On 12 January 2010, a terrible earthquake struck the Caribbean state of Haiti. In addition to the numerous victims and the huge damages, the earthquake seriously damaged the port of the capital, ...Port-au-Prince. In particular, it completely destroyed the 450-meter North Pier, dedicated to the container traffic, making it impossible to disembark humanitarian aid and goods. Given the strategic importance of the infrastructure, the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Haiti has financed the design and reconstruction of Port-au-Prince, starting from the North pier. After the earthquake, the first step was a series of bathymetric, hydrogeological, topographical and aerial surveys realized by an Italian company.
New trends in precision farming show the deployment of different types of technology among which Infrared photography is becoming progressively relevant. Thanks to the special op tical behavior shown ...by plants in the band of infrared radiation, it is po ssible to measure indexes from infrared photos -such as NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)-able to assess the health status of a crop . These photos, depicting vegetation in brilliant red, yellow and other colors can detect problems such as lack of nutrients, infection of parasites or water stress. Following this technology evolution, different types of cameras have becom e available with a low weight and an affordable cost to be used on small, unmanned aerial vehicles. Salt & Lemon is carrying out various experimental activities along with academic bod ies, research centers and agronom ists in order to exploit drones features in agriculture refining the techniques for capturing and analyzing data to provide farmers with the most useful health assessment of their crop s.
New trends in precision farming show the deployment of different types of technology among which Infrared photography is becoming progressively relevant. Thanks to the special op tical behavior shown ...by plants in the band of infrared radiation, it is po ssible to measure indexes from infrared photos -such as NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)-able to assess the health status of a crop . These photos, depicting vegetation in brilliant red, yellow and other colors can detect problems such as lack of nutrients, infection of parasites or water stress. Following this technology evolution, different types of cameras have becom e available with a low weight and an affordable cost to be used on small, unmanned aerial vehicles. Salt & Lemon is carrying out various experimental activities along with academic bod ies, research centers and agronom ists in order to exploit drones features in agriculture refining the techniques for capturing and analyzing data to provide farmers with the most useful health assessment of their crop s.
Building processes and designs have to be renewed to take account of environmental concerns. To reduce the impact of construction projects on the environment, the design needs to take the issue of ...building materials into consideration. Public administrations need suitable tools for the calculation and the control of reused or disposed materials. Innovative IT tools should handle the digital processing of materials throughout the project, supporting new project requirements such as: Design for Deconstruction, Design for Recycling and Design for Waste.
Building processes and designs have to be renewed to take account of environmental concerns. To reduce the impact of construction projects on the environment, the design needs to take the issue of ...building materials into consideration. Public administrations need suitable tools for the calculation and the control of reused or disposed materials. Innovative IT tools should handle the digital processing of materials throughout the project, supporting new project requirements such as: Design for Deconstruction, Design for Recycling and Design for Waste.
The survey with an UAV in the city centre for a research project of the University of L'Aquila has been started the use of UAV technology in some areas damaged by the earthquake of 2009. A ...synergistic survey to highlight the criticality and monitor the state of the buildings in order to prevent the emergencies and innovate the remote sensing methodologies. The testimony of the project coordinator, Prof. Donatella Dominici, describing the results of the survey carried out with the multicopter.
The survey with an UAV in the city centre for a research project of the University of L'Aquila has been started the use of UAV technology in some areas damaged by the earthquake of 2009. A ...synergistic survey to highlight the criticality and monitor the state of the buildings in order to prevent the emergencies and innovate the remote sensing methodologies. The testimony of the project coordinator, Prof. Donatella Dominici, describing the results of the survey carried out with the multicopter.
The 3D reconstruction of scenes and objects at different scales is generally performed today using range or image data. For more than a decade, range sensors have been growing in popularity as a ...fundamental source of dense point clouds for 3D documentation, mapping and visualization purposes at various scales. Over the same period, and until quite recently, photogrammetry was not able to efficiently deliver dense and detailed 3D point clouds similar to those produced by ranging instruments. Consequently range sensors became the dominant technology for dense 3D recording, replacing photogrammetry in many application areas. Thanks to recent significant improvements in hardware (such as better dynamics and radiometry) and algorithms (for example Structure from Motion (SfM) or innovative image matching algorithms), photogrammetry has re-emerged as a competitive technology and a resurgence of automated photogrammetric methods is now evident. Therefore the market, which was previously primarily dominated by airborne and terrestrial range sensors, nowadays offers more image-based measurement tools for 3D recording and modelling.
The 3D reconstruction of scenes and objects at different scales is generally performed today using range or image data. For more than a decade, range sensors have been growing in popularity as a ...fundamental source of dense point clouds for 3D documentation, mapping and visualization purposes at various scales. Over the same period, and until quite recently, photogrammetry was not able to efficiently deliver dense and detailed 3D point clouds similar to those produced by ranging instruments. Consequently range sensors became the dominant technology for dense 3D recording, replacing photogrammetry in many application areas. Thanks to recent significant improvements in hardware (such as better dynamics and radiometry) and algorithms (for example Structure from Motion (SfM) or innovative image matching algorithms), photogrammetry has re-emerged as a competitive technology and a resurgence of automated photogrammetric methods is now evident. Therefore the market, which was previously primarily dominated by airborne and terrestrial range sensors, nowadays offers more image-based measurement tools for 3D recording and modelling.
Les opérations médicales en Ukraine depuis plus de deux ans offrent quantité d’informations utiles pour questionner les matériels et les pratiques du soutien médical aux opérations militaires et ...civiles. Parmi ces retours d’expérience, un des principaux est que l’usage des drones médicaux se développe. Pour la première fois, un blessé a été évacué par drone du front vers une structure chirurgicale pendant l’été 2023. Néanmoins, un drone-ambulance n’est pour l’instant qu’une caisse avec des hélices transportant un blessé : il ne permet absolument pas de remplacer une évacuation médicalisée par route ou hélicoptère. En revanche, d’autres drones-cargo utilisés en Ukraine sont un progrès notable pour le soutien médical : une partie de la logistique médicale (produits sanguins, oxygène, médicaments d’urgence et antibiotiques, antidotes NRBC) bénéficie de transport par drone. Le futur proche des drones médicaux sera sans aucun doute des drones transportant des produits pharmaceutiques et sanguins, des consommables, des échantillons biologiques ou environnementaux, des déchets d’activité médicale, des corps, etc. Ce seront aussi des drones avec des capteurs qui détecteront la présence d’un blessé et mesureront ses paramètres physiologiques, permettant un prétriage et un guidage des secours. Les défis pour développer ces drones médicaux sont nombreux : il faut améliorer leur autonomie, leur charge utile transportée, leur résistance au brouillage des communications et du guidage, leur interopérabilité et utilisation en flotte, leur intégration dans le trafic aérien civil et dans la bulle des opérations, leur protection par les Conventions de Genève, etc. Néanmoins, ces progrès vont révolutionner la médecine de catastrophe et de guerre, avec des conséquences majeures sur l’organisation, les doctrines d’emploi et les ressources humaines.
Medical operations in Ukraine over the last two years have provided a wealth of useful information for questioning medical support equipment and practices in military and civilian operations. One of the main findings is that the use of medical drones is increasing. For the first time, a drone evacuated a casualty from the front line to a surgical facility during the summer of 2023. For the moment, however, an ambulance drone is no more than a crate with propellers carrying a casualty: it is absolutely no substitute for medical evacuation by road or helicopter. On the other hand, other cargo-drones used in Ukraine are a significant advance for medical support: part of the medical logistics (blood products, oxygen, emergency medicines and antibiotics, CBRN antidotes) is transported by drone. The near future of medical drones will undoubtedly see drones transporting pharmaceutical and blood products, consumables, biological or environmental samples, medical waste, bodies, etc. They will also be drones with sensors that detect the presence of casualties and measure their physiological parameters, enabling pre-triage and guidance of rescue teams. There are many challenges involved in developing these medical drones: must be improved their autonomy, their payload, their resistance to communications and guidance jamming, their interoperability and implementation in fleets, their integration into civilian air traffic and into the operations bubble, their protection under the Geneva Conventions, etc. These advances will revolutionise disaster and war medicine, with major consequences for organisation, employment doctrines and human resources.
