by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – AN executive believes edge computing can play a role in fighting the scourge of illegal mining in South Africa.
Also known as artisanal mining, the issue has negative economic, social and environmental impacts.
It costs the sector and national fiscus billions of rands each year, poses significant health and safety risks to those who participate in it, contributes to an increase in crime and illegal trade and can contaminate precious natural environments.
“However, as technology and digital tools advance, there’s an opportunity to deploy these solutions in the fight against illegal mining,” said Rudie Opperman, Manager for Engineering and Training at Axis Communications.
“Edge computing has a significant role to play; with the right implementation, it can greatly enhance the effectiveness of anti-illegal mining efforts in the country,” the official added.
Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data.
Opperman said private industry players and public institutions have a responsibility to deploy the latest security innovations in combating illegal mining.
Edge computing represents an opportunity to achieve maximum insight from video surveillance without having to rely on 24/7 human surveillance or excessive protection measures for assets that are no longer valuable, such as sealed mines.
Edge analytics also allows for faster response times in the event of an incident.
Opperman believes because edge computing enables the processing of data closer to the source of collection, it could be extremely valuable for combating illegal mining.
Illegal mining often occurs in remote or hard-to-reach areas, making traditional surveillance and monitoring challenging.
Edge computing solutions enable the deployment of advanced surveillance systems that can monitor remote locations effectively, Opperman explained.
Edge analytics in network surveillance should be seen as a component of a holistic security strategy.
“Therefore, it’s important to work with expert product vendors to establish a scalable, edge-enabled ecosystem for long-term growth and increased efficiency,” Opperman said.
– CAJ News