CAL International has teamed up with AirSeed Technologies to embark on a ground-breaking climate change initiative, which will see the aerial platform technology aim to plant 100 million trees by 2024. The ground-breaking project and technology will not only tackle deforestation but also help in the major fightback against global warming.

Over the past 30 years, the world has lost more than 300 million trees through deforestation, natural disasters and human consumption. In 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the world has eight years remaining to prevent a massive destabilizing climate change through combined rapid phase out of fossil fuels, reforestation and other natural climate solutions.

Founded by engineer and smart tech entrepreneur Cliff Kirby, CAL International is based in Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The British engineering and smart tech firm’s unique capability lies in its fusion of precision engineering with emerging technology and software to deliver cutting-edge solutions.

Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, AirSeed Technologies has a secondary satellite office in Cape Town, South Africa. Founded by British mechanical engineer Andrew Walker and South African data-mapping analyst Andries Louw, the green tech start-up uses drone technology and artificial and data-driven intelligence, combined with innovative seed pod biotechnology, to combat climate change through scalable reforestation and revegetation.

Walker approached CAL International to assist in refining the planting systems for their drone technology. The mission brief was to take AirSeed’s existing delivery system and refine the design of the user interface and manufacturability of the seed pod delivery system.

Working in partnership with AirSeed Technologies, CAL International has designed and engineered a seed pod delivery system that sits as the engine of the Australian green tech start-up’s unique tree-planting aerial drone technology. The AirSeed drone, which uses artificial and data intelligence, is a payload and delivery system that identifies and locates designated target areas with global positioning system (GPS) coordinates and then fires carbon pods onto the ground at a rate of two-per-second. 

The carbon pods are then pinpointed on the mapping system in line with the flight trajectory, which also considers wind variables and conditions on the day of planting. This allows the drone to return on a reconnaissance flight via the same route to then identify and map tree growth.

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Using a two-person team, an AirSeed drone aims to plant 40,000 pods per day. The pods each carry a gram of carbon, which is collected  from rotting and dying vegetation. 

The pod protects the seed whilst in the germination cycle from combative elements such as insects, rodents and birds. The seed pod is activated when it rains, with the carbon absorbing the water and allowing the seed to germinate.