The fast remote detection of landslides impacting on railway tracks and roads has become a crucial transport safety issue. Automatic Change Detection analyses of images collected by cameras is one of the most promising solutions for this purpose. At present, the most common sensors for this application are based either on visible-light cameras, or on microwave radars. However, visible-light cameras are blind in the darkness and through fog, while, on the other hand, radars cannot provide a clear view of the obstacles, thus causing frequent false positive alarms.
In order to solve the above limitations, in this project we propose to implement newly developed micro-bolometer cameras for the long-wave infrared ranges into a prototype for railway/road surveillance system. The physics and technology aspects of microbolometers will be analyzed for optimal detection of greybody spectrum from different types of rocks and debris. A prototype of a telescope for small-object identification will be built designing and realizing special mid- and long-wave infrared optics. At the same time, a dedicated software based on change detection algorithms will be developed and calibrated for the automatic identification of landslide invasions on railways/roads.
In the frame of the project, the prototype will be tested firstly in the natural landslides laboratories of the Department of Earth Sciences of the "Sapienza" University of Rome (Poggio Baldi and Acuto Natural Labs). Then, selected locations along railways and roads will be identified with partners like the national Italian Railway network (RFI) and the National Italian Road Department (ANAS). The business strategy will be left for future evaluation (spin-off, patenting or licensing), but preliminary steps of intellectual property protection will be considered during the project development.
