Contact
joseph.garrett@ntnu.no

The coastal environment contains many ecologically important species such as kelp and seagrass. Monitoring and mapping the coast can be a tool for ensuring the health and prosperity of these species. For that reason, [NIVA](https://www.niva.no/), in collaboration with NTNU, is developing a system for mapping the coast with drones. Currently, several different imagers are carried by different drones, including an rgb camera, a multispectral camera, and a hyperspectral camera. The hyperspectral camera measures the most information, while the rgb camera can image the largest area with the highest resolution. In the project, we would like to fuse the information collected by the sensors in order to combine the advantages of the different imaging modalities.   In the fall of 2023 a new fixed-wing drone that carries both multispectral and hypserspectral imagers will be developed. The advantage of the fixed-wing drone is that it can cover a much larger area, however it also requires a much lighter payload. The focus of this project will be on developing an overall imaging and data fusion strategy for the new fixed wing payload.   As this project is associated with NIVA and the [SeaBee consortium](https://seabee.no/), it will be possible to access the Sigma2 supercomputer. Use of the supercomputer should be fairly simple, and the folks at NIVA assure me that simple computing environments, such as Jupyter, can be run on Sigma2. In addition, funds are available to support a drone mapping expedition to the Norwegian coast, if more data are desired. Moreover, there may be imaging missions during the semester which you could join.

Links
https://seabee.no/