M2/engineer Research internship offer : Design of an audio-photo device with embedded AI for insects and bats monitoring

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INRAE presentation

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is a major player in research and innovation. It is a community of 12,000 people with 272 research, experimental research, and support units located in 18 regional centres throughout France. Internationally, INRAE is among the top research organisations in the agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, as well as in ecology and environmental science. It is the world’s leading research organisation specialising in agriculture, food and the environment. INRAE’s goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. Faced with a growing world population, climate change, resource scarcity, and declining biodiversity, the Institute has a major role to play in building solutions and supporting the necessary acceleration of agricultural, food and environmental transitions.

Work environment, missions and activities

You will be based at the INRAE EFNO (Forest Ecosystems Nogent) research unit in Nogent-sur-Vernisson. The unit comprises approximately 40 researchers, engineers and technicians. A large part of the research activities and expertise revolves around the functioning and sustainable management of temperate forests. The biodiversity axis, in particular, examines the pressures exerted on forest biodiversity in order to devise monitoring methods and sustainable management recommendations.

Context  : Passive acoustic monitoring is commonly used for bat monitoring, and photographic methods are often used for insect detection and identification. Combining both methods would allow for monitoring bats and nocturnal flying insects, in order to measure their occurrence and activity, and to understand their trophic and behavioural interactions on-site, both relevant in a forest die-back and pest biocontrol context.

Reference: Darras, K.F.A., Balle, M., Xu, W., Yan, Y., Zakka, V.G., Toledo-Hernández, M., Sheng, D., Lin, W., Zhang, B., Lan, Z., Fupeng, L., Wanger, T.C., 2024. Eyes on nature: Embedded vision cameras for terrestrial biodiversity monitoring. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 15, 2262–2275. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14436

You will strengthen the “Biodiversity” axis of the research unit and you will be supervised by Kevin Darras, researcher, and co-supervised by Frédéric Archaux, research director. Your research internship will cover the design of a functional audio-photo sensor with embedded artificial intelligence. This device will be based on existing commercial microcontroller PCBs (openMV, Raspberry, Sony Spresense…) and enable the detection and identification of bats and insects that fly above it. You will acquire a set of skills ranging from electronic design and prototyping, biodiversity monitoring, statistical analysis, and scientific writing.

Specifically, you will be in charge of :

• Design and assembly of three prototypes of the embedded AI device (sourcing components, lab and field tests)
• Development of detection and identification algorithms (building training set, transfer learning with object detection or region-of-interest classification models)
• Deployment of devices and reference sampling methods (interception traps for insects, ultrasound recorders for bats) on the surrounding domain in open habitat, in understory, and in the canopy (done by climbers)
• Data collection and analysis, scientific report writing

Training and skills

Required training : Master or engineer in the domains of electronics or Artificial Intelligence.

Appreciated knowledge and experience : prototyping, CNNs, microcontrollers, embedded AI, signal processing, biodiversity, statistical modeling

Skills sought : autonomy and creativity to obtain a functional prototype, communication skills to ensure a smooth problem resolution and efficiently tackling hurdles.

INRAE's life quality

By joining our teams, you benefit from (depending on the type of contract and its duration):

- up to 30 days of annual leave + 15 days "Reduction of Working Time" (for a full time);
- parenting support: CESU childcare, leisure services;
- skills development systems: training, career advise;
- social support: advice and listening, social assistance and loans;
- holiday and leisure services: holiday vouchers, accommodation at preferential rates;
- sports and cultural activities;
- collective catering.

How to apply

I send my CV and my motivation letter