DRON LIDAR

Drone Lidar Used in Project to Minimize the Risk of Flooding


Luxexemburg startup company, RSS-Hydro is using Microdrones to measure potential flooding areas in the community south of Luxembourg. Working with the University of Luxembourg, this pilot project is performing a scientific study to build a model to optimize the monitoring and detection of areas that could be susceptible to flooding. The models are created using data collected from Microdrones surveying equipment and satellite images. The study and resulting models can then be used by engineers to warn of impending floods and find appropriate solutions. RTL hs an article and an online news report you can find HERE.

RSS-Hydro using the mdLidar3000DL

Dr. Guy Schumann is the CEO and Principal Scientist at RSS-Hydro and also a Principal Scientist at Remote Sensing Solutions. Recently, he returned to Luxembourg and to begin the start-up program. At RSS-Hydro he continues his work on various R&D projects concerned with flood inundation modeling, floodplain mapping as well as current and potential satellite missions for hydrology, with funding from NASA and JPL among others.

"In 2016 there were a lot of floods here in some streets because rainwater from the fields just came down the road. Fortunately, we didn’t experience any issues, but I know from neighbors and people who live down the road that the big problems came when it rained a lot, creating floods."

In addition to the concrete pavement of roads and sidewalks, clay soils that do not absorb water well would aggravate the problem.

To prevent such incidents in the future, RSS-Hydro, together with the University of Luxembourg, is conducting a scientific study in this area. A doctoral student makes topographic images of fields, meadows, roads, sidewalks, etc. with measuring devices and the Microdrones mdLiDAR3000DL aaS.

The mdLidar3000DL aaS

"We want to produce a model that is as accurate as possible. Optimize here what has not yet been optimized, especially in the floodplains in the village, in the small streets, where we need precise measurements up to centimeters, which you do not get with satellite data."

Flood models, which simulate a flood, are then placed on these images from the ground, from the air and from the satellite.

"The models, with physical equations, simulate where the water is going, how fast, where the water will be later and how long it will stay. That means one can simulate whole events from the drought to the flood and back to the ' Thrush returned.

This data can be used to optimize existing models. The researchers share this collected data in a reference database with the international scientific community.

In a next step, an engineering firm can then use both the study and the models to propose solutions so that residents no longer have to worry about flash-floods.

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