CICLOPE signed three new contracts for the installation of 19 surveillance towers in the region of Santarém and Castelo Branco. With these towers, CICLOPE predicts to cover 20% of the Portuguese territory.
The contracts with Comunidade Intermunicipal do Médio Tejo, Comunidade Intermunicipal da Lezíria do Tejo, and Comunidade Intermunicipal da Beira Baixa intend to broaden the area covered by the surveillance system in these regions. The towers will be distributed by the two districts allowing to supplement identified coverage gaps. A specialised technical team has already installed 7 towers and the remaining 12 should be fully operational by the end of this year.
CICLOPE is a system based on images captured by Video Surveillance and Data Acquisition Towers (TVAD, in Portuguese) installed in strategic locations based on previous studies in each region. The images are transmitted through dedicated communications and in real-time to a Management and Control Centre, usually at the District Centres of Operations and Rescue from the ANPC, to the operatives at the control room and then saved for analysis. As a surveillance system developed for large areas CICLOPE sets itself as a support tool for decision making in forest monitoring, especially in fire fighting.
