Neger Telecom, a radio frequency engineering daughter company of Unicamp, which works in the search for innovation, has been signing and renewing research and development (R&D) agreements for new technologies with Unicamp.
The most recent R&D agreement was signed in 2021 and provides for the development of technology for detecting commercial drones. The company's objective is to place an accessible solution on the market, in terms of cost and handling.
According to Eduardo Neger, former Electrical Engineering student at Unicamp and the company's engineering director, commercial drones in Brazil have been used for crimes, such as spying on luxury condominiums, transporting drugs and illicit materials in prisons and car theft- strong. Furthermore, irregular drone traffic in airport areas has caused serious risks of plane crashes.
“Commercial drones, when adapted, can become real weapons. Therefore, there is a strong demand for technologies that detect this equipment and provide alerts, but that are accessible, both in terms of cost and ease of handling”, added the director.
The research agreement with Unicamp's Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC) lasts five years and is being developed in the University's Scientific and Technological Park, under the management of the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency, where the company has installed a nucleus of research.
With the partnership, Neger intends to rely on the knowledge of researchers to reach innovative technology and occupy a market niche that has not yet been taken advantage of.
The researchers will carry out exploratory work. Tests will be carried out to identify what is technically possible, in addition to studies of existing technologies. The proposal is to develop a system that detects commercial drones and creates alerts. To this end, a tower, platform and antennas were installed for radio frequency testing with signal emission and simulations.
Neger explains that one of the main motivations for developing accessible and easy-to-use technology is that the systems available today are extremely robust and expensive, aimed especially at serving the military security area, which has invested in knowledge to control these devices.
“There are very sophisticated technologies available that cost tens of millions of dollars. In other words, there is a gap in the market to meet commercial drones, and we are paying attention to this”, says the director.
Disruptive culture
Founded in 1988 as a manufacturer of poultry farming material, the company has changed its portfolio over the years in response to market demands and opportunities. The migration happened, firstly, to telephony and rural internet until it reached commercial drones.
Since then, the company has been investing in research projects aimed at innovation for at least 10 years, especially with FEEC Unicamp, with the first partnership signed in mid-2015.
At the time, FEEC had a master's program to develop a drone blocking system in the security area using spoofing technology. The technique consists of identifying the drone, generating an alert and carrying out an intervention, taking control of the device. A prototype was built based on the research.
For Eduardo Neger, the partnership with FEEC was a seed planted for the company to begin to understand the market. The studies were adapted to develop a commercially viable product, given that, in Brazil, drone intervention is still prohibited by the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) — except in areas of prison units.
As a result, blocking research was rethought, and Neger, through a partnership with Brinks — a value transport company — began to develop a drone detection and alert system. The company had been the target of robberies using this equipment.
“The academic partnership energizes the professionals who work in the company, so that we can think outside the box. In the other way, we, as a company, are able to indicate what the market needs are so that some research can result in innovation for society”, explained Neger about the relationship with Unicamp.
The research agreement between Neger Telecom and FEEC Unicamp was signed through Inova Unicamp. The R&D project is supported by the Human Resources in Strategic Areas (RHAE) program of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) to fund scholarships for researchers.
