Interdisciplinary Approach to Rockfall Forecasting

Our work addresses a new methodology for assessing and monitoring rockfalls through an integrated multi-disciplinary approach, taking advantage of innovative devices and sensors (terrestrial laser scanners, ground-based interferometric SAR systems, ground penetrating radars, seismic and acoustic sensor networks) in order to increase the achievable information. The research project promotes the integration of different techniques to facilitate a better analysis of complex processes as rockfalls. This means either to combine datasets collected with different sensors and to develop expert systems capable to merge diverse measurements as well as to support decision makers. Field activities are undergoing experimentation in prealpine and alpine test sites.