Wildfires are an escalating global crisis driven by climate change, threatening ecosystems, economies, and communities. Conventional wildfire detection methods are failing to keep pace with their increasing frequency and intensity, necessitating the development of novel solutions for effective wildfire detection.
Image Credit: Fabrizio Maffei/Shutterstock.com
Dryad, a startup working on ultra-early wildfire detection, is revolutionizing the detection and response to wildfires, offering hope in the battle against this devastating threat.1-4
Why are Wildfires a Threat to the Environment?
Wildfires are becoming more common and destructive with the planet’s changing weather patterns due to climate change caused by global warming. A sharp rise in fire activity has led to millions of hectares of tree cover loss in recent years. Understanding the fire weather and its effects is critical for communities to protect and prepare themselves from the growing wildfire threats.1-3,5
Extreme and uncontrollable wildfires could devastate people and biodiversity and further exacerbate climate change through significant greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere.1-3
Increased wildfire activity has a high economic cost, poses major risks to public health, and destroys ecosystems. Wildfire mitigation strategies are implemented to address the growing threat of wildfires, with advanced fire detection and early warning systems playing a key role.1-3
Challenges of Wildfire Detection
Early wildfire detection is challenging as wildfire-prone areas commonly feature rugged, remote terrains with limited visibility and connectivity. At lower altitudes, incipient fires could remain unnoticed for a long time due to the limited generation of observable indicators, such as subtle gas spikes and temperature/small smoke plumes.
Conventional wildfire detection heavily depends on the unpredictable nature of eyewitness reports.6 Therefore, novel solutions, such as those developed by Dryad, are required to monitor remote wildfire-prone areas more efficiently and accurately.4
Ultra-Early Wildfire Detection with Dryad
Dryad is a Berlin-Brandenburg-based environmental Internet of Things (IoT) startup that provides ultra-early wildfire detection and growth and health monitoring solutions for private and public forests.4,7,8
The startup has developed a large-scale IoT network that allows forest owners to analyze, protect, and monitor the world’s most remote and extensive forests. The startup has focused on developing solar-powered environmental sensor networks to enhance forest monitoring and wildfire detection.4,7,8
Dryad launched its first ultra-early wildfire detection solution, Silvanet, in July 2021. The startup received €1.8m in seed funding and secured €1.6m in low-interest loans and grants from ProFIT Brandenburg to develop Silvanet. Dryad aims to protect 2.8 million hectares of forest from wildfires by 2030, preventing 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, saving 166 million animals, and avoiding significant economic losses.4,7,8
Ultra-Early Detection of Wildfires with IoT - Carsten Brinkschulte, Dryad - The Things Conference
Video Credit: The Things Industries/YouTube.com
Dryad’s Role in Fire Prevention
Dryad’s wildfire detection technologies play a critical role in saving vital ecosystems. The startup develops a wireless environmental sensor network using a long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN), the leading open standard for long-range radio IoT networks. This allows third-party applications and sensors integration as there is no single-vendor lock-in.4
Dryad’s distributed, scalable, solar-powered architecture supports millions of low-cost sensors and enables extensive deployments in regions without network coverage/forests. Thus, the architecture is suitable for deploying IoT environmental sensors like gas, humidity, and temperature sensors, and for building continent-wide or nationwide networks.4
Cloud-based big data tools for monitoring, alerting, and analytics are used to process data collected in the network. This ensures ultra-early detection of wildfires during the critical smoldering phase. The tools provide actionable tools and insights for forest owners to make more informed decisions.4
Dryad’s Silvanet Suite for Wildfire Detection
Dryad’s Silvanet suite, comprising of Silvanet Wildfire Sensor, Silvanet Mesh Gateway, Silvanet Border Gateway, and Silvanet Cloud Platform, is a comprehensive solution for early wildfire detection, along with forest growth, management, health, and monitoring.9
Silvanet Wildfire Sensor
This sensor has been designed for ultra-early wildfire detection, identifying fires within minutes to minimize impact and damage. The wildfire sensor is sensitive to gases like carbon monoxide and hydrogen and detects fires in the smoldering phase, enabling firefighters to contain and extinguish them.9
The embedded artificial intelligence (AI) within the sensor minimizes false alarms and ensures accurate fire detection. These sensors also monitor microclimate conditions by measuring air pressure, temperature, and humidity.9
The sensor operates maintenance-free for 10-15 years using LoRaWAN for wireless data transmission and utilizes supercapacitors instead of batteries, eliminating the requirement for toxic materials like lithium.9
Silvanet Mesh Gateway
The Silvanet Network is expanded using the Silvanet Mesh Gateway for large-scale deployments using the multi-hop LoRaWAN mesh network (patent-pending). The expansion achieved using the multi-hop network is much beyond the standard single-hop gateways’ range.9
The gateway connects through LoRa to support third-party devices and Silvanet Wildfire Sensors. In forests, the solar-powered gateways could cover a 2-10 km radius based on the positioning and local topology.9
The Mesh Gateway only operates on LoRa radio to communicate with a Border Gateway or other Mesh Gateways, eliminating the need for wired/direct 4G/long-term evolution (LTE) connections. The satellite connectivity and embedded solar panels ensure off-grid operations in remote locations. 24/7 wildfire monitoring is realized when the Mesh Gateway is integrated with the Silvanet Border Gateway.9
Silvanet Border Gateway
The Border Gateway, installed at the forest's edge, relays messages from Wildfire Sensors to the Silvanet Cloud Platform and connects the Mesh Gateways. Connectivity is achieved through built-in 4G, 2G, Ethernet, and built-in Satellite, specifically in regions without mobile network coverage. The gateway can also be powered using solar cells.9
Silvanet Cloud Platform
This platform offers an all-in-one web app with an integrated suite of tools, including alert management, site health monitoring, device management, and deployment planning. The planning tool simplifies network deployment by automating gateway and sensor positioning. It also integrates topography, LoRaWAN coverage simulation, three-dimensional (3D) mapping, and terrain highlights to provide actionable detailed insights for deployment.9
Site health monitoring offers an interactive map to track sensor devices and gateways, provides a holistic view of forest health, and makes fire risk predictions. Alert Center delivers multi-channel notifications (in-app, email, push) to ensure reliable and timely communication of crucial events, improving wildfire detection and forest management efforts.9
Use Cases of Dryad Network's Wildfire Detection Solutions
Dryad’s wildfire detection technology has diverse use cases and delivers significant value in different sectors. The technology is essential for government public sector municipalities, firefighting disaster response, and utility and grid rail infrastructure.4
The transport and power infrastructure is a major cause of wildfires. Dryad’s durable and cost-effective technology could offer protection against liabilities. Similarly, automated detection decreases the possibilities of human error, resulting in more reliable and accurate information about the fire's progression and location, which is crucial for firefighting disaster response.4
Conclusion
Dryad's ultra-early wildfire detection technology is a critical innovation in combating the escalating wildfire crisis driven by climate change. Providing fast, reliable detection and actionable insights significantly enhances fire prevention, response, and ecosystem protection.
The solution is vital for forest management, municipalities, and infrastructure, helping to mitigate economic losses and environmental damage. It revolutionizes the industry by offering scalable, cost-effective, and automated solutions that reduce human error and improve fire response. This project represents a transformative step in wildfire management, safeguarding lives, wildlife, and resources worldwide.
References and Further Reading
- Climate Change Indicators: Wildfires [Online] Available at https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-wildfires (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
- Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires [Online] Available at https://www.unep.org/resources/report/spreading-wildfire-rising-threat-extraordinary-landscape-fires (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
- MacCarthy, J., Richter, J., Tyukavina, S., Weisse, M., Harris, N. (2024) The Latest Data Confirms: Forest Fires Are Getting Worse [Online] Available at https://www.wri.org/insights/global-trends-forest-fires (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
- Connecting The Natural World [Online] Available at https://www.dryad.net/ (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
- Fire weather [Online] Available at https://natural-resources.canada.ca/climate-change/climate-change-impacts-forests/impacts-climate-change-forests/fire-weather/17776 (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
- Ali, O (2024) Innovations in Wildfire Detection: Advances in Early Warning Systems [Online] Available at https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1785 (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
- Dryad Networks launches Silvanet, aiming to save 400m tons of CO2 emissions [Online] Available at https://www.dryad.net/post/dryad-networks-launches-silvanet-aiming-to-save-400m-tons-of-co2-emissions (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
- Mission [Online] Available at https://www.dryad.net/sustainability (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
- AI Wildfire Detection with SILVANET [Online] Available at https://www.dryad.net/silvanet (Accessed on 31 December 2024)
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