Drones for the Adriatic: BRIGANTINE at Aquafarm 2026
18/02/2026
A drone on the sea can help save an ecosystem. On 18 and 19 February 2026, the BRIGANTINE team will take part in Aquafarm in Pordenone. The project will be presented at Stand 126, Hall 5bis. Researchers from the University of Udine and the University of Zagreb will showcase their work. The goal is clear: to conserve and protect the biodiversity of the Adriatic Sea. They will explain how marine drones collect chemical, physical, and multispectral data to monitor ecosystems in real time.
BRIGANTINE is an ambitious cross-border project. Its mission is to safeguard the Adriatic through continuous and autonomous marine monitoring. The system uses surface drones developed in a multidisciplinary context by the University of Udine. These drones gather images and chemico-physical data from the sea. Advanced data-fusion techniques combine this information to support environmental assessment.
The technology helps researchers study seagrass meadows and detect environmental stressors. The project is coordinated by Sabina Susmel and is part of the Interreg Italy–Croatia programme. With a budget of about €1.7 million, it involves five partners: the Universities of Udine, Zagreb and Marche Polytechnic University, the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb, and CORILA.
Aquafarm is an international fair dedicated to aquaculture, shellfish farming, algae cultivation, and the fishing industry. It offers visitors the chance to explore European-funded Interreg projects focused on innovation and sustainability. The University of Udine presents three initiatives: BRIGANTINE, Circular Rainbow, and Marinet. Together, they promote biodiversity protection, digitalized water systems, artificial intelligence, and sustainable aquaculture models. Aquafarm thus becomes a meeting point between science, industry, and environmental responsibility.
