In 2020, Portugal was the second country in Europe with the most burned areas, and in 2017 it was the country of the European Union with the largest wildfires (Center of Portugal, in which 109 direct lives were lost). The impact of wildfires justify the attention of the community, scientists and governments to provide solutions to minimize the number and side effects of wildfires. In this sense, w
e propose a solution named Digital Twin Boids fire prevention System (DBoidS) to specifically address three strategic stages of a forest fire context: a) fire prediction and prevention, b) fire detection and c) help firefighting. Special focus is put on fire prediction and prevention; nevertheless, the DBoidS is also able to support firefighting during and after fire events by providing valuable information about the areas (based on previous knowledge) and up-to-date simulations to determine the possible evolution and consequences of the fire. The unique features exposed by the DBoidS solution are supported by several technologic pillars: i) a fleet of cooperative and auto piloted Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), ii) the use of Digital Twins (DTs), iii) Artificial Intelligence (AI), iv) Augmented Reality (AR) and v) Systems Interoperability. The autopilot feature will be powered by a boid guidance algorithm. It allows minimizing the work of the operator who only needs to start or finish a surveillance mission, simultaneously controlling several UAVs. On the other hand, DTs play an important and innovative role in the DBoidS as they allow the creation of digital representations of forest and UAVs, get a specific past state, and simulate and predict future states and events. To assist the DTs, AI will be used to predict potential hazardous scenarios in the forest. With the help of AR, information will be added to enrich the images captured by drones and presented to the user by the DTs. Finally, Systems Interoperability will be used to allow DBoidS to interact with drones and fetch data from external national and international authorities (e.g., weather reports). As far as team knowledge and know-how are concerned, all the project core areas are covered. António Pereira (PI) possesses high experience in Research Strategy, Projects Coordination, UAVs, New Generation of Services Network and IoT. Eduardo Pires (co-PI INESC TEC) has high experience in AI, optimization, and multi-criteria. Nuno Rodrigues (Core CV) has large experience in Virtual Reality (VR), AR and DTs. João Barroso (Core CV) is senior researcher at INESC TEC and has vast experience using digital image processing for feature extraction and computer vision for automatic object detection. For more details on project members please refer to CienciaVitae.pt. The project includes several valuable external partners (including entities associated with the National Plan for the Defense of the Forest against Fires – PNDFCI): i) the National Emergency Authority and Civil Protection (ANEPC), through the District Command of Relief Operations of Leiria, ii) the Nature and Environment Protection Service (SEPNA), through the General Commander and Head of this national service, iii) Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering Innovation (INOV), owner of the Ciclope surveillance platform, through an INOV Board Member, and iv) the Municipality of Leiria (CML). All the expertise of our partners regarding wildfires surveillance and fighting will bring an exceptional advantage for the DBoidS project ranging from strategic advice and project requirements up to prototype testing and validation. The Pinhal do Rei forest scenario, located in the center of Portugal, was chosen because it has a significant natural and historical importance and due to the link with the local project partners, and is considered a relevant environment for the final prototype’s evaluation activities. In 2017 a big part of the Pinhal do Rei forest was burned by a huge wildfire, thus it will be possible to start tests in devastated areas with little or no impact or danger to the forest, animal life and equipment. As a result, the DBoidS project will release a TRL 6 (Technology Readiness Level) functional prototype applied to the Pinhal do Rei forest, that combines the technologies presented above to expose three main functionalities: monitoring, control and simulation. REF PTDC/CCI-COM/2416/2021
DOI 10.54499/PTDC/CCI-COM/2416/2021 (https://doi.org/10.54499/PTDC/CCI-COM/2416/2021)
