Connectivity for the Forestry Industry

We ensure the operation of mission-critical communications for forestry producers in Uruguay

The Sociedad de Productores Forestales (SPF) is a civil association that has brought together stakeholders across the forestry supply chain since 1959. Approximately 90% of commercially planted forests in Uruguay belong to its members, which include UPM, Montes del Plata, Compania Forestal Uruguaya, Forestal Atlantico Sur, and Agro Empresa Forestal.

Its mission is to promote the sustainable development of the industry from an economic, social, and environmental perspective. Among its activities, the SPF promotes the development of plantations and the conservation of natural forests across the country. Internationally, the SPF works to improve the commercial integration and positioning of Uruguay's forestry sector worldwide.

As part of its responsibilities, the SPF oversees the care of green areas distributed throughout the national territory.

The Challenge

When summer arrives, high temperatures increase the risk of forest fires. The SPF has the capacity to rapidly detect fire outbreaks and maintains its own response teams -- both ground and aerial -- stationed in areas close to plantations.

However, once response teams were deployed in the field, the association lacked an effective real-time communication method that would allow coordination between response teams and the command center. This gap made it difficult to coordinate actions between different teams, communicate changes in direction or destination for any unit, and keep the command center and all involved parties informed of ongoing operations.

The terrain itself, with trees over 20 meters tall and limited cellular coverage, posed one of the main technical challenges.

The Project

The SPF entrusted Isbel with addressing this problem. After jointly evaluating different solutions, we arrived at a proposal that ensures mission-critical operations.

We designed, implemented, and now provide ongoing support for a solution that centralizes communications in a command center located in the interior of the country, strategically situated in the department of Durazno. This approach simplifies real-time coordination between teams: now, each group can communicate with all other groups and with the command center, not just with its own base.

We designed a radio frequency plan and installed radio equipment in five key forested areas, communicating with vehicles and handheld radios on the VHF band. The radio equipment and the command center are securely interconnected via the internet to a data center hosted in a cloud within the national territory, where the central system is located.

To minimize the initial investment, the system was designed to support the handheld radios that SPF's various members already had in their possession.

Current Status

We have now completed the installation at all sites and successfully passed the acceptance tests and protocols. The solution will be fully operational by next summer.

At Isbel, we are proud to contribute our expertise and technology to projects that impact key productive activities for the country, as well as help prevent critical situations for the environment and society.

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