Sea level rise, on the one hand, experimental drone flights, on the other. INGV has been able to bring these two seemingly distant worlds into contact, managing to exploit the potential offered by drones as excellent tools to support data collection for scientific research purposes.
Savemedcoasts is the European project born in 2017 with the aim of studying the Mediterranean coasts most exposed to the risk of flooding due to climate change and the consequent increase in sea level. In addition to coordinating this project, INGV made available its experience in the use of remotely piloted aircraft ().
To date, the attention towards drones is high even among the non-expert public. They are instruments that fascinate, small flying machines that tell of a future that in many cases is already here, and that can be used in many fields (research and otherwise) thanks to their extreme versatility.
In recent weeks, the Politecnico di Milano has published a report on the diffusion of drones in our country: the numbers that emerge from the report are remarkable, since it was a sector considered "niche" until a few years ago. In December 2019, in fact, there were over 13.000 aircraft regularly registered on the dedicated portal of the National Civil Aviation Authority, with a boom in authorizations issued in 2018.
We met Fawzi Doumaz, INGV researcher and expert drone pilot for the Institute, who guided us through the discovery of propellers and engines, also explaining better the role of these tools for coastal studies in the Mediterranean.
Fawzi, what does the Savemedcoasts European project do, of which INGV is the coordinator?
Savemedcoasts is a project funded by the European Civil Protection and which has as topical impacts of sea level rise induced by climate change (www.savemedcoasts.eu; www.savmedcoasts2.eu). In particular, in this project we are concerned with developing scenarios to understand how by 2100 the sea could invade the coasts most exposed to this risk.
Our studies focus in particular on some areas of the Mediterranean basin where, in addition to the increase in sea level, local phenomena of a geological type are also taken into consideration - such as subsidence, i.e. the slow and progressive lowering of the soil - which amplify locally the effects of sea level rise. This aspect local We are particularly interested in our work because it is advisable to have an in-depth knowledge of regional dynamics in order to be able to compare them with the global trend and verify whether they tend to mitigate it or, vice versa, amplify it.
What are drones used for in scientific research?
The drone, in general, is a remotely piloted aircraft which, in the scientific field, allows access to very high resolution images at any time and (virtually) anywhere. Suffice it to say that in the past, in order to have terrestrial images of this kind, it was necessary to purchase already existing and often extremely expensive equipment: aerial photos, satellite images, equipment used by the military, etc. And it could also happen that these images weren't that widely usable: for example, think of the passage of a cloud that obscures the shot or a shot taken by the satellite at night or in conditions of poor visibility, even on an area that does not exactly coincide with the one of our interest.
With drones, which have gradually become more and more efficient and equipped with very high resolution cameras, we instead have the possibility of having home made so as to carry out - practically when we want - the so-called "aerophotogrammetry", ie the acquisition of data on the shape and position of a portion of the earth's surface through the collection and analysis of pairs of stereometric frames. In simpler words, the drone is "commanded", through software, to take photographs - in order to obtain the so-called "stereography" - following a pre-established "grid" to cover the entire extension of the geographical area of interest.
Thanks to this technique and the ever-increasing flight range of the latest generation drones, we are able to obtain a patchwork of images necessary to create an "orthophoto", i.e. a mosaic photograph of a part of the earth's surface at a certain moment and with a resolution that often reaches 1 cm.
And how have these potentials offered by drones been exploited in the context of Savemedcoasts?
For this project we used drone images acquired from different angles to extract point clouds and reconstruct the topography of some coastal areas, creating three-dimensional models (DEM - Digital Elevation Model). These are also particularly important for determining the position of the coastline and partly the bathymetry.
For Savemedcoasts it is in fact important to identify the current coastline in order to realize the sea level increase scenarios linked to climate change.
What advantage and what possibilities do drones offer in the study of topics such as sea level rise?
Without a doubt the possibility of having data produced by us thus reducing the economic costs for their acquisition. The other big advantage is that having these flying instruments available we can also carry out experiments to test the prototypes made in-house with the instruments they are equipped with. Furthermore, being able to fly several times over the same area allows us to carry out monitoring, for example to evaluate over time how a particular site has undergone morphological variations.
How did your passion for drones start?
Mine became a passion when, studying and deepening my knowledge on the subject, I discovered the potential of these extremely versatile tools that prompted me to want to do something more in my work. For me, the important thing is to bring the data home also thanks to drones. To do this you need passion, a lot of competence and concentration.
There was a moment when I fell in love with the working methods offered by these tools. It was 2010 and we had to carry out a project with NASA and the JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory and, in the volcanological field, we had created a small "portable" laboratory capable of replacing human intervention in extreme environments such as the craters of volcanoes, to aspirate volcanic gases, analyze them and transmit them in real time via Wi-Fi. I had discovered that in Italy there was a manufacturer in Ravenna who built drones capable of carrying loads of up to 10 kg. So I got in touch with him asking him to build us a drone , as our small workshop weighed about that same. I remember that at the time there was still no regulation on the subject, so I went to fly as an amateur. It was a huge success: the drone flew for about 15 minutes (which is a considerable amount of time with such a large weight to carry).
So, let's say that I took my first steps in this field using drones as real "flying cranes", after which, also keeping up with the technological progress that "churn out" new prototypes every few months, I decided to use them also for aerial photogrammetry purposes.
How long have you been working with these tools?
It's been about 10 years now. At INGV we were among the first in Italy to use drones for scientific purposes. The Institute has always invested in these new technologies, giving researchers and technicians the possibility to do scouting In this compound.
Between 2016 and 2019 in Italy 13.479 drones were registered on the ENAC portal, with an average annual increase of 13% and a boom in authorizations issued in 2018. How many tools does INGV have?
INGV has a very well stocked fleet of drones of various sizes, from small to large, of various weights and suitable for different flight purposes. The goal would be to arrive at having a fleet of drones, exactly as we have an institutional car fleet.
Furthermore, we drone pilots of the Institute have set ourselves up as a Working Group so as to be able to interface institutionally with ENAC itself and, in parallel, we are trying to draw up a specific regulation of the INGV regarding the use of drones for research in the innumerable fields of application of these instruments.
From a technical point of view, what types of drone does INGV use?
We have drones set up for aerial photogrammetry, some equipped with specialized cameras (thermal, multispectral, lidar, infrared), others still set up for the transport of magnetometers (which must be transported in particular conditions, as far away as possible from the drone's electronics to avoid disruptions). For Savemedcoasts we have also created a fixed-wing prototype, powered by a single engine.
This is with regard to the so-called “passive drones”. In fact, there are also "active drones", which interact directly with the environment, such as those used in precision agriculture. The Rome 2 Section of INGV has created an active drone capable of sampling, using a mobile arm, sludge in volcanic lakes.
Although these equipments are more or less "standard", it must be said that the applications of these instruments are really many and concern all three Departments of INGV.
What prospects does the Institute have for the future use of drones to support scientific research?
In my opinion, the creation of the Working Group dedicated to drones is already an important signal. It means putting scientific, technical and legal skills at the service of a line of research that has as mission that of exploiting the potential offered by drones in scientific research. At INGV we understood rather quickly how drones could be excellent proximal remote sensing tools (and not distal, like satellites), within our reach as they already have a pool of qualified pilots and the economic possibility of purchasing the most varied prototypes: from drones in the strict sense, to aircraft, to submarine drones.
We are also able to develop intelligence on board a drone: in this period we are developing a catamaran equipped with a drone capable of going underwater and taking underwater shots.
We can also collaborate with the Civil Protection immediately after a seismic event, during an emergency, to help assess the damage, map the situation in the epicentral area from above and in real time and, if thermal or infrared cameras are available , identify hot spots and maybe some people in difficulty. In this regard, our colleagues in Pisa are developing a project that would use three drones to triangulate a cell phone under the rubble. Usually, where there is a cell phone there is also a human being.
Finally, still in the field of emergency management and saving human lives, we would like to develop a "spider" that can enter under the rubble and arrive, with specialized cameras, to track down any people in difficulty.
Click to learn more e