New fire fighting technology is being tested in the ancient forests of Sardinia

The summer of 2021 caught fire for three tireless days, more than 13,000 hectares of western sardinia. Carlo Poddy, a forestry expert on the island, says, “Residents saw their whole world in flames around them.” Although they began with a road -edge car accident, which were immediately informed to firefighters, conditions – for more than 40 ° C; An ongoing drought; And the sharp, hot siroko winds flying from Africa – Blaze is difficult to stop.

Fire like them is bound to become more common and vicious in a warm world, Sri Poddy says, passing through the forest of Santu Lousurgu, one of the areas colliding with that heat. So the island is preparing.

As part of those preparations, Mr. Poddy’s team, in Medi, a Sardinia-based environmental non-profit organization, has installed 20 fire-detection sensors in Santu Lucu Forest. These are part of a pilot program by a German forest-marketing company Dreed Networks, which began in 2022 and is sponsored by a telecom firm Vodafone.

The sensors, which hang from branches at a distance of three to four meters from the ground like green Christmas-tree jewelry, collect information about everything from carbon monoxide and hydrogen concentrations to temperature, humidity and wind pressure. These figures are then sent to analyze by the Bespok Artificial-Intelligence (AI) model trained on data collected from the forests around the world. If any anomalies are seen, a call is sent to emergency services for action.

So far, the fire on Sardinia has been detected in the old -fashioned manner: from the sight. During the fire-risk season, from 1 June to 31 October, supervisors in lookout towers work to spot the spotley smoke plum exiting the greenery. But in most of these cases, the fire has started spreading only once, “DRED CERCTUSTER BINCCUSCULTE says Carrsten Brinkuscult. Dryad’s sensors work more like a feeling of smell, identifying air chemicals due to flames and solution before smoke. This allows firefighters to intervene, before it is too large to control the explosion, Sri Brinkschult is called, and there is a clear understanding to deal with where it.

The company’s sensor costs $ 100 per unit. They are designed to install at a interval of a few hundred meters in strategic places where the fire is likely to be the most. Since about 85% of the wildfires are accidentally caused by humans, these high -risk positions include power lines, hiking routes, roads and railways. Such a strategic purposement sensor can be cheaper than the methods of suppression of alternative wildfire, called Sri Brinkschult. Once established, the sensor can stay in the area up to 15 years and update their firmware from a distance.

Since each environment is different, and that passes for an discrepancy in one area, it can represent trade as usual in another, the AI ​​model should be sewn to include factors such as air speed, humidity and local variations in temperature. A system designed for an Italian jungle will not work evenly well for one in Canada, called Bogdan Diakonu at Romania’s Constantine Bronxusi University, which is not included with a drawde. Mr. Poddy says that the final test for Sardinia would be if the sensor network can be deployed with similar effectiveness with coastal pine forests near the island beaches. These atmosphere – although equally susceptible to fire – Santu Lousurgu is very different from them.

Dryad thus running 50 pilot programs to test its technology with positive initial results from Spain to Indonesia. For example, at a pilot program in Lebanon, the sensor detected a small illegal fire due to a farmer when it was started, while burning dried grapes within 30 minutes, while traditional vision techniques took several hours.

Some of other companies worldwide have achieved similar success with analog technology. With the N5 sensor, an American firm, Hamburg-based breeze technologies have installed sensors in the forests in California. Their highly sensitive detectors are deployed at intervals between two and five kilometers and can sniff the forest fire from five to 15 minutes after the initial burning, saying the company’s boss Robert Henke. These sensors also measure polluting particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) in the air. Their results have been confirmed in projects all over America, Canada, Germany and Peru.

To make the actual difference in effective initial detection of the fire, however, these such as the sensor network will need to be installed in large numbers, called Sri BrinksCult. Nevertheless, the sensors will only be able to do so on their own. Their real effect will depend on how well they are integrated with other existing firefighting measures, from mapping and data-analysis tools to the ability to immediately deploy firecrowters. Dr. Diakonu says, what is more, the risk of false positivity from such sensitive systems is very real.

Overcoming such challenges will give adequate awards. Ankita Mohapatra launched a research laboratory at California State University in Fulrton, which has also filed a patent application for the same fire-detecting sensor network. “All different technologies can work together to create a strong solution and work together,” Dr. Mohapatra says. Detection of initial fire will allow quick decisions and communication with nearby cities, which may require to be emptied. It can save life.

For now, Dryad has also received a European grant of € 3.8m ($ 4m) and invested € 1.2m in addition to its own to create an autonomous system capable of deploying camera-carrying drones on the site of sensor-spotted Solding. The drones will distribute live feeds from above to help firefighters to decide how it is best to intervene. “Finally”, Mr. Brinkschult says, “We want to digitize the forest.”

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