UBICA at the SIBM Congress: progress in monitoring gorgonian forests
In June, in Naples, UBICA, partner of the NEPTUNE™ project (Neural Rendering & Edge AI Platform for 4D synthetic Twins generation during Underwater Navigation & Exploration) of Spoke 3, participated in the SIBM conference.
In this context, marine biologist Ilaria Rossodivita (UBICA, NEPTUNE™, Spoke 3) presented a poster entitled “MULTI-PARAMETRIC SURVEYS AS FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERWATER HABITAT MONITORING: THE CASE STUDY SECCA ISUELA AT PORTOFINO MPA ON THE P. CLAVATA FOREST”.
The poster summarizes innovative aspects of the research underway within the project.
In order to monitor the current status of gorgonian forests (Paramuricea clavata), whose presence is correlated with increased biodiversity in the Mediterranean, the authors of the poster highlight how NEPTUNE™ has developed a 4D system to enrich 3D models with environmental data from the water column.
This result was achieved using a custom-made open source probe developed within the OCEAN-PULSE project (an open source conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) system integrated with a pulse-width modulation (PAM) fluorimeter), funded as an exploratory activity by the European Commission.
The sensors were integrated into a remotely operated data collection vehicle and tested at Secca Isuela in the Portofino Marine Protected Area (Italy).
Real-time data on temperature, pH, salinity and dissolved oxygen, together with videos recorded at 6K resolution, were transmitted online to a server and archived on a multilayer timeline.
The data were then processed to generate 3D reconstructions of the scanned area, integrated with the monitored water column parameters.
The density of P. clavata and the morphometric characteristics of each detected colony (e.g., maximum height, surface area) were calculated and compared with data from the underwater photogrammetric scan at the same site in 2021.
The Spoke 3 NEPTUNE™ project is therefore not only producing innovative results from the point of view of technology transfer in the field of 3D/4D and eco-robotics, but is also producing research results, from the point of view of environmental monitoring of gorgonian forests in Liguria.
NEPTUNE™, coordinated by the Ligurian start-up MYWAI, is one of the winners of the cascade call for Industrial Research and Experimental Development projects in the domains of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics of RAISE Spoke 5, and is affiliated with Spoke 3, whose objective is the protection and care of the environment thanks to ecorobotics.
The NEPTUNE™ partnership is composed of MYWAI SRL, UBICA SRL, IMMERSEA SRL, NEXT VISION SRL, IIS – ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF WELDING and UNIVERSITY OF CATANIA, with the participation of the SICILIAN REGION – Soprintendenza del Mare, MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT – Portofino Marine Protected Area and OCEANHIS.
Cover Image
Gorgonian forest in Portofino Marine Protected Area, Liguria and underwater robot
Author: Marzio Cardellini, Bluframe
Credits: NEPTUNE™ and RAISE
