rePLANT is structured in three main areas: forest and fire management, risk management and circular economy and value chains.
The rePLANT project, which brings together companies, universities and research centers to enhance and defend the forest, presented this Monday, at the Parque das Serras do Porto, innovative technologies for the defense and management of forest and fire.
In a statement, CoLAB ForestWISE, which leads the project with Navigator Forest Portugal, lists “the four innovative projects” that were developed together with the main partners of rePLANT: REN, University of Coimbra, whereness, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Altri, INESC TEC, Trigger and Fravizel.
The first comprises “support systems for forest fire monitoring”, installed by REN and the University of Coimbra on the energy company’s poles located in the Parque das Serras do Porto.
Composed of optical and thermal cameras, these systems have the function of monitoring, protecting and anticipating the impact of rural fires in the forest, providing real-time images, with information on meteorology and vegetation, says CoLAB ForestWISE.
Scientific research, within the scope of this monitoring, will make it possible to simulate fire behavior and monitor fires, contributing to the resilience and integrity of the forest and infrastructure.
Another project concerns “mobile applications for forest inventory. “Good forest management practices imply the use of monitoring tools that facilitate decision making, such as the forest inventory,” explains CoLAB ForestWISE in the statement.
The information collected will allow, as stated in the document, to determine the number of trees, the volume and other quantitative and qualitative information, which is essential for proper planning.
“These mobile applications can be used by small forest owners and associations, as well as large companies in the forestry sector, enabling a very reliable, low cost, simple and fast estimate,” says the entity responsible for rePLANT.
CoLAB ForestWISE continues with the presentation of the third project, through which will be made the “digital integration of data in equipment throughout the value chain. During this project, technologies were developed that make it possible to remotely and automatically collect information from equipment associated with forestry operations.
“This information is important for the entire value chain and obtaining it involves recording and communicating all the data collected by the sensors of the machines used in forestry operations,” explains the statement from CoLAB ForestWISE. “This technology may allow, for example, real-time management of forestry machines, monitoring production, location and movement of the cutting operation,” adds the entity.
The last project presented at the Parque das Serras do Porto concerns “new equipment for fuel management using robotics”. INESCTEC tested the Modular-E robot in forest cleaning tasks along the planting lines, and also conducted some preliminary tests at the Parque das Serras do Porto, according to CoLAB ForestWISE, “with results that allowed conclusions to be drawn for the improvement of the equipment.”
“With an accuracy of centimeter registration, this equipment has the ability to detect areas that need cleaning with a minimal margin of error,” CoLAB ForestWISE reports. “In addition, it is compact and affordable, making it a practical and economical solution for forest maintenance,” it adds.
In presenting the new technologies developed in the course of rePLANT, CoLAB ForestWISE explains, in the release, the goal of this project.
“rePLANT aims to have an impact on the entire productive and business ecosystem of the forestry sector, improving the safety of populations with fire prevention and combat systems, while reducing threats to biodiversity and increasing the resilience of the forest and infrastructures. And innovate in the enhancement of the forest, more productive, efficient and with less risk, ensuring the competitiveness of the sector,” can be read in the document.
“The technologies we present today are part of a range of results and products that derive from this mobilizing project that brings together the best technical and scientific knowledge of business and non-business entities that form the rePLANT,” said Carlos Fonseca, scientific and technological director of CoLAB ForestWISE, during the initiative held on Monday.
Quoted in the statement, the responsible added that these “were three years of work for the future of the forest, with solutions that contribute to its sustainable development and the enhancement of the entire forest value chain.
rePLANT is structured in three major areas of action: forest and fire management, risk management and circular economy and value chains. Led by Navigator Forest Portugal, with technical and scientific coordination by CoLAB ForestWISE, the project has an investment of 5.6 million euros.
In, Ambiente Magazine, 16 May 2023 (PT)
