Enhancing Situational Awareness in Emergency Response: Combining Remote Sensing and Teleoperated Systems

Kurzfassung

The application of remote sensing and geospatial technologies is becoming increasingly crucial in addressing multifaceted challenges across environmental monitoring, humanitarian aid, and disaster response. With growing demands for rapid, data-driven decision-making in remote and crisis-prone areas, advanced Earth observation capabilities enable more efficient planning, coordination, and resource deployment. The combination of satellite imagery, high-resolution aerial data, and advanced analytics within situational awareness platforms provides novel opportunities for comprehending and responding to dynamic, often unpredictable environments. The development of an advanced web application for a Global Mission Operation Centre (GMOC) is central to both the MaiSHU and RESITEK projects, demonstrating the progressive enhancement of situational awareness tools. Initially, in the MaiSHU project, the web application was used to support teleoperators in navigating amphibious SHERP vehicles in complex and unstructured environments where traditional humanitarian efforts face operational limitations. In June 2024, during a field campaign in Northern Bavaria, Germany, two realistic scenarios highlighted this application: a food delivery mission to a flood-isolated village in South Sudan, supported by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and a flood evacuation exercise in a dangerous environment with the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK), simulating recent flood events in southern Germany. The interactive web application at the GMOC combines multi-layered geospatial data to provide continuous situational awareness, enable high level route planning, and support real-time operations. It integrates and visualizes multi-layered geospatial and remote sensing data, thereby forming a comprehensive situational picture that is essential for mission preparation and execution. This includes simulated flood masks for the exercise region, which facilitated detailed visualizations of prospective flood zones and aided in the identification and planning of accessible routes for the teleoperated vehicle. Time-series of optical satellite imagery provided valuable insights into the region's evolving landscape, enabling the monitoring of environmental changes that could impact mission safety and route stability. The additional incorporation of high-resolution aerial imagery, taken by DLR aircraft, facilitated a more comprehensive understanding of the terrain and infrastructure. The specific characteristics of the local terrain allowed for the implementation of more precise route adjustments. Further, the integration of up-to-date drone imagery, captured before and during the event itself, proved to be a crucial element in the provision of situational updates. The addition of these datasets in the GMOC web application facilitated the creation of three-dimensional terrain models, thereby enhancing the visual and spatial understanding of the environment necessary for detailed route planning. The described data layers enabled mission planners to optimize SHERP vehicle routes based on variables such as terrain slope, surface type, and radio signal coverage. A designated route segment was designed to traverse a river, validating the SHERP’s amphibious capabilities and testing the continuity of operations under varying surface conditions. The pre-planned routes were transmitted to a Local Mission Operation Centre (LMOC), where remote drivers received precise navigation information, guiding the SHERP vehicle along the safest and most efficient paths based on the analysed remote sensing and geospatial data. The web application’s capabilities included real-time GPS monitoring of the SHERP, providing continuous updates on its location, orientation, and previously travelled paths. This tracking data allowed operators to refine navigation strategies and make informed, real-time adjustments. Supplementary real-time geotagged photo uploads from the field augmented the situational overview, while an integrated communication layer ensured continuous connectivity by highlighting areas with signal coverage. Building on the advancements of MaiSHU, the RESITEK project further develops the web application by integrating additional functionalities and additional vehicle types, including ground and aerial units, both manned and unmanned. The platform in RESITEK is undergoing enhancements to serve as an integrative tool for diverse data visualization and situational analysis, thereby supporting continuous monitoring and user-centric planning. This progression is intended to demonstrate comprehensive interoperability in a collaborative exercise involving various stakeholders and realistic emergency scenarios. The project incorporates AI-based image analysis for real-time monitoring and damage detection, highlighting crisis-relevant information in complex 2D and 3D displays to optimize decision-making during disaster response. The joint developments in MaiSHU and RESITEK underline the essential role of geospatial and remote sensing data in crisis management and emergency response. Together, these projects demonstrate the transformative role of Earth observation technologies—including satellite-based crisis information, real-time data updates, and multi-modal situational displays—in enhancing teleoperated and multi-vehicle mission planning, ultimately facilitating more effective and reliable operations in remote and inaccessible areas.