Technological revolution in forest monitoring: development of an integrated system for monitoring and measuring forest through telemetry and laser scanning for cables

Abstract

For more than decades technology applied in forest inventories are kept unchanged, despite the massive development observed in others science fields for a same amount of time. Technology advancement has led to the efficient 3D virtual capture and representation of the constituents' elements of a landscape, scene or body target, in the form of miniaturized electronic circuits, optical laser distance meters, wireless, mobility telecommunication, digital imaging, data compression and new materials. Despite the arrive of technology at integrated solutions in several fields, such as medicine and engineering, these technologies have not arose in monitoring, quantification and qualification of vegetation cover. For proper management of public or private natural resources of a country, information generated by continuous and / or temporary inventories is of high value. The current way field data is collected, usually returns low income, high cost and poor reliability. It makes field surveys more difficult when rapid response capability from business and government in the presence of abnormalities, such as low growth, mortality and fires, is needed. This proposal aims at the development, production and distribution solutions, systems and equipment designed for inventory routines conducted by foresters, agronomists, ecologists, biologists and other professional managers and researchers of natural resources. The solutions to be developed in this project will take advantage of the new automation technologies, 3D scanning, communication and massive data processing. Telemetry (with disposable and permanently devices coupled to the monitored target individuals) is added to the cloud points (generated by scanning laser devices moving from an overhead cable) to accurately assess the dimensional variation of the elements of the plots and line transects monitored by these devices. This innovative project aims to study the technical feasibility of those convergent and complementary technologies. The phase preconized in this project foresees the development of complementary technological approaches, the possible detection of technical challenges, as well as the conduction of market studies that map the potential clients and their level of acceptance of new solutions. It is expected that the results of this proposal demonstrates the full feasibility of the proposal, which seeks to eliminate or mitigate the problems regularly faced by professionals working with the monitoring of important parameters of the vegetation of a region, such as biomass, carbon content, sanity of vegetation, structural features and the ability to carry out their productive and ecological functions. The results will allow the real time forest monitoring from anywhere in the world, providing forest managers and natural resources a greater responsiveness and decision making. If contemplated, the project will have significant impact among researchers and agribusiness professionals, management and forest management, both in Brazil and abroad, for the automation of data collection systems, virtually unchanged for over a century. It will lead the technical field measurement for the age of the Internet of Things (IoT) and 3D modeling, global trend in all sectors of the economy. (AU)