The Quiet Planet challenge proposes the use of spatial data to document the local and global environmental changes caused by COVID-19. During the pandemic period, there was a 64% increase in deforestation in the Amazon compared to the same time last year, according to data from NASA's Wordview Snapshots and FIRMS. One of the hypotheses of this project is that these events occur mainly due to the decrease in inspections in this area during quarantine. The Interceptor will have a great impact against deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, as it monitors and inspects the forest, helping to reduce illegal activities and preventing inspectors from taking risks and leaving their homes.
The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest and covers more than two million miles of land. It’s a highly biodiverse ecosystem, home to untold species of plants and animals. The rainforest can create its own weather and influence climates around the world. Unfortunately, the fragile ecosystem faces the constant threat of illegal deforestation and it is seeing devastating wildland fires due to the reduction of forest surveillance during the COVID-19 epidemic inspired our team to tackle this issue.
To prove this point, a research was done in the NASA Wordview snapshots to compare the increase in the number of fires in the area, the initial idea was to use this satellite data to send information to a terrestrial group, but the high rate of rainfall prevents the area from being viewed.
To determine the best approach at solving this problem, the team started a brainstorming session looking for the idea that most adapted to the team's skills and to the problem of illegal activity in the Amazon.
The proposed solution was an autonomous UAV and the prototype was developed using a CAD platform Onshape. Even though it is simple, the prototype allowed for a better understanding of the required resources and possible difficulties that will be found along the way.
To estimate the amount of land that the Interceptor would be able to process during a single flight, projections were made using the expected cruise speed and height as well as camera specifications. It was discovered that the Interceptor would need to travel at a speed of 150 km/h in order to process 5km² of land every 3s, allowing it to process up to 40 thousand km² in a single flight. This is a realistic possibility using high powered GPUs and optimized algorithms.