Start-up wants to spend a digital protective network for alpine natural disasters via Tyrol-Diepresse.com

Climate change increasingly brings extreme weather events and thus natural hazards such as rockfall, floods and muries. This requires increased protection for people and infrastructure, especially in the alpine space, says Steve Weingarth, founder of the start-ups geomorphing detection (GMD) specializing on Internet-of-Things (IoT) solutions. On the Internet of Things, physical objects (« things ») are connected via the Internet and exchange data. Weingarth previously worked in the monitoring of buildings such as bridges and came up with the idea of ​​monitoring infrastructures such as streams and protective buildings, such as rockfall networks and avalanches. The earlier you recognize natural hazards, the more damage could be averted, he says.

The company founder wants to accomplish the with a AI-based IoT solution, consisting of various sensors for recording the data and a machine learning platform with smart algorithms for analysis and forecast. He shows one of the first implementations in the project funded by the state of Tyrol Digic protectionwhich is still running until March 2026. It should form the basis for future scalable systems for monitoring natural hazards.

Model region is Kufstein, a small town that lies on both sides of the Inn and has several streams and hills. In the event of heavy rain, flooding and degenerations threaten. Data has already been collected by means of sensors, but due to the high costs in too low, Weingarth.

The level and flow speed

The early warning system, based on artificial intelligence, is nationwide and also affordable due to innovative manufacturing technologies. It was created in cooperation with the data scientist Manuel Ferdik From the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) and Dominic Mair from the Institute for Mechatronics at the University of Innsbruck. Together they developed sensors that not only raise the water level and flow speed of the water, but also deformations and impact on the protective buildings. The transfer takes place via a Lora-based radio network. Lora stands for « Long Range » and means a wide range. This allows you to manage a large number of sensors within a network and process sensor data. The system is energy self -sufficient and is supplied with photovoltaics.

A special solution also requires decays in streams – these are water jams that arise when sand, stones or wood hinder the watercourse. A smart radar sensor that the start-up developed together with the semiconductor manufacturer Infineon is to remedy this. Radar technology also works in poor lighting and weather conditions and, in addition to images, also provides information on the distance, speed and direction of movement of objects. If you remove the obstacles immediately, you can prevent uncontrolled floods and mura formation, says Weingarth. « When there is flooding, we know exactly how high and how quickly the tidal wave is and where the fire brigade has to build up the protective buildings to better protect the houses. »

Smart weather station

In another test project, the start-up built a smart weather station. Partners were the Tyrolean Skiregion Kühtai and two adjacent communities. There are weather stations, but since each valley has its own microclimate, more will need it in the future. So the sun had recently shone in Bolzano and in a side valley a violent storm that the warning center did not even notice, explains Weingarth.

The weather station developed by its start-up measures temperature, air pressure, air humidity, wind speed, wind direction and gusts as well as precipitation. What makes you smarter than this is the built -in computer equipped with its own radio network, which enables data evaluation on site. As a result, only relevant data is sent to your own server and the data volume is reduced. And the next project is already coming up: Weingarth plans a system for recognizing bark beetle attack.