We sat down with Fernando Vilela, director of the Brazilian company AeroPulv, to get his first impressions of the eBee Geo fixed-wing drone, which recently joined their multi-rotor fleet.
Could you tell us a bit more about your company?
Sure! AeroPulv is located in Iturama, a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, in southeastern Brazil. We provide services throughout the south-central area, where most of the agricultural regions in the country are concentrated.
We arose from the needs of our customers to introduce technology that can better guide the use of resources while increasing the productivity and profitability of the crop. Our company focuses on technologies that benefit producers, providing solutions that help them reach positive results.
What is your company’s experience with drones?
Until now, we have been providing spraying services with multi-rotors and using small RTK models of these drones for mapping.
Besides this, I have also worked at other companies and flew fixed-wings made in Brazil. They were very big, with a parachute, and some of them needed a launcher, like a catapult, to take off. They are not the same as the eBee fixed-wings.
“At the end of the day, what matters is how many hectares you were able to fly.”
Fernando Vilela, director, AeroPulv.
What are your impressions after using eBee Geo?
The eBee Geo came to add more value to our company. We have increased our mapping capacity from 300 ha (741 ac) using multi-rotors to 1,000 ha (2,471 ac) per day with the eBee Geo.
Another thing that has surprised us is the accuracy and reliability of eBee X series RTK/PPK technology. We are used to doing projects that require high accuracy, such as surveying planting lines to be used in automatic pilots of agricultural machines. Accuracy is essential because any error can bring losses to the crop and accidents in agricultural operations.
” We have increased our mapping capacity from 300 ha (741 ac) using multi-rotors to 1,000 ha (2,471 ac) per day with the eBee Geo.”
Fernando Vilela, director, AeroPulv.
I confess that I was a little afraid at the beginning because, as I said before, I have worked with other fixed-wings and had some bad experiences. However, we saw that both the landing and the take-off are done very smoothly. Also, we have been able to take off and land in places with very short space. All these points have brought more security and tranquility to our operations.
What’s next for AeroPulv?
Now our company has made a technological leap and, in addition to increasing the volume of mapping and security of our operations, we are working on integrating the eBee Geo to generate agronomic information for applications with our spraying multi-rotor drones.
This way we can generate a great ROI for our clients and rural producers. The business impact is a cost reduction for farming inputs and increases in gains and income. Also, this means better treatment of natural resources and respect for the environment, which now receives less herbicide – because it’s applied in the correct quantities and places.
Thank you for sharing your time and perspective, Fernando!
