ENDOR – ENabling technologies for Defence and mOnitoring of the foRests

The ENDOR project aims to develop an integrated system for monitoring and protecting forest and woodland heritage, based on ground infrastructures and aerial platforms equipped with drones carrying advanced sensors and software tools for data and image analysis.

The goal is to assess the health status of vegetation, detect potentially dangerous presences or activities, prevent fires (both intentional and natural), and estimate hydrogeological risks or those related to land exploitation.

The Mediterranean scrubland, an essential component of local forest ecosystems, requires sustainable management and conservation strategies to address threats caused by climate change, forest fragmentation, deforestation, and environmental stress due to drought, pests, pollution, and intensive land use.

The use of remote sensing technologies based on drones enables low-cost, high-resolution surveys with minimal operational impact, allowing for continuous and timely monitoring of forest conditions.

The proposed system, based on a hybrid architecture with a Command & Control platform for processing the collected data, focuses particularly on the issue of forest fires, which are becoming increasingly frequent and destructive across the Mediterranean region. In addition to reducing risks for operators and improving the effectiveness of firefighting operations, the system can predict and locate arson attempts or anthropogenic land changes through change detection analysis.

Finally, the project also aims to characterize forest resources using hyperspectral techniques, developing new vegetation indices to monitor ecosystem health and vitality, supporting both prevention efforts and post-fire restoration phases.