The SECESTA project: an overview

SECESTA is a project funded under the POR FESR Sicily 2007-2013 program, recently concluded. The project aimed at the development of an early-warning wireless network of multisensor nodes for the monitoring of the volcanic ash fall-out phenomenon along the area spreading from main craters of the Etna volcano to the Fontanarossa international airport. The network will provide a spatially distributed information useful to predict the time-space evolution of the phenomenon. Such information is useful to implement an optimal planning of actions required to both restore the airport functionalities and manage air traffic during the ongoing phenomenon. This paper provide an overview of the activities of the researchers of the DIEEI of the University of Catania, in charge of developing low cost methodologies for the measurement of the typical parameters characterizing the volcanic ash fall-out (flow-rate and granulometry).