NAPOLI, Italy -- Earthquakes, landslides, hydro geological damages and fires in the Vesuvius and Naples area can be immediately translated into data and warnings, sent via Internet protocol and voice message format, to local emergency management Centres and university laboratories organized to implement rapid and effective preventive measures against environmental disasters. This is the prime objective of Petit-Osa, a project for the development of a cooperation-based platform to advance environmental monitoring topics and the prevention of disasters, launched in 2001 and financed by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR).

The results of Petit-Osa were released today at a conference held at the Santi Marcellino e Festo Centre in Naples. Now concluded, Petit-Osa involved cooperation between Italtel and several universities and research organizations: Federico II University of Naples, University of Sannio, ENEA (New Technology, Energy and Environment authority), INGV (National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology), CINI (National Inter-University Consortium for Information Technology). In particular, Italtel’s role was that of technology partner and system integrator for the communications system based on its own multi-service communications and data networking platform.

As part of the data detection system, in fact, Italtel designed and developed an intelligent communications network for the reception, control and IP transmission of warnings received from the various hydro geological and weather data collection centres operating in the Vesuvius and Naples area. Warnings from the various local service centres are sent to the Italtel communications system and redistributed, automatically and self-configurable, to the first and most suitable receiver available (e.g. Public Administration, Research Institutes, Territorial Monitoring Authorities) in voice message or telemetry data.

The Italtel server therefore becomes a true Server Farm, composed of application servers configured for specialist software applications, the i-UDB database to manage data collected from the networked Service Centres within the Vesuvius area and the i-SSW Multi-service Softswitch platform, i.e. the management and networking platform for IP/PSTN signals in telecom networks, the prototype of which for the Petit-Osa project was specifically reconfigured by Italtel for automatic warning distribution (voice and data) to the Service Centres. In addition, through the contribution from researchers at the CINI laboratories in Naples and from the IT and Systems Department of Federico II University, instant messaging and video service handling applications were installed on the Italtel platform to support communications activity of Petit-Osa specialists.

In terms of new service options now available on the Italtel network for the Vesuvius Area, already in operation are the Italtel i-UDB database, several specific software applications e.g. the Fire Simulator to identify the fire-front propagation from its outbreak point, and the Automatic Fire Census to provide historic data in real time on damage caused by fire. Other reliable and flexible services and applications are possible as a result of the open environment, typical of the i-SSW platform, offering designers a Service Creation & Logic Execution Environment, totally independent of access to the platform and the type of software design technology used.

"There were a number of objectives, all fully achieved, for the Petit-Osa project", says Giuseppe Argento, Italtel project manager and introductory speaker at the Naples conference. "Firstly, warning signals in real time, but then and above all, the intelligence of the system which in self-configuration mode identifies the warning sender based on the presence or absence of the operator and the type of signal, either an alarm or telemetry data on air quality, ground conditions or seismic tremors."

"Another important result of the project", Argento emphasizes, "is the considerable amount of data collected and processed by the various local centres specialised in environmental monitoring. This data, in fact, has allowed a precise and updated mapping of environmental risks in the Campania region, enabling the identification of methodologies for environmental analysis experimented in the field."

Argento concludes, "Before Petit-Osa, none of this existed. Now, through the platform developed by all of us working as partners on the project, we can say that an important step has been taken on the path to tough prevention measures against environmental disasters."

Italtel SpA