--- title: They design a system for detecting floods from space using Artificial Intelligence description: Researchers at the Image Processing Laboratory (IPL) of the University of Valencia, in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the Phi-Lab of the European Space Agency (ESA), have developed a model for flood detection based on neural networks. image: https://news.pcuv.es/hubfs/flood_image.web-1.jpg --- [Contact](https://www.pcuv.es/en/contacto) ![](https://news.pcuv.es/hubfs/icons/location.svg)[How to get to the Park](https://www.pcuv.es/en/contacto) [Intranet](https://portalcliente.pcuv.es/) - [Castellano](https://news.pcuv.es/) - [Valencià](https://news.pcuv.es/va/) - [English](https://news.pcuv.es/en/) ![](https://news.pcuv.es/hubfs/icons/search.svg) [![PCUV](https://news.pcuv.es/hubfs/logo_pcuv.svg)](https://www.pcuv.es/en/) - [Who we are](https://www.pcuv.es/en/conocenos) - [Science Park](https://www.pcuv.es/en/conocenos/parc-cientific) - [FPCUV](https://www.pcuv.es/en/conocenos/fpcuv) - 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[Home](https://www.pcuv.es/en/home) 2. [News and Calendar](https://news.pcuv.es/) 3. News # They design a system for detecting floods from space using Artificial Intelligence 09/07/2021 Share this news: - ![](https://news.pcuv.es/hubfs/Blog/images/share.svg) - ![](https://news.pcuv.es/hubfs/Blog/images/printer.svg) ![](https://news.pcuv.es/hubfs/flood_image.web-1.jpg) ## Researchers at the Image Processing Laboratory (IPL) of the University of Valencia, in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the Phi-Lab of the European Space Agency (ESA), have developed a model for flood detection based on neural networks. It’s called WorldFloods and has been launched into space by aerospace company D-Orbit from Cape Canaveral. In terms of flooding, observing the Earth from space provides valuable information for decision-making on the ground. Large constellations of small nanosatellites – the CubeSats – are a promising solution to reduce revisitation time from day to hour – as long as it takes a sensor to re-cover a location – in disaster areas. However, data transmission to terrestrial receivers is limited by the power and bandwidth restrictions of the cubes. The WorldFloods model, developed at the ESD-funded FDL-Europe research incubator, aims to accelerate the response to such episodes by providing near-real-time terrain maps and reducing, in addition, the cost of technology. Therefore, the system implements advanced Artificial Intelligence algorithms that allow information to be processed on board. “On-board processing offers a solution to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted by reducing large images from sensors to smaller data products”, says Gonzalo Mateo ([IPL](https://ipl.uv.es/?q=es)), first author of the article recently published in the journal Scientific Reports – Nature’s open access –, in which the details of the work are covered. On June 30, WorldFloods was launched from Cape Canaveral into space aboard the Space X rocket Falcon 9 by the company D-Orbit, which has launched 6 microsatellites –CubeSats– of different companies. Among these is Nebula, the 1 kg mass satellite that hosts WorldFloods and is the first iteration of an in-orbit processing service with radiation-tolerant chips, in which Artificial Intelligence advanced algorithms can be implemented. 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