Scientifica 2013
Between the 30th of August and the 1st of September 2013 ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich opened up their laboratories and offered anyone interested the possibility to experience science and technology firsthand. external pageScientifica 2013 focused mostly on the topic of estimation and control of risks. Different teams of researchers of both universities presented some of their research related to risks - be it in finance, health or with respect to environmental challenges or natural hazards.
The institute of geodesy and photogrammetry participated in 2013 with an exhibition stand called "Frühzeitig erkennen, wenn der Berg sich bewegt" - literally "Detecting in time, if the mountain is moving". Rockfalls, landslides and other natural hazards threaten infrastructure and life. Risks and damage can be minimized if we understand the processes, detect movement early on and trigger an alarm. We presented methods that allow for the detection of movements and changes in shape as small as a few millimeters. These include the latest technologies and instruments based ultimately especially on the highly accurate determination of distances and angles. They range from total stations using GPS, laser scanners and radar systems to cameras in combination with digital image processing.
Special attention was given to our simulator, on which visitors could trigger and monitor rockfalls. They witnessed firsthand how the hazard is detected in time by contactless sensing and modeling of measurement errors. The visitors themselves had to determine the alert threshold for the measuring system and thereby received insight into the difficult coordination between low false alarm rates and high detection probability. More on the development of the simulator can be found here.
