Atvos drone pilots receive license from ANAC

Atvos, the second largest ethanol producer in Brazil, obtained authorization from the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) to carry out BVLOS (Beyond the Visual Line of Sight) flights, an innovative modality for the sugar-energy sector. With this feature, it will be possible to carry out precise digital agricultural monitoring covering a larger area in less time.

Authorization was granted to two operators at the Taquari Hub (MT/MS) who can now operate flights above 400 feet in height (121 meters), without visual contact with the equipment. In the previous class used by the company, the pilot needed to keep the drone in his field of vision. Only six people in all of Brazil have a license for BLVOS flights.

With more altitude and radius amplitude, it is possible to increase the system's efficiency without reducing effectiveness. This means that, in one day, drone pilots can map at least 400 hectares of plantations in an agro-industrial unit. Using high definition images, any anomaly in the sugarcane field can be identified, with precision of up to five centimeters per pixel.

“The use of these technologies provides greater agility and efficiency in daily decisions that are converted into increased productivity in the field. Adding the company and partner areas, Atvos has approximately 510 thousand hectares of sugar cane. Therefore, the best development of the sugarcane field depends on increasingly reliable information”, explains Rodrigo Vinchi, director of Agricultural Technology at Atvos.

Since last harvest (2018/2019), the company has used Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA – Remotely Piloted Aircraft) for real-time quality management in planting areas. Using photogrammetry, topographic and qualitative analyzes are obtained, including terrain properties, slope, surface water runoff, quantification of planting failures and identification of weeds.