Drones for the conservation of Cerrado biodiversity in the Maranhão
Overview
This project is a partnership between institutions in Maranhão and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) with the main objective of developing drones and/or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and apply them in several projects for conservation and monitoring of biodiversity of the Maranhão Cerrado biome. We seek to demonstrate the potential of this new technology both for environmental monitoring and surveillance, combating deforestation and fires, in remote areas of the Cerrado biome, and to develop new ways of obtaining ecological data on the fauna and flora of our Cerrado hotspot in Maranhão State.
Our Effort
The project seeks to offer new technological tools integrating the use of drones or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), IoT and geospatial analysis to improve the management of protected areas within the Cerrado biome. With specific focus on monitoring large areas, we are dedicating ourselves to the development of UAS to be highly efficient in detecting and monitoring illegal activities, such as deforestation and forest fires. In addition, the project aims to provide important information for decision makers on the conservation of biodiversity in the Cerrado.
Results
This project has already resulted in the development of a low-cost UAV with high flight and data collection performance, capable of carrying up to 500 g of payload capacity with a flight duration of 65 minutes and flying at a maximum distance of 20 km. During the tests performed our model called "Asa-Branca-I" was able to identify deforestation points smaller than 5 m2 and medium-sized animals at heights above 75 m altitude.
These data are very promising to make the management of large protected areas more efficient.
We believe that the use of technologies such as drones will be fundamental for local environmental management in Maranhão and other regions of Brazil. With proper monitoring of protected areas, we hope to contribute to the reduction of illegal activities and thus help conserve the biodiversity of the Cerrado biome for future generations.
Find out more about our Asa-Branca-I drone model at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0255559
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