The worst drought in the last 47 years caused record fires in the Pantanal region, in the country's Midwest, in July. There were 1,684 fire hotspots recorded, the highest number for the month since measurements began by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) in 1998.<\/p>\n
Wildfires \u2013 which are spreading at high speed due to the dry weather and wind in the Pantanal \u2013 occur in hard-to-reach regions, which hinders the work of firefighting teams.<\/p>\n
To help prevent fires, define conservation policies, and monitor potential environmental crimes such as illegal burning and deforestation, it is essential to obtain detailed information about a forest. The mission, however, is practically unfeasible, considering the difficulties of accessing these locations and the long time required to complete it.<\/p>\n
As a way to solve the problem, researchers from the S\u00e3o Carlos campus of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) and the University of Pennsylvania, in the USA, developed a drone that can fly autonomously over areas with high tree density.<\/p>\n
The equipment features a laser sensor that fires thousands of beams of light per second and, upon encountering trees, manages to calculate the distance of each trunk and branch\u2014avoiding collisions. The pilot simply needs to delimit the area to be flown over. From there, the drone can map it on its own.<\/p>\n
Tests conducted in a pine forest in the State of New Jersey, in the United States, showed positive results.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to having the possibility of conducting a forest inventory over a much larger coverage area, with the use of the drone this process becomes much faster, safer, and more precise,\u201d says Guilherme Nardari, one of the authors of the study.<\/p>\n
The equipment can map a 400,000-square-meter forest in just 30 minutes. For comparison, if the same work were carried out by a team of forest engineers, for example, that time would jump to 12 and a half days \u2013 and that is assuming it was carried out 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n
When applied in Brazil, the technology would allow, according to the researchers, to prevent the expansion of fires, since drones could spot them in real time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you use traditional satellite methods, by the time you realize it, it's already too late and the damage has been done,\u201d Steven Chen, from the University of Pennsylvania, told TV Globo.<\/p>\n