An Internet of the Forest suite of products detects and mitigates forest fires at their earliest stages.
Every summer gets hotter, and stories of fires in places like Australia, Greece, and the US hit our news. Fires destroy ecosystems, damage the environment, demolish workplaces, homes, and local infrastructure, and cause the loss of wildlife and the death of animals and people, severely impacting a country’s carbon emissions.
However, while burnt homes often get the most media interest, forests are heavily susceptible to fires. But how can fires in places like the Amazon and remote Australia be prevented? The answer lies in technology.
Tools, including satellite imaging, ground-based cameras, drones, and watchtowers, monitor for smoke or flames. Yet, in landscapes prone to rapid tinder-dry conditions, the swiftness with which wildfires propagate means that forest fires must be detected quickly.
German startup Dryad Networks has developed Silvanet, a suite of products that detects wildfires during their smouldering phase (within their first hour or even the first 30 minutes) using highly precise gas sensors that can detect hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and other gases to a parts-per-million (PPM) accuracy.