ITD: A Multi-Camera system for permanent and real-time visible, thermal and gas monitoring at restless volcanoes

该项目旨在开发一种新型的多摄像机系统，用于对活火山进行永久观测。与目前的能力相比，这一创新系统将节省成本、功耗、数据量和专家的图像分析时间。该系统将在可见光、红外线和紫外线范围内持续监测火山，并使用自动图像分析自动确定何时捕获每个波长的视频。随后，该系统将分析这些视频，以提取重要的监测参数，包括火山喷出的气体和灰烬的数量，以及爆炸事件的频率和强度。这些信息不仅将推动火山预测工作，而且有助于更好地了解导致火山爆发的机制，大多数火山在大爆发前都会表现出不稳定的早期迹象，其中可能包括脱气增加，白炽化或更高的爆炸频率。然而，在许多情况下，这些关键指标没有记录。提出了一种集成的多摄像机系统的发展，设计用于视觉，热，和气体监测。该系统可用于对活火山进行连续和实时监测，即使在电力和数据传输能力严重有限的偏远地区也是如此。除了在三个光谱范围内的组合观测和所提出的系统的低成本之外，其新奇还在于其边缘计算方法，由此图像处理由系统和参数（诸如事件检测、羽流高度、体积、该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识产权进行评估，被认为值得支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

This project aims at developing a novel Multi-Camera system for the permanent observation of active volcanoes. This innovative system will save on cost, power consumption, data volume and image analysis time by experts, compared to current capacities. The system will continuously monitor the volcano in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet ranges and autonomously determine when to capture videos in each wavelength using automated image analysis. Subsequently, the system will analyze these videos to extract vital monitoring parameters, including the quantity of gas and ash emitted by the volcano, as well as the frequency and intensity of explosive events. This information will not only advance volcano forecasting efforts but also contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms leading to volcanic eruptions.The majority of volcanoes exhibit early signs of unrest before a major eruption, which may include increased degassing, incandescence, or a higher frequency of explosions. However, in many instances, these critical indicators go unrecorded. The development of an integrated Multi-Camera system designed for visual, thermal, and gas monitoring is proposed. This system can be deployed for continuous and real-time monitoring of active volcanoes, even in remote areas where power and data transfer capabilities are severely limited. Besides the combined observation in three spectral ranges and the low cost of the proposed system, its novelty resides in its edge-computing approach whereby image processing is done by the system and parameters such as event detection, plume height, volume, ascent rate and SO2 flux are calculated automatically.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.