Executive Summary: The changes in coverage and the increase in land use, in addition to the degradation of ecosystems, have promoted the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP) to increase the care and conservation of endemic or biodiversity areas through the use of monitoring tools.
One of the main tools used for this purpose are remote sensors incorporated into satellite platforms, manned aircraft or ground vehicles, which obtain information to generate baselines of the current situation of the resource or ecosystem in question. However, these technologies present limitations such as: high operation and maintenance costs, low resolution images, environmental restrictions for temporary monitoring, outdated information collection and management systems. These factors have limited to a certain level the investigation of natural resources in geographical areas such as páramos or wetlands within the high Andean region, and have prevented the generation of an efficient monitoring system that enables the creation of environmental policies and prospective studies on the use of resources in the country.
General Objectives: Develop a methodology and information platform for the implementation of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as a monitoring tool for water protection zones.
Specific objectives:
- Carry out a bibliographic compilation of the state of the art of the parametric methods for aerodynamic evaluation of unmanned aircraft, as well as the methods for image processing applied to the monitoring of high Andean ecosystems.
- Develop a methodology for the use of fixed-wing unmanned aerial platforms to monitor the impact of conservation and management of water protection zones in high Andean regions.
- Evaluate the performance of the selected unmanned aircraft in high mountain ecosystems under different operating conditions, flight paths and payloads, through parametric and semi-empirical models.
- Develop and adapt models and algorithms in free software for the processing of images obtained, which allow the identification of coverage and land use.
- Develop an interactive and versatile computer platform using CEDIA 's facilities for handling and managing the information collected.
Participating Institutions:
EPN, ESPE.
Participants:
Project Director Dr. Esteban Valencia
- Stephen Valencia
- Carlos Cevallos
- Victor Hidalgo
- Patricio Cruz Davalos
- Paul Ayala
- Angelo Villavicencio
- Diego Quisi
- nelson jara
Awarded budget: $61800
Project status: Signing of agreements.
