On July 2, we held a demonstration and training day at the Lourizán Forestry Research Center (Pontevedra) as part of the European Hub Iberia Agrotech (HIBA+) project. The event focused on the use of UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) technologies applied to precision agriculture, in collaboration with DATAlife, also a partner in the project.
From CATEC, two colleagues from the Galicia office took part: Jorge Rodríguez Meijide, an engineer from the AI Perception Unit, delivered a presentation titled “Application of Drones in Precision Agriculture,” while Miguel Sío López, a pilot from the Flight Testing and New Prototypes Unit, conducted a successful live flight demonstration.
The goal of the event was to explain how drones can support precision agriculture and forestry—such as detecting drought conditions or identifying crop infestations. These specialized drones, equipped with advanced sensors, collect high-precision data from the air, enabling: – Large-scale monitoring of vast forested areas – Early detection of pests, diseases, and water stress – High-resolution mapping with spectral information invisible to the human eye – Resource optimization through predictive analytics – Long-term tracking of forest mass evolution
“These drones can be fitted with a wide variety of sensors, depending on the farmer’s needs,” explained Rodríguez. “We have thermal cameras to measure moisture levels or spectral cameras that help calculate vegetation vigor indexes,” added the engineer.
The HIBA+ project aims to collect data from agricultural fields, process it, and generate food-related insights. The second phase of the project will involve creating a platform where all this data will be uploaded, allowing farmers to subscribe and compare their crop information with that on the platform. In Galicia, the project is being developed in the municipality of Frades, in forested terrain. “But it’s a project that can be applied to other crops—we’ve also flown over olive groves, vineyards, and potato fields,” Rodríguez said.
We’re sharing some images and thank DATAlife and CIF Lourizán for their collaboration. A video of the successful flight demonstration is available at this link.
