Topics Webinar | Drones for Rural Development II, 19 September 2024

In recent years, the utilization of drones has increased globally, with fresh applications and uses continually emerging. In remote, rural regions, drones have the potential to perform a wide range of tasks, including surveillance via cameras or other sensors; this enables them to act as mobile gateways and provide connectivity or facilitate the transportation of goods to challenging, remote locations. While many of these applications are closely associated with primary sector activities such as agriculture and livestock, their adaptability extends to various other industries and urban areas.

This webinar will present three referent European projects associated with the development of rural areas, and it will use drones as the main thread. The scope of drone utilization in rural regions is extensive, spanning sectors such as agriculture, forestry, livestock, other industrial domains, environmental monitoring, and the assessment of water quality in rivers and lakes. Drones also play a vital role in firefighting efforts and provide assistance to the population, particularly elderly individuals.

We are privileged to feature recognized industry and academic experts who will share their experiences and insights regarding the effective leveraging of these technologies to achieve enhanced results and elevate the productivity of drones. So, whether you are a researcher, applied scientist, commercial drone user, or simply interested in the development of drones, we invite you to join us for this webinar.

Additionally, CHAMELEON, ICAERUS and SPADE are the organizations working with us for this webinar. Kindly find more information about the organizations below:

CHAMELEON is a Horizon Europe Project that aims to optimize production and identify potential problems in agriculture, livestock, forestry and rural areas. For more information, kindly visit https://chameleon-heu.eu;
ICAERUS is an EU-funded project that aspires to advance the use of drones in agricultural production, forestry and rural communities. For more information, kindly visit https://icaerus.eu/;
SPADE is a project funded by the European Union within the Horizon Europe program, with 21 partners from 10 European countries. For more information, kindly visit https://spade-horizon.eu/.

Date: 19 September 2024 at 02.00 p.m. CEST | 8:00 a.m. EDT | 8:00 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 892 0367 9034
Webinar Announcement: https://sciforum.net/event/Topics-26

Speaker/Presentation	Time in CEST	Time in EDT
Prof. Dr. Diego González-Aguilera & Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez Chair Introduction	2:00–2:10 p.m.	8:00–8:10 a.m.
Dr. David Sánchez-Jiménez CHAMELEON Bundles: Detection of Woody Debris in Rivers	2:10–2:30 p.m.	8:10–8:30 a.m.
Q&A Session	2:30–2:35 p.m.	8:30–8:35 a.m.
Dr. Costas T. Davarakis Monitoring Open Field Grazing – Using Multi-purpose UAVs, Direct Sensing Telemetry and Edge Computing for Cloud Based Digital Twinning	2:35–2:55 p.m.	8:35–8:55 a.m.
Q&A Session	2:55–3:00 p.m.	8:55–9:00 a.m.
Dr. Vasilis Psiroukis & Ms. Esther Vera Moreno ICAERUS: Innovations and Capacity Building in Agricultural, Environmental, and Rural UAV Services - Crop Monitoring and Drone Spraying Use Cases	3:00–3:20 p.m.	9:00–9:20 a.m.
Q&A Session	3:20–3:25 p.m.	9:20–9:25 a.m.
Prof. Dr. Diego González-Aguilera & Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez Closing of Webinar	3:25–3:30 p.m.	9:25–9:30 a.m.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register anyway and we will let you know when the recording is available.

Webinar Chairs and Keynote Speakers:

Prof. Dr. Diego González-Aguilera (Chair), Cartographic and Land Engineering Department, Higher Polytechnic School of Avila, University of Salamanca, Hornos Caleros, Avila, Spain;
Prof. Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez (Chair), Department of Mining Technology, Topography and Structures, University of León, Avda. Astorga, Ponferrada, Spain;
Dr. David Sánchez-Jiménez, Departamento de Ingeniería Cartográfica y del Terreno, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain;
Dr. Costas T. Davarakis, Nydor System Technologies AE, Athens, Greece;
Dr. Vasilis Psiroukis, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece;
Ms. Esther Vera Moreno, Noumena, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 690, Barcelona, Spain.

Relevant Special Issues:

“Aerial and Drone LiDAR Data for Geomorphological Mapping, Landform Extraction and Landscape Evolution”
Guest Editors: Dr. Dario Gioia, Dr. Nicodemo Abate, Dr. Giuseppe Corrado, Dr. Antonio Minervino Amodio and Prof. Marcello Schiattarella
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2024

“UAV Agricultural Management: Recent Advances and Future Prospects”
Guest Editors: Dr. Hamdi Zurqani and Dr. Alessandro Matese
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2024

“Geographic Information Technologies and the New Challenges of Globalization in a Changing Environment”
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Ana Nieto Masot, Prof. Dr. Gema Cárdenas and Dr. José A. Gutiérrez Gallego
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2024

“Spatial Information for Improved Living Spaces”
Guest Editors: Dr. Ivana Ivánová, Dr. Yongze Song and Prof. Dr. Sisi Zlatanova
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2025

Relevant Papers:

“Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Agro-Terrestrial Surveys Comparison for Generating Digital Elevation Surfaces for Irrigation and Precision Grading”
by Richard A. Pickett, John W. Nowlin, Ahmed A. Hashem, Michele L. Reba, Joseph H. Massey and Scott Alsbrook
Drones 2023, 7(11), 649; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7110649
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/11/649

“Recent Advances in Crop Disease Detection Using UAV and Deep Learning Techniques”
by Tej Bahadur Shahi, Cheng-Yuan Xu, Arjun Neupane and William Guo
Remote Sens. 2023, 15(9), 2450; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15092450
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/9/2450

“Review of Remote Sensing Approaches and Soft Computing for Infrastructure Monitoring”
by Aggeliki Kyriou, Vassiliki Mpelogianni, Konstantinos Nikolakopoulos and Peter P. Groumpos
Geomatics 2023, 3(3), 367-392; https://doi.org/10.3390/geomatics3030021
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7418/3/3/21

“Analysis of Landscape Character Assessment and Cultural Ecosystem Services Evaluation Frameworks for Peri-Urban Landscape Planning: A Case Study of Harku Municipality, Estonia”
Fiona Nevzati, Martti Veldi, Mart Külvik and Simon Bell
Land 2023, 12(10), 1825; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12101825
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/10/1825

“Assessment of Ecosystem Service Value in Response to LULC Changes Using Geospatial Techniques: A Case Study in the Merbil Wetland of the Brahmaputra Valley, Assam, India”
by Durlov Lahon, Dhrubajyoti Sahariah, Jatan Debnath, Nityaranjan Nath, Gowhar Meraj, Pankaj Kumar, Shizuka Hashimoto and Majid Farooq
ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2023, 12(4), 165; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi12040165
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/12/4/165