Conectividade em ambiente florestal: um desafio para a floresta 4.0

Abstract

The 4th Industrial Revolution has already been announced and it is due to the connectivity of things and has an untapped character since its announcement, unlike its predecessors, was announced before its end. Vertical integration is a key to creating value in the 4.0 environment and in this respect when we talk about forest-based industries (such pulp and paper), we have a great evolution in the industrial environment, but it still demands time to that these technologies are well disseminated, established and adapted in forestry operations and the main barriers to the evolution of this concept and the integration of forests with mills are the quantity and quality of data and also connectivity. In this respect, the objective of this work was to compare data transmission technologies in the forest environment regarding criteria considered essential to establish connectivity in the forest environment. Three technologies (Mesh network, LoRa network, digital radio network) were compared with specialist suppliers regarding their coverage (considering relief, closed forests and maximum average distance from the base machines), bandwidth (compressed data traffic and maps) and cost of infrastructure. None of the 3 technologies proved to be an isolated solution for the transmission of data in the forest, with emphasis on the digital radio system, which in massifs showed efficient coverage but with restrictions for dispersed areas and high cost of associated infrastructure. The Mesh and LoRa networks tested showed lower transmission capacity due to physical obstacles, and the Mesh network showed higher bandwidth and also lower infrastructure costs. From this work it can be concluded that for the conditions established, there is great potential for the use of combined technologies and data engineering can be a great partner for selection / compaction of the data necessary for forest management and verticalization with the mills.