A System for the Measurement of the Amazon

The System for the Vigilance of the Amazon (SIVAM) is a $1.4 billion dollar project of Brazil aimed at the development and deployment of a high-technology system-of-systems to perform monitoring, protection and control of the land, air and water resources of the Brazilian Amazon region. The primary challenge of the SIVAM project is to perform remote sensing and communications over a vast and undeveloped land area. The SIVAM network meets this challenge through an extensive network of air traffic control/surveillance radars, environmental sensors, communications systems, airborne sensor systems and coordination centers. Now fully operational, the SIVAM system is the world's largest fully integrated remote monitoring system of the environment and provides critical information on a timely basis to the Brazilian government, law enforcement agencies, and to commercial, educational and research groups.