How long The need to identify a tourist helmet lost in the 183-hectare mountain area, analyzing 2600 frames made by a drone from about 50 meters? If made with human eye, weeks or months. Analyzed by the artificial intelligence system, one afternoon. National Alpine and Spelological Emergency Corps, known for its Italian initialism CNSAS, He consisted in AI to find the body of a missing person in Italy in the Piedmont region on the northern surface of Monviso – the highest peak in the Cottan Alps – September 2024.
According to Saverio Isola, the CNSAS drone pilot, who intervened with his colleague Giorgio Viana, the operation – including the search for any sign of the missing tourist, discovering and recovering his body, and stopping due to bad weather – rafting less than three days.
Recovery operations
On the back to the ground, his eyes stuck in the mountains, 600 meters below the top, the body of a 64-year-old Ligurian Nicola Ivaldo was found in the morning on Thursday, July 31, over 10 months after his disappearance, thanks to his helmet, which collided with the rest of the landscape.
“This AI software identified some pixels of a different color in photos taken on Tuesday,” explains Isola, playing step by step the operation that led to the discovery and recovery of the remains located at an altitude of about 3150 meters, on the right side of the three gorges that cross the northern face of Monviso, over a hanging iceberg.
“We woke up at 4 am to achieve a very distant point with good visibility on the channel where red pixels were detected, and we used a drone to check if it was really a helmet,” says Isola. “Then we took all the necessary photos and measurements, sending information to the Emergency Coordination Center, which was able to send the Brigadier Helicopter of the Firefighter to recover and police surgery.”
The role of AI
Each drone operation is part of the strict method developed by CNSA in coordination EnacA national agency that supervises civil aviation. “We have been using drones for about five years and for about a year and a half, we integrate technologies for color recognition and shape, developing them from month to month,” explains Isola. “But all this would be useless without technical teams.”
Information from Ivaldo’s mobile phone was immediately invaluable. Two pilots drone who moved in this area were assisted by the experience and knowledge of four experts of mountain rescuers. “This is a human achievement, but it would be impossible without technology. It’s a band’s success,” said Isola.