Eye in the Sky

Project name: Eye in the Sky

Research group: Intelligent Systems

Objective

Eye in the Sky – Using High-Altitude Balloons for Decision Support in Wildfire Operations

1 january 2020 – 31 December 2022

Website: https://adai.pt/eyeinthesky/
Project teaser (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j_hm4hDk8c

The Eye in the Sky Project aims at the design and development of an aerial platform to support wildfire operations. The system reinforces the emergency communications network, while providing real-time geo-referenced images from high altitude, allowing the fire perimeter monitoring and detection of hotspots in the burnt area. This information with high spatial and temporal resolution improves situational awareness, to support firefighting operations and the definition of tactics and firefighting strategies.
The platform will be composed by a High-Altitude Balloon (HAB) responsible for the rise in altitude of an observation and communication payload to collect and transmit images and to relay communications. The HAB will also carry an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – flying wing type (glider) – which will be launched from high altitude. Thus, when the HAB moves away from the region of interest, the UAV is released carrying the payloads to the remotely indicated position.

Consortium

IDMEC, ADAI, IT

IDMEC team

Alexandra Moutinho (Principal Investigator), José Raul Azinheira, Maria João Sousa, Diogo Henriques, Dário Silva

Publications

M. J. Sousa, A. Moutinho, and M. Almeida, “Decentralized Distribution of UAV Fleets Based on Fuzzy Clustering for Demand-driven Aerial Services,” 2020 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ- IEEE), IEEE, 2020.