KUTA - Indonesia is expanding the use of artificial intelligence in immigration monitoring while developing a drone-based “Digital Fence” for border surveillance.
Director General of Immigration Hendarsam Marantoko said the agency was increasing its use of digital technology, including AI, to strengthen oversight of foreign nationals.
“Going forward, technology will account for 70 percent of the backbone of immigration services,” Hendarsam said Thursday, Aug. 27, during the inauguration of an Immigration Lounge at Discovery Kuta in Bali.
The technology push includes Pagar Digital, or Digital Fence, a drone-based border surveillance system Immigration is developing with the Bandung Institute of Technology, or ITB. The project is intended to monitor unofficial crossing routes and other border areas that are difficult to cover through conventional patrols.
Indonesia has about 3,111 kilometers of land borders. Immigration said in July that Kalimantan along the Malaysian border, Papua along the frontier with Papua New Guinea and East Nusa Tenggara bordering Timor-Leste would be priority areas. Maritime surveillance would focus on the Riau Islands, Batam and surrounding crossing routes.
The system is planned to use drone technology developed by ITB in collaboration with state-owned aerospace company PT Dirgantara Indonesia. Immigration said drones could detect movement in border blind spots and transmit coordinates to nearby immigration posts or border personnel.
Immigration is also developing a broader technology architecture through 2045, with Hendarsam saying a working group would be established to discuss the framework.
Explaining how the border system is intended to operate, Hendarsam said it would involve “using drones in certain areas, especially through the back roads.”
