Information Technology for

Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action

In This Section

• UN Spatial Data Infrastructure
• Early Impact Analysis
• Localized Aerial Surveys
• Early Warning System
• Detection and Monitoring of Drought Events
• Floodplain Modeling
• Snow Coverage Monitoring
• Web Application for Geo-Data Sharing

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• Localized Aerial Surveys (PDF, 1.2 MB)

Localized Aerial Surveys

The aim of the project is the development and construction of remotely controlled mini aircrafts (UAVs or "drones") for the acquisition of visual data necessary to plan emergency and relief food aid interventions. Each drone is equipped with photographic and multispectral sensors suitable for digital photogrammetric shootings. The aerial platform is capable of autonomous flight except for take-off and landing.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS

The UAVs are easily transportable and user-friendly. They produces images which will allow rapid updates of existing maps, and can produce thematic maps that highlight damages to buildings, infrastructure and flooded areas. In addition a micro-camera can acquire sequences to document the investigated area that can be downlinked in real-time.

METHOD

The UAV is developed based on a Patent Pending model developed by the Aerospace Department of the Politecnico di Torino. It is electrically-powered with a fixed-wing configuration which gives the vehicle a better capability of withstanding adverse weather conditions, and guarantees a superior flight performance (in terms of endurance and range). Besides carrying out photogrammetric flights with perfectly respected flight plans, the presence of the autopilot and GPS allows the UAV to carry out missions at half of the optimum range limits, also beyond visual range of the Ground Control Station. Two shelf digital cameras whose characteristics seem particularly suitable for this purpose have been identified: RICOH GR Digital and Canon EOS 5D.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

The WFP SDI will be presented as the transport standard for the Logistics Cluster in mid-September. Meanwhile, the first segment of the SDI will be presented at the Global Symposium on Humanitarian Practices to be held in October in Geneva, as this is the appropriate forum to propose it as a potential UN standard. The European Union is also working toward the implementation of a European SDI. The project INSPIRE is in its fifth year of implementation and is about to accept WFP as the only external participant with which it will share experiences and exchange standards.

CURRENT STATUS

Currently, the research team is working on:

• The assessment of the autopilot software to allow autonomous photogrammetric flights.
• Developing camera shooting triggering based on a direct link to the autopilot. This solution will allow the acquisition images at predefined time intervals or at specified positions.
• Testing other types of sensors (IR, radar, etc) whose weight and dimensions are sufficiently miniaturized to be compatible with the characteristics of the UAV.