Emergency flood planning and management using unmanned aerial systems
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Engineering
Abstract
Some 5 million people live in flood risk areas in England and Wales, with one in six homes at risk of flooding. In India, similar risks are present: over 40 million hectares (12% of India's land mass) are prone to flooding and river erosion. In this century, the economic losses resulting from damage caused by flooding far outweigh the costs associated with other natural disasters ($21bn in losses from 27 instances in the UK, and $39bn in losses from 128 instances in India). Furthermore, both the frequency and intensity of pluvial and fluvial flooding is expected to increase over time due to climate change - increasing flood risk, financial loss and (human) fatalities. The UK has well-developed emergency planning processes and procedures, and yet there have been a number of recent cases of flooding where the emergency evacuation process has been stretched to its limits and beyond (e.g. Cockermouth and Carlisle). Earlier this year, the Indian Parliament put forward a national action plan under the Disaster Management Act with the aim of substantially decreasing the loss of life, livelihoods and assets, by improving the country's response to disasters. The plan highlights the urgent need for improved (predictive) warning, risk and threat identification and policy assessment, evacuation planning, data collection, information dissemination, cooperation and effective management of the relief operation. At the heart of the management of these issues is developing a good knowledge of the underlying communities and their infrastructure and the state of these endangered systems at critical times, particularly during the onset and development of the flooding event. The deployment and management of unmanned aerial systems (either vertical take-off and landing quad-rotors or small fixed wing aircraft) and of their data product coupled with advanced model prediction capabilities would seem to be a challenging but promising way of supporting emergency planning and management and testing the predicted and actual effects of policy decisions.
The project focuses on using instrumented unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to collect and collate pertinent information about an unfolding flooding disaster. The relative ease with which UASs can be deployed (often hand launched) to assess damage across large areas provides emergency responders with the opportunity to assess the situation quickly, allowing the prioritisation of resources and their effective deployment where they are required. One aspect of the research will focus on addressing the challenges associated with flying UASs in such (non-ideal) situations: for example maintaining performance during adverse weather conditions, during intermittent loss of communication with the base station, overcoming the loss of operator visuals, providing the ability to recover the vehicle without a runway and avoiding potential collisions with unexpected obstacles within the flight domain.
The project will also consider how the data can be combined with accelerated flood inundation models to generate detailed evacuation plans, and to predict the nature and progress of the flooding to improve allocation of emergency resources, build community flood resilience, save lives and reduce economic damage. The strategy will take into account both the physicality of the flood event itself and the social structures which are subject to the flooding.
The concepts will be practically realised by the creation of a prototype decision support system to allow on-the-ground decision makers in the UK and India emergency coordination teams, or government agencies, to better understand the consequences of flooding to help them make timely and better informed decisions. We will also focus on engaging users and building capacity in India and the UK to integrate the use of UASs effectively into current flood response frameworks in a structured way to maximise the benefits they can provide.
The project focuses on using instrumented unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to collect and collate pertinent information about an unfolding flooding disaster. The relative ease with which UASs can be deployed (often hand launched) to assess damage across large areas provides emergency responders with the opportunity to assess the situation quickly, allowing the prioritisation of resources and their effective deployment where they are required. One aspect of the research will focus on addressing the challenges associated with flying UASs in such (non-ideal) situations: for example maintaining performance during adverse weather conditions, during intermittent loss of communication with the base station, overcoming the loss of operator visuals, providing the ability to recover the vehicle without a runway and avoiding potential collisions with unexpected obstacles within the flight domain.
The project will also consider how the data can be combined with accelerated flood inundation models to generate detailed evacuation plans, and to predict the nature and progress of the flooding to improve allocation of emergency resources, build community flood resilience, save lives and reduce economic damage. The strategy will take into account both the physicality of the flood event itself and the social structures which are subject to the flooding.
The concepts will be practically realised by the creation of a prototype decision support system to allow on-the-ground decision makers in the UK and India emergency coordination teams, or government agencies, to better understand the consequences of flooding to help them make timely and better informed decisions. We will also focus on engaging users and building capacity in India and the UK to integrate the use of UASs effectively into current flood response frameworks in a structured way to maximise the benefits they can provide.
Planned Impact
The novel decision support system (DSS) developed through our research will be of direct benefit to flood emergency planners and responders, UAS operators, trainers and educators engaged in tackling emergency situations. It will contribute significantly to socio-economic benefits in terms of: (1) protecting the ability of individuals and industries to carry out economic activity in the face of the rising frequency of flooding, and (2) as an avenue for economic activity based on the goods and services used and developed in the project. The engineering solutions developed will build resilience through preparedness and coping with the onset of flooding, and will build capacity as explicitly envisaged in India's National Disaster Management Plan as discussed in the project proposal.
A project web-site will be set up to showcase the work of the project and will have sections dedicated to the academic community, professional stakeholders and the wider community. Research project reports, stakeholder summaries, publications, and presentations will be made available for download. The usage statistics will be reviewed on a quarterly basis (in terms of number of visits, details on the location from where the web-page has been accessed, number of downloads, etc.) and used to inform and refine the impact management plans. At the end of the project, a lite version of the DSS and key data will be made freely available for the benefit of the scientific and user community. A user-focus report summarising the main findings and implications for practice will also be uploaded.
The capabilities of the UASs and the prototype DSS will be demonstrated to Indian stakeholders to give an understanding of its capabilities and limitations. The DSS will be with integrated with pre, intra and post flooding scenarios and offer the possibility for the system to be used for training and educating purposes.
Four workshops will be held on topics such as: resilience and flood preparedness (UK), application of unmanned aerial systems (India), emergency planning and resource allocation (UK), showcase and demonstration (India). The Indian workshops will be organised by IISc and IIITD and will engage with local officials and other relevant stakeholders in Bangalore, New Delhi and elsewhere. The showcase will be repeated in the UK. In addition a 3-day residential summer school will be run in Exeter for 40 year 12 students. The aim is to inspire and enthuse the next generation of scientists and engineers by introducing them to cutting-edge UAS technologies and a wide range of applications. This will used as a basis to develop their understanding of science, mathematics, and communication skills, and how these can be used to develop exciting technological advances.
Our key industrial partner in India is Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). They are an ideal partner in that they currently provide a Disaster Management Solution with services that include damage prediction and disaster preparation, post disaster work management, consumer communication, analytics and command centres. Currently, this solution does not include integration of UAS data and fast mathematical models with a representation of the underlying physical scenario. Other useful points of contact and collaboration with TCS including system integration, video analytics, UAS customisation and cloud robotics. The project can also strongly benefit from their experience in developing a technology platform that can disseminate crop-related information through mobile phones to farmers. A post-project extension of the DSS could see its application enhanced by facilitating communication of flood related information to communities before, during or after a flood event.
A user-focused report will be written in English and Hindi. This will distil the main findings and implications of the work for practice and will be written in a visually accessible style.
A project web-site will be set up to showcase the work of the project and will have sections dedicated to the academic community, professional stakeholders and the wider community. Research project reports, stakeholder summaries, publications, and presentations will be made available for download. The usage statistics will be reviewed on a quarterly basis (in terms of number of visits, details on the location from where the web-page has been accessed, number of downloads, etc.) and used to inform and refine the impact management plans. At the end of the project, a lite version of the DSS and key data will be made freely available for the benefit of the scientific and user community. A user-focus report summarising the main findings and implications for practice will also be uploaded.
The capabilities of the UASs and the prototype DSS will be demonstrated to Indian stakeholders to give an understanding of its capabilities and limitations. The DSS will be with integrated with pre, intra and post flooding scenarios and offer the possibility for the system to be used for training and educating purposes.
Four workshops will be held on topics such as: resilience and flood preparedness (UK), application of unmanned aerial systems (India), emergency planning and resource allocation (UK), showcase and demonstration (India). The Indian workshops will be organised by IISc and IIITD and will engage with local officials and other relevant stakeholders in Bangalore, New Delhi and elsewhere. The showcase will be repeated in the UK. In addition a 3-day residential summer school will be run in Exeter for 40 year 12 students. The aim is to inspire and enthuse the next generation of scientists and engineers by introducing them to cutting-edge UAS technologies and a wide range of applications. This will used as a basis to develop their understanding of science, mathematics, and communication skills, and how these can be used to develop exciting technological advances.
Our key industrial partner in India is Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). They are an ideal partner in that they currently provide a Disaster Management Solution with services that include damage prediction and disaster preparation, post disaster work management, consumer communication, analytics and command centres. Currently, this solution does not include integration of UAS data and fast mathematical models with a representation of the underlying physical scenario. Other useful points of contact and collaboration with TCS including system integration, video analytics, UAS customisation and cloud robotics. The project can also strongly benefit from their experience in developing a technology platform that can disseminate crop-related information through mobile phones to farmers. A post-project extension of the DSS could see its application enhanced by facilitating communication of flood related information to communities before, during or after a flood event.
A user-focused report will be written in English and Hindi. This will distil the main findings and implications of the work for practice and will be written in a visually accessible style.
Organisations
- UNIVERSITY OF EXETER (Lead Research Organisation)
- Brigham Young University (Collaboration)
- Penn State University (Collaboration)
- Bedford Borough Council (Collaboration)
- Flying Labs (Collaboration)
- Flood Re Limited (Collaboration)
- Universidade de São Paulo (Collaboration)
- United Nations (UN) (Collaboration)
- Arcadis (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- Indian Institutes of Technology (Collaboration)
- General Aeronautics (Collaboration)
- Google (Collaboration)
- United Nations University (Collaboration)
- Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (Collaboration)
- University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis (Collaboration)
- Mekelle University (Collaboration)
- Environment Agency (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Tata Consultancy Services (Collaboration)
- Ministry of Water and Irrigation (Collaboration)
- United Nations (Project Partner)
- Independent (Project Partner)
- Tata Consultancy Services (India) (Project Partner)
- Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (Project Partner)
- Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (Project Partner)
- Université Côte d'Azur (Project Partner)
- Arcadis (International) (Project Partner)
- Brigham Young University (Project Partner)
- Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (Project Partner)
Publications
Zawadzka J
(2021)
Detection of Flood Damage in Urban Residential Areas Using Object-Oriented UAV Image Analysis Coupled with Tree-Based Classifiers
in Remote Sensing
Singh, M
(2019)
Three Dimensional UAV Path Following Using SDRE Guidance
Shetty S
(2021)
Unmanned Aerial Systems
Salmoral G
(2020)
Guidelines for the Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems in Flood Emergency Response
in Water
Ramachandran R
(2023)
Accuracy Assessment of Surveying Strategies for the Characterization of Microtopographic Features That Influence Surface Water Flooding
in Remote Sensing
Rajan J
(2021)
Unmanned Aerial Systems
Muthusamy M
(2021)
Understanding the effects of Digital Elevation Model resolution in urban fluvial flood modelling
in Journal of Hydrology
Description | A prototype emergency evacuation route identification and monitoring system has been developed. The first component of the system is a flood prediction model based on synthetic and measured rainfall, digital elevation map, and road network data over a region to determine critical evacuation routes. The second component is an algorithmic framework to fly representative unmanned aerial systems with sensors such as LiDAR and stereo vision cameras in a synthetic environment along the identified evacuation routes for monitoring for route blockages (e.g. abandoned vehicles, fallen trees) on the fly, if any. On spotting blockages, the system identifies a new evacuation route, if it exists. Realistic UAV battery consumption constraints are part of the methodology. Efficient methods have been developed to fly and land under large disturbances such as adverse weather conditions. Far fewer than planned flight trials were carried due to severe Indian Government restrictions during the COVID pandemic. Novel vision based methods have been proposed and validated for identifying the survivors on the fly during the flood events. A retrofit programme ihas been developed with Human Aid International (HAI)'s drone for humanity (DfH) platform to equip them with the novel methodologies developed in this project. Further, 'ROSNet' - the long range and intermittent communication relaying framework has been developed, and is ready for deployment in flood prone regions such as Assam and West Bengal. A prototype decision support system has been developed together with the support from Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Bangalore, India. Game theoretic and optimisation ideas are explored to address the allocation of heterogeneous resources to meet the multiple, and often competing demands from the disparate emergency responding tasks. A simplified situation from the Kerala flood 2019 was used for demonstration purposes. With support from Human Aid International, additional data based validation was used for future deployment of the same to aid the agencies in decision making. Finally, a UAV deployment matrix has been developed and published as the basis for guidelines used to assist those involved in flood risk management activities, including emergency responders, incorporating a more strategic and targeted approach to the use of UAVs before, during and after flood events. These have been developed in collaboration with our UK partner the Environment Agency in collaboration with our Indian partners. |
Exploitation Route | These results will be built upon by flood agencies in India in several ways. In particular, they can be used as a basis for establishing flood emergency evacuation routes in cities. Secondly, route updating can be carried out based on smart routing of UAVs. Thirdly, working with commercial partners, the decision support tool and methodologies can be used for the critical issue of resource allocation under emergencies. |
Sectors | Construction Environment Government Democracy and Justice Transport |
Description | Economic impact: The geo spatial mapping technology using unmanned aerial systems developed originally for assessing the breadth of flood affected regions within this project is directly applicable to the Govt. of India initiative on using drones for mapping and land survey. The technology can accommodate different constraints due to national security and weather reasons in the planning stage, and is more flexible than many existing mapping technologies. Initial estimates done during the project show that the algorithms and mapping technology developed can reduce the time requirement in planning by 70%. Such advanced mapping technologies are identified "crucial for achieving India's policy aim of Atmanirbhar Bharat and the vision for a five trillion-dollar economy" (para 4 of https://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/Final%20Approved%20Guidelines%20on%20Geospatial%20Data.pdf ) The multi-UAV planning algorithms taking human motion into account has resulted in reducing mission planning time from 2hrs for one acre to 5 minutes. The work was carried out with and trialled by industry partners in India. e.g. technology for wildlife https://www.techforwildlife.com Societal impact: 'ROSNet' - the long range and intermittent communication relaying framework developed by this project has gathered attention from OXFAM and multiple discussions with their team and relevant emergency responders have taken place on deploying this device in flood prone regions of Assam and West Bengal. This impact will more fully materialise once the COVID-19 situation improves. This technology developed with our Co-I at IIIT-Delhi was presented in the workshop - "Trans-Boundary Early Warning Systems in Asia" in Jan 2019. This contributed towards the Delhi declaration on Regional Platform. This was in alignment to "The Sendai framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015 - 2030), which suggests that addressing underlying disaster risk factors through disaster risk-informed public and private investments is more cost-effective than primary reliance on post disaster response and recovery, and contributes to sustainable development. Early Warning System (EWS) is one such risk-mitigating tool." (Pages 14/15 of https://www.preventionweb.net/files/63600_63600180transboundaryewsinasia.pdf) 'ROSNet' - the long range and intermittent communication relaying framework will play key role at heart of such tool. This system has also gathered attention in a workshop meeting "Consultation on Trans-Boundary Cooperation for Effective Management of Water Risks, Bhutan-India" held in Assam during June 2019. A UAV deployment matrix has been developed and published as the basis for guidelines used to assist those involved in flood risk management activities, including emergency responders, incorporating a more strategic and targeted approach to the use of UAVs before, during and after flood events. These have been developed in collaboration with our UK partner the Environment Agency in collaboration with our Indian partners. Towards embedding an emergency preparedness framework over flood prone regions (Assam and Orissa) in India, the team has joined hands with Human Aide International (HAI) to embark on a UAV programme. Towards this, together with Sudhanshu S. Singh (Founder & CEO, Humanitarian Aid International) and N. M. Prusti, (President, Human Aid International), we have collectively identified a list of preparedness activities rooted in the findings from this project for effective deployment of UAVs with on-board decision making capabilities during and post-flood emergency scenarios. HAI is also one of the founders of a global network Alliance for Empowering Partnerships (A4EP). The current membership of the network is drawn from Bangladesh, Cambodia, DRC, Haiti, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Sudan, Switzerland, Uganda and Zambia. Member organisations primarily work on disaster response and development issues including conflict response. With the lead of HAI, we have given webinars for invited A4EP members to inform them about the potential of UAVs, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for various humanitarian programmes, with flood emergencies as a key example. |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Environment |
Impact Types | Societal Economic |
Description | Developing a set of tools and models to better predict, assess and respond to disasters in Africa |
Amount | £1,070,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2020 |
End | 09/2023 |
Description | Developing sound methodologies for surface water flood risk management: the case study of Bedford Borough after storm Bella (December 2020) |
Amount | £16,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Cranfield University |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2021 |
End | 08/2021 |
Description | Intelligent Dynamic Flood Response and Recovery Strategy (iD-FRe2S) PhD |
Amount | £132,576 (GBP) |
Funding ID | voucher 20000021 |
Organisation | WS Atkins |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2020 |
End | 06/2024 |
Description | Multi Agent Planning and Learning for Collaborative Autonomy |
Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | SeeByte Ltd |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2023 |
End | 12/2027 |
Description | Theory of Change Observatory on Disaster Resilience |
Amount | £529,393 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V006592/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2020 |
End | 09/2024 |
Title | On fly survivor identification using drones |
Description | It is important to search for these survivors stranded during floods and help them reach safety as quickly as possible. The terrain in such situations however, is heavily damaged and restricts the movement of emergency personnel towards these survivors. This method, allows to identify the survivors using efficient real-time onboard vision processing techniques developed in this project, while flying the drone over the flood affected regions. A demonstration is conducted at the Indian Institute of Science's Challakere Campus. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Novel vision based methods have been proposed and validated for identifying the survivors on fly during the flood events. A retrofit programme is being developed with Human Aid International (HAI)'s drone for humanity (DfH) platform to equip them with the novel methodologies which are developed in the EPSRC-GCRF project. |
URL | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128202760000236?via%3Dihub |
Title | Prototype decision support system |
Description | A prototype decision support system is accomplished together with the support from Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Bangalore, India. Game theoretic and optimisation ideas are explored to address the allocation of heterogeneous resources to meet the multiple, and often competing demands from the disparate emergency responding tasks. A simplified situation from the Kerala flood 2019 is used for initial demonstration. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | With the support from Human Aid International, additional data based validation is in progress for future deployment of the same to aid the agencies in decision making. |
Title | ROSNet - long range and intermittent communication relaying framework |
Description | During the natural disasters such as flooding, communication breakdowns are often and can significantly restrict emergency management operations. ROSNet is a prototype system to establish communication (using wireless mesh network - WMN) through the use of stationary and mobile ground nodes, and aerial nodes using unmanned aerial systems (UAS). This network is ad hoc and establishes connectivity without the use of a cellular network or internet. The proposed research tool provides a complete end to end architecture. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | 'ROSNet' - the long range and intermittent communication relaying framework is developed, and ready for deployment in flood prone regions such as ASSAM and West Bengal. This technology was presented in the workshop - "Trans-Boundary Early Warning Systems in Asia" in Jan 2019. This contributed towards the Delhi declaration on Regional Platform. This was in alignment to "The Sendai framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015 - 2030), which suggests that addressing underlying disaster risk factors through disaster risk-informed public and private investments is more cost-effective than primary reliance on post disaster response and recovery, and contributes to sustainable development. Early Warning System (EWS) is one such risk-mitigating tool." (Pages 14/15 of https://www.preventionweb.net/files/63600_63600180transboundaryewsinasia.pdf) The 'ROSNet' - the long range and intermittent communication relaying framework will play key role at heart of such tool. This system has also gathered attention in a workshop meeting "Consultation on Trans-Boundary Cooperation for Effective Management of Water Risks, Bhutan-India" held in Assam during June 2019. |
Title | UAV deployment matrix and guidelines for UAV operation during flooding |
Description | There is increasing interest in using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in flood risk management activities including in response to flood events. However, there is little evidence that they are used in a structured and strategic manner to best effect. An effective response to flooding is essential if lives are to be saved and suffering alleviated. This research method evaluates how UAS can be used in the preparation for and response to flood emergencies and develops guidelines for their deployment before, during and after a flood event. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Expected to have impact(s) in near future |
URL | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/2/521 |
Title | Data supporting 'Understanding the effects of Digital Elevation Model resolution in urban fluvial flood modelling' |
Description | This HERAS 2D model setup files and results were produced to study the effect of DEM resolution in fluvial flood modelling using Cockermouth storm Desmend flood (2015). -Link to the publication will be added once available- Note: This folder contains DEM data downloaded from Environment Agency, UK. This metadata record is for Approval for Access product AfA458. Attribution statement: (c) Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2019. All rights reserved |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cord.cranfield.ac.uk/articles/dataset/HECRAS_2D_Model_files_for_Muthusamy_et_al_2020/1222120... |
Title | HECRAS 2D Model files for Muthusamy_et_al_2020 |
Description | This HERAS 2D model setup files and results were produced to study the effect of DEM resolution in fluvial flood modelling using Cockermouth storm Desmend flood (2015). -Link to the publication will be added once available- Note: This folder contains DEM data downloaded from Environment Agency, UK. This metadata record is for Approval for Access product AfA458. Attribution statement: (c) Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2019. All rights reserved |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://cord.cranfield.ac.uk/articles/dataset/HECRAS_2D_Model_files_for_Muthusamy_et_al_2020/1222120... |
Description | Arcadis |
Organisation | Hyder Consulting |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Possible secondment for researcher. |
Collaborator Contribution | Steering group membership |
Impact | Possible joint work with South West Water |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Brigham Young |
Organisation | Brigham Young University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Access to ongoing research project findings. |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to data and membership of Strategici Advisory Body |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Developing a set of tools and models to better predict, assess and respond to disasters in Africa |
Organisation | Indian Institutes of Technology |
Country | India |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to a work package on the development of remote sensing tools for drought monitoring and alleviation in Africa. The project has just started so we cannot report anything at this stage. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have not started to work on the project as yet so at the moment we are just discussing and allocating tasks. |
Impact | No outcomes to be reported as yet. We have recruited a PDRA that will commence in April 2021. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Developing a set of tools and models to better predict, assess and respond to disasters in Africa |
Organisation | Mekelle University |
Department | Ethiopian Institute of Technology in Mekelle |
Country | Ethiopia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to a work package on the development of remote sensing tools for drought monitoring and alleviation in Africa. The project has just started so we cannot report anything at this stage. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have not started to work on the project as yet so at the moment we are just discussing and allocating tasks. |
Impact | No outcomes to be reported as yet. We have recruited a PDRA that will commence in April 2021. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Developing a set of tools and models to better predict, assess and respond to disasters in Africa |
Organisation | Ministry of Water and Irrigation |
Country | Tanzania, United Republic of |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to a work package on the development of remote sensing tools for drought monitoring and alleviation in Africa. The project has just started so we cannot report anything at this stage. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have not started to work on the project as yet so at the moment we are just discussing and allocating tasks. |
Impact | No outcomes to be reported as yet. We have recruited a PDRA that will commence in April 2021. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Developing a set of tools and models to better predict, assess and respond to disasters in Africa |
Organisation | Penn State University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to a work package on the development of remote sensing tools for drought monitoring and alleviation in Africa. The project has just started so we cannot report anything at this stage. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have not started to work on the project as yet so at the moment we are just discussing and allocating tasks. |
Impact | No outcomes to be reported as yet. We have recruited a PDRA that will commence in April 2021. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Developing a set of tools and models to better predict, assess and respond to disasters in Africa |
Organisation | United Nations (UN) |
Department | UN Habitat, Switzerland |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to a work package on the development of remote sensing tools for drought monitoring and alleviation in Africa. The project has just started so we cannot report anything at this stage. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have not started to work on the project as yet so at the moment we are just discussing and allocating tasks. |
Impact | No outcomes to be reported as yet. We have recruited a PDRA that will commence in April 2021. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Developing a set of tools and models to better predict, assess and respond to disasters in Africa |
Organisation | United Nations University |
Country | Japan |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to a work package on the development of remote sensing tools for drought monitoring and alleviation in Africa. The project has just started so we cannot report anything at this stage. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have not started to work on the project as yet so at the moment we are just discussing and allocating tasks. |
Impact | No outcomes to be reported as yet. We have recruited a PDRA that will commence in April 2021. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Developing a set of tools and models to better predict, assess and respond to disasters in Africa |
Organisation | Universidade de São Paulo |
Country | Brazil |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are contributing to a work package on the development of remote sensing tools for drought monitoring and alleviation in Africa. The project has just started so we cannot report anything at this stage. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have not started to work on the project as yet so at the moment we are just discussing and allocating tasks. |
Impact | No outcomes to be reported as yet. We have recruited a PDRA that will commence in April 2021. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Development towards an improved approach to mapping surface water flood risk (Flood Re) |
Organisation | Flood Re Limited |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | 1- Delivery of a framework highlighting next steps to enhance surface water flood maps 2- Development and submission of an EPSRC Open Fellowship proposal and inclusion of Flood Re as project partner |
Collaborator Contribution | Flood Re provided guidance and support on the delivery of a literature review and development of a framework to enhance current surface water flood mapping strategies. |
Impact | - Summary report and framework - Submitted EPSRC Open Fellowship proposal |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Environment Agency |
Organisation | Environment Agency |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Access to project findings. |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to data and expertise. |
Impact | No outputs/outcomes as yet. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | General Aeronautics |
Organisation | General Aeronautics |
Country | India |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | General Aeronautics, manufactures drones for various applications, and they are in dialogue with us to design and manufacture drones for flood relief operations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Presented at Workshop on Emergency Flood Planning and Management using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles held in Bangalore, 2019. |
Impact | Purchase of local equipment. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Google India |
Organisation | |
Department | Research at Google |
Country | United States |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Discussions with the Google India initiative which is interested in contributing to flood related disaster management specifically for India. |
Collaborator Contribution | Presented at workshop on Emergency Flood Planning and Management using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Bangalore 2019 |
Impact | On-going discussion on global flood mapping and its application to developing countries. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | India Flying Labs |
Organisation | Flying Labs |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | India Flying Labs is a small, Indian NGO which works with flood affected people in India and uses drones for gathering information about flood affected areas. We have networked them into the academic community working in this field and other practitioners. |
Collaborator Contribution | Presented at our workshop on "Emergency Flood Planning and Management Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", September 18, 2019. |
Impact | Networking and support. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | KSNDMA (India) |
Organisation | Kerala State Disaster Management Authority |
Country | India |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Subha Avinash, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Authority, Bangalore, India, attended the project management meeting held on September 17, 2019. She attended our workshop on "Emergency Flood Planning and Management Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", September 18, 2019. |
Collaborator Contribution | Partner was keen to make the best use of the results/ideas presented during project management meeting, on September 17, 2019. She expressed potential to incorporate such ideas into their flood preparedness and response plans and for the same, discussions are in progress between KSNDMA and the representatives of partner university - Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Mapping the effects of Storm Bella 2020 |
Organisation | Bedford Borough Council |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Collaboration focusing on the identification of novel tools and techniques to map the impact of surface water flooding caused by storm Bella. |
Collaborator Contribution | 1- A set of discussions to identify plausible solutions 2- Project partner in an EPSRC Open Fellowship proposal already submitted to Je-S |
Impact | - Submitted EPSRC Open Fellowship proposal |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Tata Consultancy |
Organisation | Tata Consultancy Services |
Country | India |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Access to technical development within project. |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to drone technology, expert input and advice, and data. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | UNEP |
Organisation | United Nations (UN) |
Department | United Nations Environment Programme |
Country | Kenya |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Access to emerging project outputs and outcomes. |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise and advice in Strategic Advisory Body. |
Impact | None so far. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Uni Nice |
Organisation | University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Access to research and emerging outcomes/outputs. |
Collaborator Contribution | Membership of Strategic Advisory Body. |
Impact | None so far. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Challenging application for UAVs |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This workshop was organised by the project at IIIT - Delhi. The theme for the workshop was understanding different application domains for developing technologies, which can assist during different emergencies. Speakers were: 1. Dr. Pramod Maurya, Scientist, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India. 2. Animesh Prakash, Asistant Manager & Project Lead (India), Trans-Boundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA), Kolkata, India. 3. Dipali Sharma, Director (organizational effectiveness), Action Aid, Delhi, India. 4. Kamesh Goyal, GD (A/C), CEMILAC, DRDO, Bangalore, India. 5. Prof. Santhosh Kumar, Director, SAARC Disaster Management Centre, NIDM, India. 6. Andrew Richman, Environmental Agency, UK. 7. Kaushik Das, Project Lead, TCS, Bangalore, India. 8. Dr. Sivakumar Rathinam, Associate Professor, TAMU, Texas, USA. The aim was to highlight and building on the best and emerging technologies related to flood preparation in India. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | IUKWC's Third Grassroots Field Exposure Session & Second User Engagement Initiative |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This was a workshop held in Bhopal, India entitled 'Building cross-sectoral collaborations to understand the dynamic interactions across the water-energy-food nexus' and run by the India-UK Water Center. The event was aimed at building links between academics in the UK and India and local practitioners. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.indiawaterportal.org/opportunities/open-call-participate-grassroots-field-exposure-sessi... |
Description | Invited speaker at conference - Developing the UK's Flood Resilience Forum |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Talk contribution entitled "Developing the UK's Flood Resilience Forum| Technological Developments" on the 05/12/19. Participants were interested in knowing how the use of emerging technologies could contribute to flood resilience. Media participants were interested in following up the presentation with a further press release- see https://www.communitiesprepared.org.uk/2020/02/the-use-of-drone-technology-in-flood-emergency-response/ . This publication is being followed up by another Q&A press release for a different organisation (yet to be published). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Invited talk on Drones and autonomous navigation at 3rd Cyber-Physical Systems Symposium, IISc, Bangalore, India. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Drones and autonomous navigation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.rbccps.org/cyphyss2019/speakers/ |
Description | Keynote at the International Workshop on Emergency Response Technologies and Services EmeRTeS2021 in conjunction with 22nd International Conference on Distributed Computing and Networking (originally Nara, Japan, Virtual Conference) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | During an emergency, bringing the right information, at the right time, to the right person, can significantly impact the quality of emergency response for first responders as well as the general public. However, responding to emergencies quickly and efficiently is a challenge that communities have always faced. Thanks to emerging emergency response technologies, it's becoming easier for responders to assess threats, share information, and plan emergency responses. Many of the latest innovations in emergency response are poised to revolutionize the way response teams analyze events and coordinate their activities, while others are dramatically changing the way everyday citizens handle emergencies. Such technologies, at the system level, can design robust systems, resilient networks and interoperable protocols in challenged situations. At the information level, they can build situational awareness from large-scale, multi-modal information. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming an integral part of many disaster management operations. Floods, which are particularly important in the Indian context, have been responsible for enormous damage to life, ecology, environment, and property. In this talk, we will discuss some aspects of how UAVs can be used for pre-, during-, and post-flood operations and the challenges that need to be overcome in order to make UAVs a viable supporting option for flood disaster management. The talk will focus on the lessons learned from an EPSRC-GCRF multi-institutional project carried out on this topic in India and UK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://sites.google.com/view/emertes2021/home |
Description | Marine Robotics School |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Intended purpose: The Marine Robotics School (12th Feb 2018 - 17th Feb 2018) intended to afford students, researchers, and systems developers a fast paced introduction to the core topics that must be mastered to design, build, and operate single and multiple cooperative vehicles for commercial and scientific missions, mainly in sea, but the concepts are applicable to missions in land and air. Outcomes & Impact: It was indeed extremely useful for the young and curious minds seeking to familiarize themselves with and pursue R&D activity in this exciting area of work. There were 90 people registered for the school. There is potential avenues for collaboration with NIO, Goa, India, which is a CSIR lab. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.nio.org/index/option/com_eventdisplay/task/view/tid/4/sid/24/eid/260 |
Description | PostNote Misuse of Civilian Drones |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Copied from web page Drones (also known as unmanned aircraft) are flying systems that do not carry a pilot. As the technology has become cheaper and more sophisticated, the use of drones for recreational and commercial purposes has grown, with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) reporting a significant increase in the number of permissions obtained for operating commercial drones in the UK. Despite their potential to reduce costs, improve efficiency and provide new services, drones may be misused accidentally or for malicious purposes. For example, reports of drone sightings at Gatwick Airport in December 2018 grounded around 1,000 flights for almost 36 hours, affecting more than 140,000 passengers. In 2018, the Government introduced new limits on where drones can be flown and new registration and education requirements for drone operators and pilots. In January 2020, the new Government introduced an Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Bill to Parliament that included new police powers for enforcing aviation laws (such as the power to issue a fixed penalty notice for certain drone offences). This POSTnote looks at civilian drones and their applications, focusing on potential misuse and possible responses. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/POST-PN-0610 |
Description | Q&A web publication for communities prepared |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | As a result of a presentation provided at the "Developing the UK's Flood Resilience Forum | 5th December 2019", media participants requested further contribution to "Communities Prepared" via a Q&A press press relase/blog entlitled "The use of drone technology in flood emergency response". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.communitiesprepared.org.uk/2020/02/the-use-of-drone-technology-in-flood-emergency-respon... |
Description | SPCOM 2020 International Conference on Signal Processing and Communication |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Monitoring large habitats are essential for security and biodiversity maintenance purposes. Manually performing these operations is tedious, time-consuming, and challenging in remote regions. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used for operations, however, additional support is required to monitor unreachable regions and meeting limited UAV fuel constraints. In this talk, I discuss how we can use a team of UAVs and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) for monitoring large areas. I will present an optimal route planning approach for covering large areas using a UAV-UGV team meeting the refueling constraints and then proceed towards using multiple UAVs and UGV to monitor 1.5D and 2.5D terrains. Experimental demonstrations will be shown for proof-of-concept. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://ece.iisc.ac.in/~spcom/2020/ss_autonomous_navigation.html#WIE1 |
Description | Talk contribution to conference/workshop - Flooding 2019: ensuring effective resilience |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Talk contribution to the conference "Flooding 2019: Ensuring Effective Resilience, Management and Response Conference". The presentation was entliteld "Designing robust environmental monitoring programmes to better predict and prepare for flooding". Participants were interested to learn more about the use of drones for emergency response, flood extent mapping and impact assessment. The presentation targeted key challenges that need to be overcome for the uptake of the technology to take place. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Talk contributuin to a two-day workshop in Lancaster University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk contribution to the conference "UK Underwater - Data Driven Approaches to Communicating Flooding". This will take place in June 2020 so it is difficult to report further at this stage. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-underwater-data-driven-approaches-to-communicating-flooding-ticket... |
Description | UAS - autonomous tracking, cyber attacks and challenges |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | https://innovate.mygov.in/vaibhav-summit/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://vaibhav.gov.in/v8.php |
Description | UAV Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A workshop on Emergency Flood Planning and Management using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles organised at IISc Bangalore woth 50+ attendees mainly from the local area. Included talks and posters generating interesting conversations. Several good contact were made with local businesses and state officials an these are reported separately. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |