The goal is to monitor air quality and collect data for the Pomerium project
Flying over one of the world’s most famous monuments to protect its grandeur is a burden and an honor. ADPM Drones technologies were used in the Colosseo area in Rome to monitor air quality and collect data with a view to detecting any changes in the area over time.
The flight is part of the Pomerium program, the winner of 5G for l’Art, the European Space Agency‘s (Esa) call for the use of technology to benefit cultural heritage and the environment. An initiative coordinated by e-Geos, a company formed by Telespazio and the Italian Space Agency, co-funded by ESA and ASI within the joint Space for L’ART (L’Aquila, Rome, Turin) initiative to create an advanced monitoring system using integrated methodologies and technologies.
After flights at the Piramide Cestia and between the Mura Aureliane, we flew over the world’s largest amphitheater. “We used an octocopter weighing about 10 kilograms, modified to house a chemical laboratory on board, with which 16 air quality parameters were analyzed in real time,” explains Luca Brizzi, executive president and head of R&D at ADPM Drones, referring to the largest of the remotely piloted aircraft used on the occasion.
The other drone used was modified to accommodate on-board thermal camera, 4K camera and 360-degree camera. “In this way,” Brizzi says, “with the same flight we have two types of georeferenced video footage, so we can use the footage taken in both photogrammetry from video and virtual reality applications.