The Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), through its Air and Space Projects Coordinating Office (PRAE), attached to the School of Geomatics, is working on the first project approved in the country under the framework of the European Union’s HORIZONTE 2020 grant program, called AMPERE (Asset Mapping Platform for Emerging CountRies Electrification).
The AMPERE project is based on the use of the European Union’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GALILEO and EGNOS constellation) as a precision tool, which together with the use of RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems), carry out georeferenced surveys of power lines networks in order to detect anomalies and energy losses in low and high voltage wiring by means of different types of cameras and sensors. By means of different data collection processes such as GIS (Geographic Information System) processing, a better efficiency in the technical and administrative management of the country’s electricity sector is pursued.
PRAE, a management unit of initiatives and projects specialized in the aeronautical and aerospace branch, is an effort of the strategic alliance UNPHU – IDAC, which has been carrying out a collaborative work with the Delegation of the European Union to disseminate through projects such as AMPERE, the benefits and advantages of the use of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GALILEO), and its various applications in multiple sectors.
As part of the dissemination activities, last year the first webinar “Perspectives of Satellite Navigation in the Dominican Republic: GALILEO and the AMPERE project” was held, with the participation of the Project Executing Unit (UEP) of the Dominican Corporation of State Electrical Companies (CDEEE), as well as the Directorate of Air Navigation (DINA) of the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation (IDAC).
AMPERE is currently in its second year of execution and is expected to be successfully completed by June 2022. In the following months, the results of the project and its social impact will be made public.
