13.10.2025

Automated Risk Assessment Tool – Prototype Showcase at Pilot Day 2025

Photo: © START Living Lab project team

At Pilot Day 2025 in Belluno on October 11, the SIENA team presented a web-based prototype for automated drone operation risk assessment. Using a World Café format, mountain rescuers and researchers tested the tool across eight interactive rounds.

The prototype supports both open and specific category operations, focused on the Austria-Italy border region.

Core features:

  • Enhanced risk layers: airspace boundaries, settlement areas, nature reserves, low-level flight zones
  • Automatic SORA semantic modeling based on UAS type and max speed
  • Instant risk calculation for uploaded or drawn flight polygons
  • Hex-grid pre-aggregation enabling second-fast assessments
  • Clear visualization: color scale for open ops, GRC/ARC/SAIL for specific operations

Feedback was consistently positive: speed, intuitive interface, and cross-border data integration were highlighted as key strengths. Requests for future development include a standard drone database, operation start-time planning, weather layers, obstacle mapping, and an offline-capable mobile app.


Development priorities have been updated accordingly: short-term implementation covers drone database, start-time selection, and obstacle layers. Features like weather risk modeling or Europe-wide coverage are planned for follow-up projects.

The START Living Lab project receives co-financing from the European Union under the Interreg Italy-Austria programme. Interreg is an EU initiative that funds cooperation between regions and countries, enabling them to address shared challenges together. By supporting collaborative projects across borders, Interreg strengthens regional development, environmental protection, and social and economic ties in Europe.