A forecasting system has been implemented for operational forest fire hazard prediction over Apulia region (Italy) in the framework of an agreement between Geophysical Applications Processing (Polytechnic of Bari) and Apulia Region Civil Protection. The modelling chain, composed of a limited area model for weather forecasting and a model based on Fire Weather Index, has been executed during the whole summer season June-September 2009 and validated by comparison with available meteorological observations and fire occurrence data. In this paper the validation results of weather forecasting module are presented. Atmospheric fields prediction has been performed by the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), in a two nested grids configuration with the inner grid resolution at 4km. The atmospheric boundary and initial conditions were obtained from GFS data available every 6h with 0.5° resolution. Vertical discretization consisted of a 30-level stretched vertical coordinate with a 50m spacing near the surface increasing gradually up to 1200m near the model top at 19000m. The Kuo convective parameterization scheme has been activated on both grids and the full package for microphysics has been used with a single-moment bulk scheme. In the present work the validation of precipitation and temperature forecast fields is discussed. The validation criteria were based on the comparison with rain gauges and thermometer observations: in both cases measurements from regional Civil Protection thermo-pluviometric monitoring network have been employed. The tests conducted show a generally satisfactory RAMS model performance and forecast values in a good agreement with ground measurements. Currently, there is a sperimentation (in the context of recent research projects funded by Italian Space Agency) of further applications of the model with reference to atmospheric correction estimation in the development of advanced processing techniques for focusing of COSMO-SkyMed data and interferometric DEM generation.

We apply multi-temporal Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) analysis to investigate slope instability in the Daunia region in the Southern Apennine Mountains. Daunia includes many small hill-top towns affected by landslides and is of particular interest for the Civil Protection – Regione Puglia Authority, one of the end users of the PSI deformation maps. The SPINUA algorithm is used to perform interferometric analysis and detect, with mm precision, the presence of ground surface movements. Consistent results on very slow displacements are obtained using the radar imagery acquired between 2002 and 2010 by the ENVISAT ESA satellite (, medium spatial resolution sensor) and the images acquired between 2010-2011 by the X-band high resolution sensor onboard the TerraSAR-X satellite. Thanks to the finer spatial resolution the X-band PSI applications are very promising for monitoring single man-made structures and slope/ground instability in areas where PS density is low.

Classical applications of the MTInSAR techniques have been carried out in the past on medium resolution data acquired by the ERS, Envisat (ENV) and Radarsat sensors. The new generation of high-resolution X-Band SAR sensors, such as TerraSAR-X (TSX) and the COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) constellation allows acquiring data with spatial resolution reaching metric/submetric values. Thanks to the finer spatial resolution with respect to data, X-band InSAR applications result very promising for monitoring single man-made structures (buildings, bridges, railways and highways), as well as landslides. This is particularly relevant where data show low density of coherent scatterers. Moreover, thanks again to the higher resolution, it is possible to infer reliable estimates of the displacement rates with a number of SAR scenes significantly lower than in within the same time span or by using more images acquired in a narrower time span. We present examples of the application of a Persistent Scatterers Interferometry technique, namely the SPINUA algorithm, to data acquired by ENV, TSX and CSK on selected number of sites. Different cases are considered concerning monitoring of both instable slopes and infrastructure. Results are compared and commented with particular attention paid to the advantages provided by the new generation of X-band high resolution space-borne SAR sensors.

The availability of a nearly-continuous remotely-sensed chlorophyll ‘a’ maps (Chl a) from MODIS sensor, now longer than ten years, enables the assessment of multi-temporal trends for several locations around the world. In this paper the statistical method of the Support Vector Machine (SVM) has been applied to 5 years of MODIS data in order to generate Chl a maps. A Chl a multi-temporal analysis of Apulian region coastal zones in Southern Italy shows a positive trend in two test cases, confirming the increase of productivity in Southern Adriatic region found in the last years and demonstrating the simplicity and usefulness of this technique.

We present a research project, funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), aimed at performing 2D and 3D Focusing of COSMO/SkyMed (CSK) SAR Data. We describe the main objectives of the project, briefly illustrate employed techniques, and finally present the obtained results. The latter show that sub-meter resolution can be achieved in the enhanced spotlight CSK acquisition mode, and that by using 3D focusing it is possible to resolve scatterers at different slant heights within the same range-azimuth resolution cell, even in areas characterized by severe height discontinuities and large thermal dilations effects.

This work experiments the potentialities of COSMO/SkyMed (CSK) data in providing interferometric Digital Elevation Model (DEM). We processed a stack of CSK data for measuring with meter accuracy the ground elevation on the available coherent targets, and used these values to check the accuracy of DEMs derived from 5 tandem-like CSK pairs. In order to suppress the atmospheric signal we experimented a classical spatial filtering of the differential phase as well as the use of numerical weather prediction (NWP) model RAMS. Tandem-like pairs with normal baselines higher than 300 m allows to derive DEMs fulfilling the HRTI Level 3 specifications on the relative vertical accuracy, while the use of NWP models still seems unfeasible especially for X-band.

The paper investigates the potentialities of the COSMO/SkyMed (CSK) constellation for ground elevation measurement through conventional and multi-temporal SAR Interferometry (InSAR), with particular attention devoted to the impact of the improved spatial resolution with respect to the previous SAR sensors. The Atmospheric Phase Screen (APS) is wellknown to be the main source of errors for accurate topographic mapping through SAR interferometry, in case of monostatic sensors. Different strategies can be adopted to filter out this signal, ranging from the exploitation of the wellknown spatial and temporal statistics of the APS to the estimation of independent APS measurements through Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. Their feasibility and the achievable accuracies are discussed here.

The present study is aimed at investigating the potentialities of the COSMO/SkyMed (CSK) constellation for ground elevation measurement with particular attention devoted to the impact of the improved spatial resolution wrt the previous SAR sensors. Assuming no movement and successful orbital error removal, the main problem in height computation through InSAR techniques derives from the interferometric phase artifacts related to the interaction between microwave and the lower layers of the atmosphere (APS, Atmospheric Phase Screen). Different strategies can be adopted to filter out this signal, ranging from the exploitation of the well-known spatial and temporal statistics of the APS to the estimation of independent APSmeasurements through Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. Their feasibility and the achievable accuracies are discussed here.

The hArtes project1 was started as an innovative European project (funded by European Union) aiming at laying the foundations of a new holistic approach for the design of complex and heterogeneous embedded solutions (hardware and software), from the concept to the silicon (or B2B, from the brain to bits). The hArtes stands for “holistic Approach to reconfigurable real time embedded systems”. As defined in the Embedded Systems Chapter of the IST 2005-06 Work Programme the objective of the hArtes project is to “develop the next generation of technologies, methods and tools for modeling, design, implementation and operation of hardware/software systems embedded in intelligent devices. An end-to-end systems (holistic) vision should allow building cost-efficient ambient intelligence systems with optimal performance, high confidence, reduced time to market and faster deployment”. The hArtes project aims to lay the foundation for a new holistic (end-to-end) approach for complex real-time embedded system design, with the latest algorithm exploration tools and reconfigurable hardware technologies. The proposed approach will address, for the first time, optimal and rapid design of embedded systems from high-level descriptions, targeting a combination of embedded processors, digital signal processing and reconfigurable hardware. The project ended with an important scientific and technical contribution that resulted in more than 150 international publications as well as a spin-off company, BlueBee.2 From the application point of view, the complexity of future multimedia devices is becoming too big to design monolithic processing platforms. This is where the hArtes approach with reconfigurable heterogeneous systems becomes vital. As a part of the project, a modular and scalable hardware platforms will be developed that can be reused and re-targeted by the tool chain to produce optimized real-time embedded products. The results obtained will be evaluated using advanced audio and video systems that support next-generation communication and entertainment facilities, such as immersive audio and mobile video processing. Innovations of the hArtes approach include: (a) support for both diagrammatic and textual formats in algorithm description and exploration, (b) a framework that allows novel algorithms for design space exploration, which aims to automate design partitioning, task transformation, choice of data representation, and metric evaluation for both hardware and software components, (c) a system synthesis tool producing near optimal implementations that best exploits the capability of each type of processing element; for instance, dynamic reconfigurability of hardware can be exploited to support function upgrade or adaptation to operating conditions.

We explore new possibilities offered by the recently available X-band satellite radar sensors for landslide hazard assessments on a detailed scale, with particular reference to the exploitation of Persistent Scatterers Interferometry (PSI) techniques. Special attention is paid to the impact of the improved resolution of new Xband radar imagery on the PSI results, in terms of quality and quantity of useful information. This evaluatiois supported by theoretical modelling as well as by the comparison of results from X-band (CSK) and C-ban(ENVISAT) PSI for two areas of interest: one in Italy and the other in Switzerland. It is demonstrated that with respect to medium resolution ENVISAT PS processing, fewer CSK high resolution images are sufficient to achieve comparable precision of the mean displacement velocity estimates. This, together with the shorter revisit times provided by the CSK constellation, can be very important when dealing with emergency situations. Furthermore, it is quantified that from about 3 to 11 times greater PS densities are obtained with the higher resolution X-band data. This implies more information about ground surface displacements as well as improved landslide monitoring and slope instability investigation capabilities. Furthermore, ground displacement measurements can be interpreted without local knowledge of the focus area or in situ controls, and, nonetheless, guide single hillslope instability assessments with support of Google Earth and its high resolution optical imagery. This “blind” approach will allow one to monitor remote and poorly known regions at high risk of potentially disastrous slope failures.

The Italian Space Agency (ASI Agenzia Spaziale Italiana) funded 27 scientific projects in the framework of COSMOSkyMed (CSK) program. A subset of them focused on the improvements of the quality and quantity of information which can be extracted from X-SAR data if integrated with other independent techniques (GPS, data and imagery in other bands and wavelengths). The paper summarizes the results obtained from same of these projects and, in particular, regarding: (1) the use of GPS observations and Numerical Weather Models (NWM) to remove atmospheric artifacts from InSAR imagery so improving the CSK potentialities in the field of topographic mapping; (2) the integration of SAR data in X, L and s to improve snow cover monitoring and glaciers detection; (3) the use of X-SAR data to retrieve rain precipitation and its validation with radar observations; (4) the improvements of the focusing techniques.