Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB Today, municipalities and cities are faced with the challenge of creating resilient and livable environments for their citizens. Heavy rainfall, flooding, heat waves, drought, extreme cold, and storms are becoming more frequent and intense.
Past extreme weather events clearly show how closely the nature and functioning of urban spaces are linked to the planning and construction of surrounding buildings and infrastructure, and how these factors reinforce each other. Despite these obvious connections, there is currently no valid information base that can provide an up-to-date overview of the local status quo (e.g., where is it particularly warm?) and enable the testing of various “what if” scenarios using the potential of current intelligent technologies.
Small-scale climate data can help make more informed decisions in the context of urban and spatial planning. The Internet of Things (IoT) plays a crucial role in this by enabling the networking of devices, sensors, and systems. This intelligent networking leads to improved data collection and analysis, enabling cities to make informed decisions, especially in the context of climate protection and adaptation strategies, and to optimize services.
Research focus:
- Possibilities for issuing environmental information based on small-scale measurements such as temperature, air pressure, soil moisture, precipitation, water level
- Use of various measurement techniques such as radar, ultrasound, and optical measurement methods, as well as communication networks such as LoRaWAN, NoB-IoT, and LTE-M
- Anomaly detection and data corrections (AI-based)
- Sensor placement design (where does which sensor make sense?)
- Understanding small-scale interdependencies (How many sensors do we need for what?)
- Data integration and harmonized provision based on open OGC standards
- How can dynamic and static data be combined and evaluated?