Thermal imaging and LiDAR mapping for disaster management with hexacopter

Natural disasters such as floods and tsunamis continue to pose significant threats, a growing population coupled with inadequate preparedness greatly worsening their impact on human life and infrastructure. This growing danger highlights the critical need for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), which is in line with international objectives that rely on DRR for success, including the Biodiversity Agenda, the New Urban Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Because of this, a sophisticated aerial system for quick disaster response was proposed in this paper. It makes use of a remote-controlled aircraft that is equipped with modern technologies like LiDAR for mapping and a Lepton 3.5-based thermal camera for detecting lifeforms. The combination of these technologies with dynamic moving parts allows for improved navigational accuracy. Our prototype is successfully able to detect hotspots and potential hazards using cost-effective components, including a modified ESP32 and a Lepton 3.5 thermal camera. Although the LiDAR system effectively demonstrated 3D terrain mapping through point cloud generation, the integration with the hexacopter platform was unfortunately constrained by power limitations. Regardless, it is safe to suggest, even with just the Lepton based thermography, responders would have considerably better situational awareness, reduced response times, and overall effective disaster management.