Coimbra, Portugal, June 23, 2025 (Lusa) - A consortium led by a team of researchers from the University of Coimbra has received €1.5 million to create a digital tool to support fire risk management, the institution announced on Monday.
The aim of the consortium led by researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) is to develop a “digital twin” of the forest.
“A ‘digital twin’ consists of a computer-based reproduction of the most relevant details to represent a given physical reality,” explained the project coordinator, Domingos Xavier Viegas, in a press release sent to the Lusa news agency.
In the case of this project, it is “a forest, with the components and parameters required to describe and model the physical processes for its management with technological and human resources,” he added.
According to the professor emeritus at FCTUC, “using different models, we will use this numerical data to simulate various interventions related to fire risk management, from prevention to fighting and post-fire recovery, virtually replicating the processes that take place in the physical world.”
The Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics at FCTUC serves as the coordinating entity for the ForestSphere project, which involves the participation of the Institute of Systems and Robotics, the companies Onesource, Bold Robotics, Sim4Safety, and REN, as well as the Intermunicipal Community of Coimbra and the Municipality of Lousã.
The FCTUC said that the ForestSphere project aims to “reconstruct the orography, vegetation cover, dwellings and structures, as well as the meteorological environment, which can influence forest fires”, based on sensory data that various sources—such as satellites and aerial and terrestrial means—provide.
“With this project, researchers hope to incorporate various decision-making support tools that academia has developed nationally and internationally to improve the ability to interact in the risk management process, including in the training of agents,” he added.
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