São Paulo – The National Institute for Science and Technology in Critical Embedded Systems (INCT-SEC), the Army and companies in the defence sector are working on the development of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to watch Brazilian frontiers. The project will be promoted thanks to a partnership signed in December by the INCT-SEC and the Army, with the financing of partner companies. Apart from improving a Tiriba model aircraft donated by company AGX-Tecnologia for the needs of the Army, the partnership may result in profits due to future sales. Currently, this aircraft is employed in agriculture.
According to the project, researchers at the INCT-SEC, which is in the Institute of Mathematics Science and Information Technology at the São Carlos campus of the University of São Paulo, and professionals in the Army are going to work together, starting this year, to develop new UAVs based on Army needs as observed during use of the Tiriba.
This aircraft is released by hand and is capable of taking pictures and videos during the flight. The aircraft is electric, has autonomy for approximately 50 minutes of flight at speeds between 100 km/h and 120 km/h at an altitude of 150 to 400 metres. Landing takes place by use of a parachute at an area pre-defined by the controllers.
The objective of the partnership is to improve this model and make future versions of the Tiriba capable of flying for longer, as well as shooting more pictures and footage. The aircraft costs an average of 78,000 Brazilian reals (US$ 43,000).
According to Kalinka Castelo Branco, researcher and administrative and operational director at INCT-SEC, the improved aircraft should be designed this year. “The agreement forecasts interaction with the Army and training of Human Resources (professionals specialized in the equipment). No budget has yet been defined. We should work on a plan for presentation later, so that each party may see how it will be financed,” she said.
Kalinka stated that developing new UAVs is a way of supplying the country’s demand for unmanned aircraft and, thus, avoids the import of said equipment. For the time being, other institutions buy unmanned aircraft abroad. This is the case with the Federal Police, which currently uses two unmanned aircraft to monitor drug trafficking. These aircraft are larger and have greater autonomy than the Tiriba.
It is not just the Armed Forces and researchers that may gain with this partnership. Companies like Aeroalcol, Orbisat-Embraer and AGX Tecnologia, all in the defence sector, are partners in INCT-SEC. AGX-Tecnologia donated the Tiriba model to the Army to “militarize” the equipment alongside the INCT-SEC, according to the administrative director of AGX-Tecnologia, Odair Ribeiro Mendonça Júnior. The equipment was created in late 2010 and was already used in agriculture. Mendonça explains that the device was developed based on a model aircraft and an auto pilot used in agricultural machinery. The use of this equipment increases efficiency in crops.
Tiriba may be used in great extensions of land for the monitoring of plantations, for the search for weeds and even for counting herds, as is the case in the Pantanal. “It has even covered 200-hectare areas in 20 minutes. It may cover up to 2,500 hectares a day and do the work it would take a person over a month to execute,” says the executive. He stated that the model may be employed by state governments to monitor and comply with Brazil’s New Forestry Code.
According to Mendonça, Tiriba has already been sold to at least ten Brazilian companies and was exported to Paraguay. Other countries are interested in the equipment. The product could be used by nations like Australia, as, according to Mendonça, the country has a great cattle herd and some similar characteristics to those of Brazil.
*Translated by Mark Ament
