Imagine prolonged and intense rainfall affecting most of the Po River basin. As a result, water levels rise progressively along the river's main channel and its tributaries. Landslides, slope failures, road disruptions and widespread critical issues impact several areas across Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. This is the scenario of EXE Po 2026, the national flood risk exercise taking place from 25 to 27 June, coordinated by the Italian Civil Protection Department.

For three days, the Italian Civil Protection System is testing procedures, technologies and coordination capabilities in one of the country's most complex territorial contexts. The exercise brings together institutions, operational agencies, local authorities, research organizations and Competence Centres, each called upon to assess its ability to respond to a large-scale event affecting the entire Po River basin.

Among the participating organizations is the UAS Network of the Civil Protection Department's Competence Centres, comprising ARPA Valle d'Aosta, the Civil Protection Centre of the University of Florence, the National Research Council (CNR), the CIMA Research Foundation, and the EUCENTRE Foundation. The network is responsible for observation, surveying and scientific-technical support activities through the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and Earth observation technologies.

The Civil Protection UAS Network Responds to a Simulated Po River Flood

Throughout the exercise, each UAS team operates in a coordinated manner, contributing complementary expertise and technologies to collect information from the field and support the development of a shared situational picture.

"Over the years, in Valle d'Aosta we have specialized in using drones to carry out surveys in complex geomorphological environments and under challenging operational conditions, such as glaciers and high-mountain areas, also performing on-site data processing whenever immediate results are required. This experience, combined with advanced sensors such as LiDAR and thermal imaging systems, represents significant added value in demanding operational scenarios such as a flood event along the Po River," says Federico Grosso, UAS pilot and researcher at ARPA Valle d'Aosta.

At the Civil Protection Centre of the University of Florence, we have been using remotely piloted aircraft for remote sensing for more than ten years, operating a multi-sensor fleet developed entirely in-house. This includes our patented Saturn multirotor drones alongside a fixed-wing platform designed to rapidly cover large areas such as the Po River basin. In a flood scenario, integration is the key: drone surveys feed into the VEGA platform, a web-GIS environment that combines remote sensing data, field observations, historical datasets and forecasting models to support civil protection decision-making. Through the VEGA mobile application, field teams collect georeferenced photographs, points of interest and annotations that become immediately available within the platform. During this exercise, VEGA is used by the Competence Centres network not only to share collected data, but also to coordinate the activities of the different teams, allowing observations made just a few metres above the ground to become part of a constantly updated and shared operational picture,"explains Guglielmo Rossi, Technical Manager of the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Remote Sensing Laboratory at the Civil Protection Centre of the University of Florence.

Operational activities are primarily based on drone surveys using optical, thermal, LiDAR and multispectral sensors to collect and analyse the geospatial information needed to understand and manage the simulated event, support emergency operation centres, and test procedures aimed at improving knowledge of the simulated impacts and critical issues. Operational personnel are deployed directly in the exercise areas, while specialist staff support activity coordination from the headquarters of the Interregional Agency for the Po River (AIPo) in Parma.

The CNR REMOTE laboratory at the Pisa Research Area will test new terrestrial and satellite telecommunications technologies acquired through the PNRR ITINERIS project for transmitting telemetry data and live video streams from multiple drones. A web application developed by CNR IIT will enable real-time positioning and monitoring of drone operations directly from the operational centre in Parma.

Alongside the use of unmanned aerial systems, the exercise also provides an opportunity to test the integration of multiple information sources. In particular, the activation procedures and operational use of satellite products requested by the participating Regions are being evaluated, assessing both the availability and usefulness of satellite data over the areas of interest and testing their integration into operational workflows supporting monitoring and situational analysis.

"In a large-scale scenario such as the Po River basin, no single technology can fully capture the complexity of the event on its own. This exercise gives us the opportunity to verify how observations collected just a few metres above the ground and data acquired from space can complement each other, contributing to a more comprehensive and dynamic representation of the evolving situation. Bringing together drone surveys, satellite information and operational requests from local authorities allows us to put into practice the process of knowledge integration that, during a real emergency, can help transform data into situational awareness and decision support,"comment Umberto Morra di Cella, Head of UAS, and Luca Pulvirenti, Head of Satellite Observation, at the CIMA Research Foundation.

Technology and Collaboration to Strengthen Emergency Response

EXE Po 2026 provides an important opportunity to demonstrate how scientific expertise, technological innovation and operational capabilities can be effectively integrated in support of civil protection activities.

For the Competence Centres network, the exercise is not only about testing technologies and operational procedures, but also about strengthening collaboration among organizations with different yet complementary areas of expertise. This joint effort contributes to enhancing the capacity of the Italian National Civil Protection Service to acquire timely information, improve situational awareness and support decision-making during emergencies.