1. INTRODUCTION
Currently there are intensifying
actions to combat the mosquito Aedes which is admittedly responsible for the
transmission of diseases: chikungunya, dengue and zika. Among these dengue has
the largest number of records and affects millions of people around the world
every year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2015) about 390
million people contract the disease throughout the world each year and 96
million will develop severe cases of the disease with estimated 500,000
hospitalizations and about 12,500 deaths. In addition, WHO estimates that
around 4 billion people distributed in 128 countries are constantly living with
the risk of contracting the disease.
In Brazil, the first outbreak was
recorded between the years 1981 and 1982 and since then dengue occurs
continuously alternating epidemic periods with peaks of increasing disease.
According to the Health Department of Maringá-PR data of August 2015, the city
is in an epidemic situation. This was declared and confirmed by 1,281 cases,
which represents a rate of 327.41 cases per 100 thousand people. In 2015 it was
recorded two deaths from dengue in the city of Maringá.
In Maringá-PR, according to the Health
Department of Maringa (SMM, 2013; 2014), the Infestation Index (IIP) in 2013
reached 2.0% and had 2737 confirmed cases of breeding of Aedes mosquitoes,
setting up a situation of average risk of epidemic. In 2014 IIP reached 2.4%
with 3596 confirmed cases, setting high risk epidemiological.
Currently, the actions developed by
SSM include: routine activities field, application of fogging, people to care
for creators chance of sites dengue vector, educational lectures, the basic
health units campaigns, fishnet of dengue, maintenance and public sanitation,
environmental and epidemiological transparency.
One
of the most important factors for the success of actions is the awareness of
population, however, there are many cultural factors that hinder the effective
participation of all residents. No different in degree of importance, the
control carried out by officials SSM coming up daily in various adversities,
such as: lack of equipment security and assistance in areas of difficult access
and lack of residents in homes due the business hours among others. Thus, the Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle (UAV) can contribute actions currently developed, especially
innovation proposition in the process of prevention and assessment and thus
minimize the suffering of the population.
In this epidemiological scenario, it
is essential to intensify the control actions against this vector through
investment in improving the control methods performed today, and mainly
encouraging the development of new methods thus allowing a more efficient
approach to the problem, and a consequent reduction of the impact of dengue in
Brazil.
In this context this article is
intended to present an economic feasibility analysis aimed at the usage of
emerging technological equipment specifically the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV), popularly known as drone, as a support tool to agents in combat and
control of emergency situations since it has a large dynamic potential and
adaptability.
To this end, data were collected
from the Municipal Program for Dengue Control in order to calculate the actual
costs of combating the vector that transmits dengue. At the same time through
internet searches investment data were raised about the acquisition and
implementation of the UAV as a tool and by crossing these data an economic
feasibility analysis was performed.
This paper presents preliminary
results of the study of the UAV as an adjunct in actions to combat the mosquito
Aedes and is structured as follows: introduction, literature review, case
study, results, conclusions and references.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
This section will present some
fundamental concepts of urban service logistics, dengue, UAV, and Feasibility
Analysis.
The fight against mosquitoes
that transmits dengue is within the urban service scenario. The role of
logistics in the urban environment aims to find solutions to urban services
problems which include medical emergency, police, collection and mail delivery,
firefighters, maintenance of streets and roads, street cleaning, garbage collection,
public transportation, taxis, and many others as citizens' demand for better
quality and quantity of these services increases (LARSON; ODONI, 1999).
Urban
logistics adapt the definitions and logistics goals to the reality of cities.
The goal of logistics is simple, "is to make available products and
services where they are needed, when they are desired." (BOWERSOX; CLOSS,
2010, p.19). Therefore, this work can be characterized as a problem of urban
logistics in that refers to public health service and it has an emergency character.
For Guzman and Harris (2014)
dengue is defined as a viral disease caused by four serotypes (DENV 1-4) and
transmitted by the bite of the Aedes mosquitoes. According to the authors,
dengue has evolved from a sporadic disease to a major public health problem
with substantial social and economic effects because of the increasing
geographical spread number of cases and severity of the disease.
For Doctors Without Borders
(2015) dengue fever is an acute febrile disease systemic and dynamic with
different clinical presentations and unpredictable prognosis. After the
incubation period which ranges from 4 to 10 days between the bite of infected
mosquitoes and manifestation of the symptoms. The disease begins abruptly and
resembles a flu-like syndrome.
The world dengue scenario is
complicated, the global spread of the two species of vector, Aedes aegypti and
Aedes albopictus, occurs mainly in the regions media latitude, whose climate
composition is mostly tropical and subtropical areas where the vector is
disperse with high efficiency. (CAMPBELL et al, 2015; SIMMONS et al, 2012.).
In Brazil, dengue is
considered one of the three major challenges of public health, due to the
climate that favors the proliferation of transmission vector of the disease,
which combined with an inordinate population growth of cities, bad sanitation
among others, have made this disease a problem chronic social.
Some Brazilian cities are
making use of UAVs in helping to fight the Aedes mosquito. In the city of Maringá,
due to the history of epidemic cases, the inclusion of this technology it is
necessary and coupled with that comes the need for a study on the UAV and
economic feasibility.
According to the Department of
Defense of the United States of America: UAV is a powered aerial vehicle that
does not carry a human operator uses aerodynamic forces to provide air support
can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely can be expendable or recoverable
and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload. (DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, 2005,
p.1).
Among the numerous
possibilities of using the UAV, the use as an aid tool in dengue control is the
main interest of this work. This form of use of UAVs, are being exploited by
some municipalities of cities such as Santos and Limeira in the state of São
Paulo and Chapeco in the state of Santa Catarina. (COISSI, 2015). "The
goal is to locate proliferation risk areas of the mosquito that transmits the
disease." (COISSI, 2015).
A feasibility study aims to
find out by comparing methods if an investment will have an economic return
consistent with investor expectations, and it payback time.
The logic of payback is the
representation of the capital recovery time invested initially. It is obtained
by calculating the number of days months or years it will take for the
accumulated amount of future capital equals the amount that was originally
invested. (BRUNI, 2003)
From this logic, the payback
method, we can have two approaches: the simple payback and discounted payback.
3. RESEARCH METHOD
This work is of an exploratory
nature and an experimental study. The experimental study follows rigorous
planning. Search the steps begin with the exact formulation of the problem and
hypotheses, delimiting the precise variables and subsidiaries operating in the
studied phenomenon. (TRIVIÑOS, 1987). It is the following:
Question 1. Initial: It is
feasible to use UAV as a tool in dengue vector control steps in Maringa - PR?
In addition to the INITIAL
question, during the development process, this paper aims to answer the following
questions in order to help complete the goal: The use of UAVs will bring some
benefit to aid the control of dengue?
2. Knowledge of the SECTOR:
divided into two simultaneous steps, i) literature review, and ii) information
collection /
3. Process Mapping: where
there was the mapping of all the current process dengue control in the city of
Maringa, through interviews with the responsible for the sector in the SSM.
4. Identification of problems:
stage where it raises the issue of process.
5. Data collection: on-site to
monitor the day to day of the dengue control process in Maringá and collect
data relevant to the study.
6. Analysis of information:
step in which will analyze the data collected in the follow-ups made in the
field.
7. Conclusions: Step answers
the research questions.
4. CASE STUDY
The case study presented in this article was developed
based on the procedures relating to actions to combat dengue in the city of
Maringa. Therefore, this study was methodologically structured as follows:
monitoring of dengue combat teams preparing the mapping of the transmitter of
dengue vector control processes registry access offside situations to dengue
control agents.
By monitoring the work of the Municipal Program for Dengue
Control (PMCD) was possible mapping the dengue vector control process in the
city of Maringa as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3.
Figure
1:
View from the National Program of Dengue Control
(1)
Quick survey index for Aedes aegypti (LIRAa).
(2)
SisCNPD is a database where all data about survey control are insert.
Figure
2: Map
Vector Control Process
After developing the process mapping it was identified with
the agents in the field, through interviews with 30 agents (including 6
supervisors, 4 team managers and 20 agents), the main difficulties faced by
them on a daily basis. Among the registered difficulties, some were selected
according to the subject of this article so that this process of refinement
aimed to identify problems that present potential solution through the
implementation of UAV as a support tool. Through the work done in the field it
was possible to record real situations where the use of UAVs could be of great
help especially in the stage of locating possible breeding spots of the
vectors.
Figure
3:
Dengue control, management axis in the city of Maringá
A situation of difficult access to dengue fighting agents
can be exemplified by the inaccessibility, danger, and the need for consecutive
visits. Figure 4 depicts the front of a field of difficult access where agents
were unaware of the existence of an abandoned pool. After several inspections, the agents were able to enter on
the field, however, the situation presented danger to integrity of themselves. It
possible to identify a major focus of
the dengue vector as shown in Figure 5.
|
Figure
4:
Front view of the field |
Figure
5:
Abandoned pool |
In this case it was observed that the use of UAVs can speed
up the location of these potential breeding sites it can help managers to plan
control measures and informed survey on data from the UAV. Thus, the dengue control method make most efficient
because it is possible to direct the efforts to combat the area where the
images generated by the UAV point to a high probability of occurrence of dengue
vector outbreaks.
5. RESULTS
This section presents the data on the costs of agents to
the SSM. Based on the information obtained by the research on UAVs the
calculations regarding the economic feasibility analysis of the insertion of
this emerging technology as an aid in the fight against dengue vector
especially in situations with hazardous inaccessibility and consecutive visits
need are presented.
Since 2005 the budget for the SSM has been raised
significantly. In a period of 10 years from 2005 to 2015 the stipulated budget
for SSM grew 376.18%. Of the amount budgeted for SSM in 2015 the Board of
Health Surveillance (In portuguese “Diretoria de Vigilância em Saúde” or DVS)
represent a share of 2.16% and of that PMCD represent 30.89%.
The largest amounts budgeted by PMCD are committed to the
payroll of Environmental Health Agents (In Portuguese “Agentes de Saúde
Ambiental” or ASAs) and the acquisition of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
used by them. Each of these is 86.83% and 6.51% of the amount, respectively.
Considering that the salary of an ASA in 2015 was
established on average at R$ 1,014.00 and whereas the PMCD has 210 employees
spent only with the salary can exceed the stipulated budget for the year.
|
DJI
Phantom 3 Professional Autonomy:
25min. Range: 2km Speed: 16m/s Camera: 12MP
4k 30fps Price range:
R$ 7.999,00 – 10.890,00 |
DJI
Phantom 3 Advanced Autonomy: 25
min. Range: 2km Speed: 16m/s Camera: 12MP
2.7k 60fps Price range:
R$ 6.999,90 – 9.719,00 |
AR.Drone
2.0 Autonomy: 18
– 36 min. Range: 50 –
100m Speed: 11m/s Camera: 720p
30fps Price range:
R$ 2.100,00 – 2,399,00 |
|
|
DJI
Phantom 2 Vision Plus Autonomy: 25
min. Range: 300m Velocidade:
12m/s Camera: 14MP
1080p 30fps Price range:
R$ 6.499,90 – 6.999,90 |
DJI
Inspire 1 Autonomy:
25min. Range: 2km Velocidade:
22m/s Camera: 12MP
4k 30fps Price range:
R$ 17.799,90 – 17.990,00 |
||
Analyzing the specifications of UAVs shown in
Table 1 it was decided to serve as a calculation parameter in this work the DJI
Phantom 3 Advanced model since it has good autonomy great range great flight
speed and excellent camera / video camera in compared to the others.
In the UAV costs were also considered the costs necessary
to train an agent to operate and analyze the generated images. Through market
research was possible to select a course that meets the skills required for a
UAV pilot for the type of service that is required in dengue control, mapping,
imagery analysis and tracking possible outbreaks. The amount of investment
required in this type of training is R$ 2,299.00 (2015 values).
With these data it was possible to make some comparisons
between the costs of agents and the UAV to combat dengue vector. Tables 2 and 3
confront the values obtained for UAV and ASA for daily flight configurations of
1 and 2 daily flight pre-established.
|
Table 2:
Comparison between UAV and ASA on a 1 daily flight configuration |
|||
|
Number of daily flights |
UAV |
ASA |
|
|
*Invested in a year (R$) |
1 |
9.719,00 |
13.182,00 |
|
*Traning (R$) |
2.299,00 |
- |
|
|
Surveyed area per year (km²) |
55,55 - 663,30 |
3,04 |
|
|
cost of km² surveyed (R$/km²) |
18,12 - 216,35 |
4.336,18 |
|
*These values represent only the spend in the year of
purchase of the UAV.
|
Table 3:
Comparison between UAV and ASA on a 2 daily flight configuration |
|||
|
Number of daily flights |
UAV |
ASA |
|
|
*Invested in a year (R$) |
2 |
9.719,00 |
13.182,00 |
|
*Traning (R$) |
2.299,00 |
- |
|
|
Surveyed area per year (km²) |
111,09 – 1326,60 |
3,04 |
|
|
cost of km² surveyed (R$/km²) |
9,06 – 108,18 |
4.336,18 |
|
*These values represent only the spend in the year of
purchase of the UAV.
Where the amount spent annually on maintaining an ASA
equivalent to multiplying the value of the monthly salary stated by the SSM (R$
1,014.00) for 12 months plus 1, equivalent to the thirteenth salary.
As the PMCD has 210 ASAs which held four daily visits
cycles per year totaling 638.32 square kilometers, and remembering that the
area inspected by cycle follows the administrative division, ie 159.58 square
kilometers, the area inspected by an ASA per year is approximately 3.04 square
kilometers.
Another factor to consider is outsourcing, leasing an UAV
instead of acquiring it, as occurred in other Brazilian cities. In all cities,
the lease was in the form of daily payment at a cost of R$ 1,000.00 per day.
When compared to the cost of acquisition of other UAVs
outsourcing option requires a greater investment which makes it economically
less attractive than the acquisition especially when the flight configuration
is for flights from lower altitude. Therefore, it was decided to discard this
option.
Based on the costs in a year with the acquisition of a UAV
and the maintenance or hiring an ASA. It was reached the costs per square
kilometer according to Tables 2 and 3 have shown. With a capacity to annually
inspect 55.55 to 1326.60 square kilometers which is equivalent to 18-436 ASAs
the UAV has shown economically attractive since even in its higher cost per
flight configuration the UAV is about 20 times more economical than an ASA
annually.
Importantly, In 2015 scenario the UAV does not have a value
that represents your annual cost after their acquisition because it expenses
will be related only to maintenance which depends on the budget delivered by
the contractor and spare parts if damaged.
So the payback presented in this paper is based on the
logic of simple payback. Thus only considers the amount invested in the
acquisition of UAVs and agent training to be responsible for flying it. The
payback is estimated by the savings that it will provide during the time of its
use. The reach area was the most important factor to compare the use of UAV
versus the work of ASA.
Tables 4 and 5 show the payback times for the configuration
of a daily flight, with the lowest and highest cost per square kilometer
respectively.
|
Table 4: Payback
lower cost per square kilometer to a daily flight |
||||
|
Period |
Number of daily flights |
UAV |
ASA |
|
|
Investiment (R$) |
1 year |
1 |
9.719,00 |
13.182,00 |
|
Training (R$) |
2.299,00 |
- |
||
|
km² surveyed |
55,55 |
3,04 |
||
|
cost of km² (R$/Km²) |
216,35 |
4.336,18 |
||
|
Difference in costs of Km² (R$) |
4.119,83 |
|||
|
VANT x ASA relation |
1 VANT = 19 ASAs |
|||
|
Savings (R$) |
82.396,69 |
|||
|
Payback time |
36 working days |
53 days |
||
|
Table 5: Payback
higher cost per square kilometer to a daily flight |
||||
|
Period |
Number of daily flights |
UAV |
ASA |
|
|
Investiment (R$) |
1 year |
1 |
9.719,00 |
13.182,00 |
|
Training (R$) |
2.299,00 |
- |
||
|
km² surveyed |
663,30 |
3,04 |
||
|
cost of km² (R$/Km²) |
18,12 |
4.336,18 |
||
|
Difference in costs of Km² (R$) |
4.318,06 |
|||
|
Relação VANT x ASA |
1 VANT = 19 ASAs |
|||
|
Savings (R$) |
86.361,23 |
|||
|
Payback time |
35 working days |
51days |
||
Tables 6 and 7 show the values obtained and the
payback time for the configuration of two daily flight, with the lowest and
highest cost per square kilometer respectively.
Table 6: Payback lower cost per
square kilometer to 2 daily flight
|
Period |
Number of daily flights |
VANT |
ASA |
|
|
Investiment (R$) |
1 year |
2 |
9.719,00 |
13.182,00 |
|
Training (R$) |
2.299,00 |
- |
||
|
km² surveyed |
111,09 |
3,04 |
||
|
cost of km² (R$/Km²) |
108,18 |
4.336,18 |
||
|
Difference in costs of Km² (R$) |
4.228,00 |
|||
|
VANT x ASA relation |
1 VANT = 19 ASAs |
|||
|
Savings (R$) |
84.559,95 |
|||
|
Payback time |
36 working days |
52 days |
||
Table
7: Payback higher cost per square kilometer to 2 daily flight
|
Period |
Number of daily flights |
VANT |
ASA |
|
|
Investiment (R$) |
1 year |
2 |
9.719,00 |
13.182,00 |
|
Training (R$) |
2.299,00 |
- |
||
|
km² surveyed |
1326,60 |
3,04 |
||
|
cost of km² (R$/Km²) |
9,06 |
4.336,18 |
||
|
Difference in costs of Km² (R$) |
4.327,12 |
|||
|
VANT x ASA relation |
1 VANT = 19 ASAs |
|||
|
Savings (R$) |
86.542,42 |
|||
|
Payback time |
35 working days |
51 days |
||
Analyzing the values found it is possible to notice that
all payback times are closer regardless of the flight configuration. Thus,
through an investment of R$ 12,018.00 with an annual savings between R$
82,396.69 to R$ 86,542.42 the payback time of the acquisition of DJI Phantom 3
Advanced and training of an operator is approximately 36 working days or 52
consecutive day which is almost two months.
This result proves that the acquisition of a UAV is
feasible since getting a UAV of the selected model along with the training of 1
ASA is in square kilometers surveyed annually equivalent to 19 ASAs.
6. FINAL REMARKS
According to the goals set for this study an evaluation of
dengue control logistics in Maringa was accomplished and through this it was
understood as the dengue control process runs. From this understanding the
execution of an operational process of mapping was possible through the
monitoring agents in the field since this mapping was not defined by the SSM
before.
Accompaniments performed along to field agents allow to
identify areas of difficult access as well as sites that offer risk the health
of the agents and thereby identifying possible uses of the UAV as a support
tool for agents in dengue control.
After studies on the use of UAVs in dengue control, it was
studied which the relevant operational constraints facing the legal aspects of
the use of UAVs in civil airspace, and from these selected models of UAV that
suited the purpose of use as an aid tool in the search for potential outbreaks
of breeding sites of dengue mosquitoes transmitter.
Finally, an economic analysis regarding the use of UAVs in
dengue control process was conducted by comparing the costs per square
kilometer inspected annually by ASAs and UAV. It was concluded that because of
its low cost per square kilometer surveyed the acquisition of a UAV with the
training of an ASA is economically attractive which means that the acquisition
of a UAV as the ASA aid tool in dengue control in Maringa is feasible.
Despite being a modern theme, the use of UAVs, other than
for recreational purposes or military, is not explored by the scientific
community. In addition of the scarce literature, it was only in September 2015,
the Administrator sent public hearing regulations for the use of UAVs in Brazilian
civil airspace. Another difficulty faced was finding a way to compare UAVs and
ASAs, whereas for this study, was not available for one UAV testing.
To evaluate the benefits of using a UAV as a tool to help
dengue control, it is important to conduct practical tests in order to collect
data about the improvements that this can bring. From these tests, it is
possible to search through virtual simulations, improved methods logistics for
the current process dengue control in Maringa become more efficient, and thus
bringing social and economic benefits by reducing the cost of combating the
disease, to the municipality.
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