In a world in which wildfires are escalating and becoming more destructive, the future of wildfire suppression must be ultra-early and autonomous

Dryad Networks, a pioneer in ultra-early wildfire detection technology, today announced the first public demonstration of its Silvanet sensor network detecting and Silvaguard drone system extinguishing a fire in under 12 minutes from ignition with no human intervention – marking a major leap forward for early wildfire detection and response. The event proved that Dryad’s approach of combining ultra-early detection using AI-powered gas sensors with small, autonomous drone systems can dramatically reduce wildfire damage and response time.

In this groundbreaking Dryad demonstration:

• Silvanet sensor network detected a fire within three minutes of ignition
• Silvaguard observation drone – for which Dryad developed the controlling on-board computer and vision system – autonomously launched from its solar-powered hangar to locate the fire using optical and infrared imaging
• Silvaguard suppression drone, enhanced with the same on-board computer and vision system, launched and extinguished the fire

… all within less than 12 minutes from ignition, fully autonomous with no human intervention.

The XPRIZE Wildfire jury, technical experts, partner representatives and members of the wildfire response community attended the event. XPRIZE Wildfire is a global competition in which international teams compete with technologies and solutions to end destructive wildfires. Dryad is among 15 semi-finalists in the competition, and the jury attended the demonstration to judge the company’s technical progress to inform its selection of finalists.

“The new Silvaguard suppression drone completes our solution – combining Silvanet and Silvaguard into the world’s first end-to-end autonomous wildfire suppression system combining ultra-early detection with AI-powered gas sensors, and autonomous observation and suppression drones,” said Dryad CEO Carsten Brinkschulte. “We are excited to present our Silvaguard suppression drone for the first time to XPRIZE Wildfire, and we’re honored to work with other teams towards the goal of ending destructive wildfires, aiming to detect and extinguish wildfires within 10 minutes of ignition. We strongly believe that the future of wildfire suppression is ultra-early and autonomous.”

Dryad’s Silvaguard is the world’s first end-to-end, fully autonomous wildfire detection and suppression system combining ground-based sensors with autonomous observation and suppression drones. The technology combines AI, IoT and robotics into a single, autonomous system that can identify and neutralize fires faster and more precisely than other systems, satellites, cameras or humans. Dryad combines AI-powered Silvanet gas sensors and autonomous Silvaguard drones to independently detect, locate and extinguish wildfires within minutes from ignition.

That’s more important than ever amid escalating wildfires, which have become increasingly destructive in recent years. The U.S. is not alone in facing this alarming trend. Australia, Brazil, Canada and regions of the Mediterranean are also experiencing escalating wildfire risk.

For more information about Dryad:

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About Dryad Networks

Dryad provides ultra-early detection of wildfires and health and growth-monitoring of forests through the Silvanet solution – solar-powered gas sensors deployed in a large-scale IoT sensor network. Dryad aims to reduce unwanted wildfires, which cause up to 20% of global CO2 emissions and have a devastating impact on biodiversity. By 2030, Dryad aims to prevent 2.8 million hectares (6.9 million acres) of forest from burning, preventing 1.1 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions.

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