Portugal uses artificial intelligence to combat natural disasters

The European project OVERWATCH, which aims to combat natural disasters more effectively, using a holographic system based on artificial intelligence, counts on the participation of Portugal through ISQ - Center for Interface and Technology, in collaboration with the Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers, Technology and Science (INESC TEC) and the Center for Research, Development and Innovation of the Military Academy (CINAMIL)

This alliance brings together 10 partners from 5 countries (Portugal, Italy, Poland, Denmark and Germany) and is led by the Italian company ITHACA, resulting in an investment of 3 million euros for the next 3 years, coming from the Horizon Europe program, by EUSPA (European Union Agency for Space Program).

"OVERWATCH will develop an integrated holographic system to support operators in the management of fire and flood fighting resources, using artificial intelligence," informs the official statement sent to VIVA!

"The use of machine learning algorithms is of the utmost relevance in today's world. This new system will make it possible to analyze and consolidate data received through Earth Observation and by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and identify target areas for natural disasters, for example forest fires and floods, and even assist in search and rescue. The artificial intelligence algorithms will be used to process the data, allowing the delimitation of fire/water fronts, identification of water points, etc., and contributing to the provision of decision support tools to the user. All with the aim of providing relevant and more detailed information to decision makers in the field so that decision making is faster, leading to a more efficient management of the available means," says the president of ISQ, Pedro Matias.

In order to carry out this project, the use of "digital technologies, artificial intelligence and drones" is planned, with the goal of "providing updated, detailed and interactive information.

According to the same source, Portugal will host two demonstrations where "a forest fire will be simulated and the respective response of forest fire fighting teams aided by the OVERWATCH system.

"In addition to a fallback communications solution, this system is intended to complement the legacy emergency network, as it introduces support for new use cases with more demanding communication requirements than the traditional voice service, such as the use of robotic platforms for massive and automated information collection, and support for the operation of holographic systems for better situational recognition," concludes Hugo Silva, a researcher at INESC TEC.