Automated and participated surveillance of wildfire fuel management zones (Floresta Limpa)

Type: National Project Project

Duration: from 2021 Mar 21 to 2024 Mar 20

Financed by: FCT

Prime Contractor: Nova.ID.FCT da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (University)

The Floresta Limpa project (Floresta Limpa translates to Clean Forest) aims at helping to minimize the risk and impact of forest fires by monitoring fuel management zones (FMZ) and their subsequent cleaning and maintenance, as legally stipulated, to protect human lives, forests, the environment, and material goods. Due to the scale of the problem, automatic or semi-automatic mechanisms should be available to detect zones requiring intervention. Monitoring should be done continuously over time, as weather conditions affect vegetation development and, for example, out-of-season rainfall can result in the rejuvenation of weeds and shrubs. Considering the dispersion and fragmentation of property in Portugal, public awareness and participation are essential for effective prevention and permanent monitoring of FMZs. The cleaning state of FMZs will be regularly evaluated using the combination of remote sensing data with machine learning algorithms (e.g., combining characteristics and temporal patterns of vegetation indices). The remote sensing information will be combined and validated with information collected on the ground by municipalities, authorities, and the general public, with the help of a mobile application specifically developed for this purpose, exploring augmented reality to facilitate the contribution process.

Partnerships

  • IPMA (Other)
  • NAVIGATOR FOREST PORTUGAL (Company) - Portugal
  • Nova.ID.FCT da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (University)
  • R - INESC-ID Lisboa (Other) - Lisboa, Portugal
  • UMunicípio de Mação (CMM) (Other) - Portugal

Principal Investigators