A novel application of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) in alpine environment for monitoring gravity-driven natural hazards: BLUESLEMON project

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Bojeri ◽  
Giovanni Giannotta ◽  
Christian Kofler ◽  
Erika Mai ◽  
Sebastian Mayrguendter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Obstacle Detection ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Landslide Monitoring ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Development Fund ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Gravity Driven

<p>The Project “BLUESLEMON – BT Beacon and Unmanned Aerial System technologies for Landslide Monitoring” is funded by provincial funds of South Tirol Italian Autonomous Province and it is developed with the support of Beacon Südtirol-Alto Adige project (funded by the south tyrolean European Regional Development Fund – www.beacon.bz.it) under the supervision of the NOI Techpark Südtirol/Alto Adige as support for consultancy, networking and R&D project backing for the use of UAS in alpine environments.</p><p>The project “BLUESLEMON” aims to develop a low-cost automatic system for monitoring landslide surface displacement through the integration of Bluetooth (BT) Beacons localization and UAS also named Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) technologies. Two subsystems will assemble the final setup: the ground sensors technology and the periodic localization system composed by UAV and beacon reader. These are designed as an inseparable integrated architecture and each individual subsystem cannot operate on the supposed landslide areas without the cooperation of the other one. Thus, a main challenge consists in the identification of low-power-consumption and high-precision Bluetooth devices, as well as in the development of a UAV platform capable to work even at a limit of feasibility considered for an Alpine scenario (e.g. -20 °C at 2500 m asl). To prevent undesirable collisions with surrounding structures (e.g. trees, powerlines and funicular railways), the UAV platform will be equipped with obstacle-detection sensors and collision-avoidance algorithms.</p><p>The proposed architecture aims to exceed the state-of-the-art methodologies by obtaining a single low-cost system adaptable for the inspection of movements related to different types of gravity-driven natural hazards (e.g. slow-moving earth flows, discontinuities in rock walls). In addition, the expected autonomy of the system will allow to avoid the risky operations in-situ. Nowadays, the current methodologies (with or without UAS) are characterized by a high level of criticality in extreme environments such as the alpine surroundings. The solutions of the project’s requirements are of great interest for future reconfigurations of the developed system, in order to extend its use for search and rescue operations in dangerous conditions. Therefore, the suggested method will represent a strong novelty in the reference sector and lead to further application developments with considerable added value elements.</p>

scholarly journals Towards Iron-Titanium Oxide Nanostructures from Ecuadorian Black Mineral Sands

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Karina J. Lagos ◽  
Bojan A. Marinkovic ◽  
Alexis Debut ◽  
Karla Vizuete ◽  
Víctor H. Guerrero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Titanium Oxide ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Secondary Phases ◽  
Hydrothermal Route ◽  
Oxide Nanostructures ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Pre Treatment

Ecuadorian black mineral sands were used as starting material for the production of iron-titanium oxide nanostructures. For this purpose, two types of mineral processing were carried out, one incorporating a pre-treatment before conducting an alkaline hydrothermal synthesis (NaOH 10 M at 180 °C for 72 h), and the other prescinding this first step. Nanosheet-assembled flowers and nanoparticle agglomerates were obtained from the procedure including the pre-treatment. Conversely, nanobelts and plate-like particles were prepared by the single hydrothermal route. The nanoscale features of the product morphologies were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. The ilmenite and hematite molar fractions, within the ilmenite-hematite solid solution, in the as-synthetized samples were estimated by Brown’s approach using the computed values of unit-cell volumes from Le Bail adjustments of X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) patterns. The resulting materials were mainly composed of Fe-rich ilmenite-hematite solid solutions (hematite molar contents ≥0.6). Secondary phases, which possibly belong to lepidocrocite-like or corrugated titanate structures, were also identified. The current study demonstrated the feasibility of employing Ecuadorian mineral resources as low-cost precursors to synthesize high-added-value nanostructures with promising applications in several fields.

scholarly journals Geoinformation Technologies in Support of Environmental Hazards Monitoring under Climate Change: An Extensive Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Andreas Tsatsaris ◽  
Kleomenis Kalogeropoulos ◽  
Nikolaos Stathopoulos ◽  
Panagiota Louka ◽  
Konstantinos Tsanakas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Environmental Hazards ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Spatial Data Analysis ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Geospatial Technologies ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
The Impact

Human activities and climate change constitute the contemporary catalyst for natural processes and their impacts, i.e., geo-environmental hazards. Globally, natural catastrophic phenomena and hazards, such as drought, soil erosion, quantitative and qualitative degradation of groundwater, frost, flooding, sea level rise, etc., are intensified by anthropogenic factors. Thus, they present rapid increase in intensity, frequency of occurrence, spatial density, and significant spread of the areas of occurrence. The impact of these phenomena is devastating to human life and to global economies, private holdings, infrastructure, etc., while in a wider context it has a very negative effect on the social, environmental, and economic status of the affected region. Geospatial technologies including Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing—Earth Observation as well as related spatial data analysis tools, models, databases, contribute nowadays significantly in predicting, preventing, researching, addressing, rehabilitating, and managing these phenomena and their effects. This review attempts to mark the most devastating geo-hazards from the view of environmental monitoring, covering the state of the art in the use of geospatial technologies in that respect. It also defines the main challenge of this new era which is nothing more than the fictitious exploitation of the information produced by the environmental monitoring so that the necessary policies are taken in the direction of a sustainable future. The review highlights the potential and increasing added value of geographic information as a means to support environmental monitoring in the face of climate change. The growth in geographic information seems to be rapidly accelerated due to the technological and scientific developments that will continue with exponential progress in the years to come. Nonetheless, as it is also highlighted in this review continuous monitoring of the environment is subject to an interdisciplinary approach and contains an amount of actions that cover both the development of natural phenomena and their catastrophic effects mostly due to climate change.

scholarly journals Design, manufacture and testing of a prototype obstacle-detection device at blind corners: an automated highway system technology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Atombo ◽  
Emmanuel Gbey ◽  
Apevienyeku Kwami Holali
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Effective Area ◽  
Obstacle Detection ◽  
The Road ◽  
Vibration Sensors ◽  
Road Signs ◽  
Sensor Module ◽  
Vehicle Path ◽  
Automated Highway

Abstract Traffic accidents on highways are attributed mostly to the "invisibility" of oncoming traffic and road signs. "Speeding" also causes drivers to reduce the effective radius of the vehicle path in the curve, thus trespassing into the lane of the oncoming traffic. The main aim of this paper was to develop a multisensory obstacle-detection device that is affordable, easy to implement and easy to maintain to reduce the risk of road accidents at blind corners. An ultrasonic sensor module with a maximum measuring angle of 15° was used to ensure that a significant portion of the lane was detected at the blind corner. The sensor covered a minimum effective area of 0.5 m2 of the road for obstacle detection. Yellow light was employed to signify caution while negotiating the blind corner. Two photoresistors (PRs) were used as sensors because of the limited number of pins on the microcontroller (Arduino Uno). However, the device developed for this project achieved obstacle detection at blind corners at relatively low cost and can be accessed by all road users. In real-world applications, the use of piezoelectric accelerometers (vibration sensors) instead of PR sensors would be more desirable in order to detect not only cars but also two-wheelers.

Corrosion resistant metal-ceramic composite coatings for tribological applications

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Peter Renner ◽  
Swarn Jha ◽  
Yan Chen ◽  
Tariq Chagouri ◽  
Serge Kazadi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ceramic Composite ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Composite Coatings ◽  
Salt Spray ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Safe Procedure ◽  
Corrosion Resistant ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Metal Ceramic ◽  
Corrosion Resistant Coatings

Abstract Effective design of corrosion-resistant coatings is critical for the protection of metals and alloys. Many state-of-the-art corrosion-resistant coatings are unable to satisfy the challenges in extreme environments for tribological applications, such as elevated or cryogenic temperatures, high mechanical loads and impacts, severe wear, chemical attack, or a combination of these. The nature of challenging conditions demands that coatings have high corrosion and wear resistance, sustained friction control, and maintain surface integrity. In this research, multi-performance metal-ceramic composite coatings were developed for applications in harsh environments. These coatings were developed with an easy to fabricate, low-cost, and safe procedure. The coating consisted of boron nitride, graphite, silicon carbide, and transition metals such as chromium or nickel using epoxy as vehicle and bonding agent. Salt spray corrosion tests showed that 1010 carbon steel (1/4 hard temper) substrates lost 20-100× more mass than the coatings. The potentiodynamic polarization study showed better performance of the coatings by seven orders of magnitude in terms of corrosion relative to the substrate. Additionally, the corrosion rates of the coatings with Ni as an additive were five orders of magnitude lower than reported. The coefficient of friction of coatings was as low as 0.1, five to six times lower than that of epoxy and lower than a wide range of epoxy resin-based coatings found in literature. Coatings developed here exhibited potential in applications in challenging environments for tribological applications.

scholarly journals Accuracy of 3D Landscape Reconstruction without Ground Control Points Using Different UAS Platforms

Drones ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Kalacska ◽  
Oliver Lucanus ◽  
J. Pablo Arroyo-Mora ◽  
Étienne Laliberté ◽  
Kathryn Elmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Ground Control ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Systems ◽  
Control Points ◽  
Model Errors ◽  
Positional Accuracy ◽  
Ground Control Points ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
High Level ◽  
Aerial Systems

The rapid increase of low-cost consumer-grade to enterprise-level unmanned aerial systems (UASs) has resulted in the exponential use of these systems in many applications. Structure from motion with multiview stereo (SfM-MVS) photogrammetry is now the baseline for the development of orthoimages and 3D surfaces (e.g., digital elevation models). The horizontal and vertical positional accuracies (x, y and z) of these products in general, rely heavily on the use of ground control points (GCPs). However, for many applications, the use of GCPs is not possible. Here we tested 14 UASs to assess the positional and within-model accuracy of SfM-MVS reconstructions of low-relief landscapes without GCPs ranging from consumer to enterprise-grade vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platforms. We found that high positional accuracy is not necessarily related to the platform cost or grade, rather the most important aspect is the use of post-processing kinetic (PPK) or real-time kinetic (RTK) solutions for geotagging the photographs. SfM-MVS products generated from UAS with onboard geotagging, regardless of grade, results in greater positional accuracies and lower within-model errors. We conclude that where repeatability and adherence to a high level of accuracy are needed, only RTK and PPK systems should be used without GCPs.

scholarly journals Implementation of Fog computing in IoT-based healthcare system

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjana Maksimović
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Fog Computing ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Healthcare Applications ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Main Challenge

Nowhere do the technology advancements bring improvements than in the healthcare sector, constantly creating new healthcare applications and systems which completely revolutionize the healthcare domain. The appearance of Internet of Things (IoT) based healthcare systems has immensely improved quality and delivery of care, and significantly reduced the costs. At the same time, these systems generate the enormous amount of health-associated data which has to be properly gathered, analyzed and shared. The smart devices, as the components of IoT-driven healthcare systems, are not able to deal with IoT-produced data, neither data posting to the Cloud is the appropriate solution. To overcome smart devices’ and Cloud’s limitations the new paradigm, known as Fog computing, has appeared, where an additional layer processes the data and sends the results to the Cloud. Despite numerous benefits Fog computing brings into IoT-based environments, the privacy and security issues remain the main challenge for its implementation. The reasons for integrating the IoT-based healthcare system and Fog computing, benefits and challenges, as well as the proposition of simple low-cost system are presented in this paper.

scholarly journals Seasonal Influence on the Performance of Low-Cost NO2 Sensor Calibrations

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 7919
Author(s):  
Sjoerd van Ratingen ◽  
Jan Vonk ◽  
Christa Blokhuis ◽  
Joost Wesseling ◽  
Erik Tielemans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Sensor Data ◽  
Sensor Technology ◽  
Monitoring Networks ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Eu Directive ◽  
Short Period ◽  
No2 Sensor ◽  
One Year

Low-cost sensor technology has been available for several years and has the potential to complement official monitoring networks. The current generation of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sensors suffers from various technical problems. This study explores the added value of calibration models based on (multiple) linear regression including cross terms on the performance of an electrochemical NO2 sensor, the B43F manufactured by Alphasense. Sensor data were collected in duplicate at four reference sites in the Netherlands over a period of one year. It is shown that a calibration, using O3 and temperature in addition to a reference NO2 measurement, improves the prediction in terms of R2 from less than 0.5 to 0.69–0.84. The uncertainty of the calibrated sensors meets the Data Quality Objective for indicative methods specified by the EU directive in some cases and it was verified that the sensor signal itself remains an important predictor in the multilinear regressions. In practice, these sensors are likely to be calibrated over a period (much) shorter than one year. This study shows the dependence of the quality of the calibrated signal on the choice of these short (monthly) calibration and validation periods. This information will be valuable for determining short-period calibration strategies.

scholarly journals Iranian Steel Industry: Domination of Dispersed Direct Reduction Plants in an Inefficient Value Chain and a Droughty Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sepehr Ghazinoory ◽  
Mehdi Fatemi ◽  
Abolfazl Adab
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Steel Industry ◽  
Material Flow ◽  
Steel Ingot ◽  
Direct Reduction ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Flow Analysis ◽  
Material Flow Analysis ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Easy Access

Abstract Iran has a great advantage in the development of the steel industry due to its access to mineral resources and energy, extensive consumer market, and low-cost labor. In this article, the Iranian steel value chain in 2014-2016 is studied using the value chain analysis and material flow analysis. Accordingly, based on the statistics related to the input and output of each echelon in the chain, the material flow is analyzed throughout the value chain. Then the total added value from the chain, the share of different stages, and the various costs in each echelon are calculated. According to the research findings, weakness in the development of transportation infrastructure and poor geographical distribution of value chain units has led to the deviation of production from nominal capacity and frequent imports/exports throughout the chain. On the other hand, the upstream industries have a permanent advantage that deeply roots in easy access to the minerals and lower costs in transportation and energy. Finally, the pricing of intermediate products based on the ratio of steel ingot prices is criticized, while wage conversion and commodity purification contracts are proposed as possible solutions for the reduction of overhead costs.

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