The devils boat

This year, thanks to Prof. Tiziano Camagna, we had the opportunity to prove our methodologies during a particular archaeological expedition, focused on the localization and documentation of the "devils boat". 

This strange wreck consists in a small boat built by the Italian soldiers, the "Alpini" of the battalion "Edolo" (nicknamed the "Adamello devils"), during the World War 1, near the mountain hut J. Payer (as reported by the book of Luciano Viazzi "I diavoli dell'Adamello"). 

The mission was a derivation of the project "La foresta sommersa del lago di Tovel: alla scoperta di nuove figure professionali e nuove tecnologie al servizio della ricerca” ("The submerged forest of lake Tovel: discovering new professions and new technologies at the service of scientific research"), a didactic program conceived by Prof. Camagna for the high school Liceo Scientifico B. Russell of Cles (Trentino - Italy).

As already mentioned, the target of the expedition has been the small boat currently lying on the bottom of lake Mandrone (Trentino - Italy), previously localized by Prof. Camagna and later photographed during an exploration in 2004. The lake is located at 2450 meters above see level. For this reason, before involving the students into such a difficult underwater project, a preliminary mission has been accomplished, in order to check the general conditions and perform some basic operations. This first mission was directed by Prof. Camagna and supported by the archaeologists of Arc-Team (Alessandro Bezzi, Luca Bezzi, for underwater documentation, and Rupert Gietl, for GNSS/GPS localization and boat support), by the explorers of the Nautica Mare team (Massimiliano Canossa and Nicola Boninsegna) and by the experts of Witlab (Emanuele Rocco, Andrea Saiani, Simone Nascivera and Daniel Perghem).
The primary target of the first mission (26 and 27 August 2016) has been the localization of the boat, since it was not known the exact place where the wreck was laying. Once the boat has been re-discovered, all the necessary operations to georeference the site have been performed, so that the team of divers could concentrate on the correct archaeological documentation of the boat. Additionally to the objectives mentioned above, the mission has been an occasion to test for the first time on a real operating scenario the ArcheoROV, the Open hardware ROV which has been developed by Arc-Team and WitLab.
Target 1 has been achieved in a fast and easy way during the second day of  mission (the first day was dedicated to the divers acclimation at 2450 meters a.s.l.), since the weather and environmental conditions were particularly good, so that the boat was visible from the lake shore. Target 2 has been reached positioning the GPS base station on a referenced point of the "Comitato Glaciologico Trentino" ("Galciological Committee of Trentino") and using the rover with an inflatable kayak to register some Control Points on the surface of the lake, connected through a reel with strategical points on the wreck. Target 3 has been completed collecting pictures for a post-mission 3D reconstruction through simple SfM techniques (already applied in underwater archaeology). The open source software used in post-processing are PPT and openMVG (for 3D reconstruction), MeshLab and CloudCompare (for mesh editing), MicMac (for the orthophoto) and QGIS (for archaeological drawing), all of them running on the (still) experimental new version of ArcheOS (Hypatia). Unlike what has been done in other projects, this time we preferred to recover original colours form underwater photos (to help SfM software in 3D reconstruction), using a series of command of the open source software suite Image Magick (soon I'll writ  a post about this operation). Once completed the primary targets, the spared time of the first expedition has been dedicated to secondary objectives: teting the ArcheoROV (as mentioned before) with positive feedbacks, and the 3D documentation of the landscape surrounding the lake (to improve the free LIDAR model of the area).
What could not be foreseen for the first mission was serendipity: before emerging from the lake, the divers of Nautica Mare team (Nicola Boninsegna and Massimiliano Canossa) found a tree on the bottom of the lake. From an archaeological point of view it has been soon clear that this could be an import discovery, as the surrounding landscape (periglacial grasslands) was without wood (which is almost 200 meters below). The technicians of Arc-Team geolocated the trunk with the GPS, in order to perform a sampling during the second mission.
For this reason, the second mission changed its priority an has been focused on the recovering of core samples by drilling the submerged tree. Further analysis (performed by Mauro Bernabei, CNR-ivalsa) demonstrated that the tree was a Pinus cembra L. with the last ring dated back to 2931 B.C. (4947 years old). Nevertheless, the expedition has maintained its educational purpose, teaching the students of the Liceo Russell the basics of underwater archaeology and performing with them some test on a low-cost sonar, in order to map part of the lake bottom.
All the operations performed during the two underwater missions are summarized in the slides below, which come from the lesson I gave to the student in order to complete our didactic task at the Liceo B. Russell.

Aknowledgements

Prof. Tiziano Camagna (Liceo Scientifico B. Russell), for organizing the missions

Massimiliano Canossa and Nicola Boninsegna (Nautica Mare Team), for the professional support and for discovering the tree

Mauro Bernabei and the CNR-ivalsa, for analizing and dating the wood samples

The Galazzini family (tenants of the refuge “Città di Trento”), for the logistic support

The wildlife park “Adamello-Brenta” and the Department for Cultural Heritage of Trento (Office of Archaeological Heritage) for close cooperation

Last but not least, Dott. Stefano Agosti, Prof. Giovanni Widmann and the students of Liceo B. Russel: Borghesi daniele, Torresani Isabel, Corazzolla Gianluca, Marinolli Davide, Gervasi Federico, Panizza Anna, Calliari Matteo, Gasperi Massimo, Slanzi Marco, Crotti Leonardo, Pontara Nicola, Stanchina Riccardo

Arc-Team: Conflict Archaeology of the First World War on the Carnic ridge and in the Sexten Dolomites

With the centenary years 2014–2018, a hitherto relatively unknown branch of archaeological research, the so-called conflict archaeology, is coming into the limelight. Since  excavation work is able to supply only very selective assertions on account of the enormous extent of the mountain front, the overriding objective of monument conservation in the years to come must focus on taking stock of all material remains from the WWI era.

As a result of the developments in satellite geodesy and 3D documentation, it is now possible to approach this task on a wide scale and comparatively economically. The data collected form the basis of targeted protection measures and provide for future reference numerous new methods of presentation which fulfil the requirements of nature and monument preservation as well as the growing interest of demographic groups.

The article is illustrating the latest research results of Arc-Team and is written in German Language by Rupert Gietl. 
It was published inside the volume:
Das Pustertal und der Krieg 1914–1918 (TAP-Forschungen, Bd. 2) by the 
Tyrol Archive for Photography (TAP)

Download the article

Aerial images and videos of the WW1 trenches along the border between Austria and Italy

Hi all,

in the first days of October 2014, after a rainy summer, we have been engaged in taking aerial pictures and videos of the WW1 trenches in the border between Austria and Italy (villages of Kartitsch, Sexten/Sesto Pusteria and Comelico Superiore). The work was insert into a survey project financed by INTERREG funds. The trenches and military structures in the area of the project were mapped using a GPS (Trimble 5700); the most important and better preserved buildings were documented using different software (PPT, MicMac and OpenMVG) and particular hardware (aerial drone).

Thanks to Walter Gilli, our "flight instructor and drone developer", we have a new hexacopter that you can see in the picture below.

The main components are:

- a DJI NAZA-M V2 as flight controller

- a Spektrum DX8 as radio control

- a Sony Nex-7 as camera (24.3 megapixels)

- a StratoSnapper2 for the remote control of the camera (radio/IR)

- an Alexmos Gimsbal controller (2 axis) to stabilize the camera mount

- all mounted on a handmade frame

The video below shows the hexacopter flying in windy conditions. The high quality of the components makes this hexacopter a perfect instrument even in extreme situation.

The video below shows the a flight in optimal condition: a cloudy day without wind. The gimbal stabilizes the camera even during movements, ensuring a high quality result.

The Austro-Hungarian emplacements on top of Mt. Roteck

(2390m)

Dolomites / South-Tyrol 

 A case study for extensive survey and documentation on occasion of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WW1 on the Italian front in May 2015.

As reported on ATOR in summer 2013, Arc-Team is pushing ahead the plan of  mapping extensive areas of the high alpine frontline of WW1 from the Swiss border to the Dolomites.

Our approach consists in a very detailed DGPS-survey, terrestrial structure from motion, geolocalized images, archeological description and aerial survey by our drone.

Of course we are basing the whole working process on Open Source Soft- and, where possible , also on Hardware.

Now we want to share the latest version of a presentation, given originally in occasion of the 7th Fields Of Conflict Conference in Budapest (Hungary) in October 18.-21. 2012.

It outlines the characteristics of the high alpine working environment, the nature of the WW1 remains, the challenges to meet, our project strategy and first results.

„@MAP“ the Arc-Team Mobile Mapping Platform

In Summer 2013 Arc-Team was charged with the task to survey a micro-DTM on an archaeological area of about 10.000 m2.

The underlying archaeological remains on the side cause small differences in height on the surface and the shape of a nearly 60 x 60 meters large structure was known from aerial photographs.

We've had only 10 hours of fieldwork at our disposal and exploring our options we've made some numbers games:

• Doing the job with total station would allow us to take an average of 5 points per minute, which means a (very optimistic) total amount of 3000 points in 10 hours. (2 operators)

• Using our DGPS, the stroke per minute increases up to a maximum of 15 points per minute, working with continuous point capturing mode, having an operator on the field who's stepping forward, putting down the pole and balancing the bubble eyery 4 seconds. The total amount in this case is about 9000 points. This means an average of only 0,9 points / m2. That would be far to few...

So what would we going to do?

In this occasion we've had the idea to adapt a monocycle in order to have a rollable vehicle carrying the GPS antenna and maintaining a constant distance to the ground.

The result you can admire in the illustration below.

By the help of this tool we were able to increase the stroke on 42 points / minute and a total amount of almost 25.000 points. This means an average of at least 2,5 points / m2.

The result of our efforts was quite lovely: GRASS GIS produced a high quality DTM from which we derive 3D views, isolines and shaded reliefs.

The official name of the trolley is „@MAP“ Arc-Team Mobile Mapping Platform. ;-)

Arc-Team's UAVP: testing the NAZA dji

Hi all,
the "Arc-Team Air Force" acquires a new x-copter. After the:

1. Wolferl UAVP
2. Rolf R Bakke Multicopter from KKmulticopter.kr
3. Rolf R Bakke Multicopter from HobbyKing (work in progress)

we bought a NAZA dji. It is not a Open Hardware project, but a low cost solution to obtain aerial pictures. This drone has a perfect implementation of the GPS module and a revolutionary way of flight; it offers three types of control modes:

1. Manual (M) = manual free flight
2. Attitude (A) = free flight with altitude lock and high attitude stabilize
3. GPS = free flight with hold final position

The movie below show how the GPS works to hold the position till the remote control gives new moving command.

We didn't try yet the RTH (Return To Home); as soon as possible i will upload a new movie about it.

"A pig who doesn't fly is just an ordinary pig."

Marco Pagot alias Porco Rosso

(Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli copyright)