.

David Takeyama, Oceanit’s IT Director, participated in a panel which discussed the opportunities and challenges presented by commercial UAV technology. He continued with a focused discussion regarding post-disaster assessment. This project uses UAV platforms equipped with computer vision technology that allows physical damage to be identified on electrical distribution grid infrastructure immediately following a disaster. Oceanit extended a previous project, MERCI funded by the Department of Energy, to use machine vision and AI to identify and categorize infrastructure damage in close to real time in environments with no power or communication.

Event photos graciously provided by PRiMO.