Actionable Decision-Making for Flooding Events utilizing a small UAV Platform with LiDAR and Hyperspectral Instruments
Abstract
Extreme weather events are having a major impact on coastal cities globally. The New York Metropolitan Region along with key urban regions in Southeast Asia, namely Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Manila, Philippines, are experiencing major flooding as well as key areas in the New York Metropolitan Region. New Jersey is particularly vulnerable to flooding events. Being the most urbanized state in the union, flooding results in a major dislocation of people and loss of housing. This proposal is designed to provide the necessary instrumentation as an Initiative within the Center for Environmental Management & Analysis at Montclair State University to train students to complete the following activities: to pilot the UAV; to develop algorithms specifically designed to access housing vulnerability to flooding and evacuation planning; to process and analyze data from the LiDAR and hyperspectral instrumentation; and to develop a decision-making analytic that utilizes this data to recommend to governmental agencies appropriate voluntary relocation scenarios. The first project undertaken in the Initiative is in conjunction with the Office of Planning in Passaic County New Jersey to utilize a UAV to develop predictive modeling for housing vulnerability due to flooding that will result in voluntary housing relocation policies. Tropical storm Irene produced such devastation in Northern New Jersey that special legislation was enacted to offer households an opportunity to voluntarily relocate to safer environments. This monetary expenditure requires that offers be made to the most vulnerable housing locations. Existing FEMA contour maps do not provide information at large enough vertical scale to allow decision-makers to adequately negotiate the most socially humane public policy actions at a micro level. Since data is gathered in existing floodways, the small UAVÕs capacity to survey 300 acres is ideal for heavily dense urban communities that are located in Northern New Jersey. Data gathered from the Initiative will provide governmental agencies the necessary data and train students to pilot the UAV; to develop and utilize algorithms designed to produce actionable decisions from the data; and to develop policies and programs designed to ameliorate the impact of flooding events in highly vulnerable urban locations. It is expected that the Initiative would collaborate with all STEM departments within the College of Math & Science. STEM students in mathematics, computer programing and remote sensing have seen the increased demand for professionals trained in UAV technologies. The Initiative will seek students from all STEM subjects and professors who can build their coursework around the main themes of the Initiative. In the first batch, it is anticipated that 10 students will be recruited to intern with the Center for Environmental Management & Analysis for specific projects, learning in the field, and gaining important experiential training. Hence, the Initiative in the Center is responsible for specific project based applications, while the University academic community provides the necessary educational coursework. The first project will be undertaken with the partnership of the Office of Planning in Passaic County, where UAV flights will be undertaken to develop a actionable housing relocation strategy. Students will be recruited from all STEM subjects to participate in the Pilot Program. Afterwards, a wider program based on the experiences of the New York Metropolitan Region application will be developed utilizing new and innovative algorithms for urban analysis. This expanded Initiative will be directed to collaborations with colleagues in Manila, Philippines and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where students will be sent to Montclair State for instrumentation training in order to analyze the flooding vulnerabilities of these two significantly impacted coastal megacities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 20, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1710394
Entities
People
- Robert William Taylor
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Montclair State University
- Office of the Secretary of Defense