Data Blanket's Innovative AI Firefighting Platform

Multiple studies present climate change as the cause of the increase in wildfire season length and frequency. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, warmer springs, longer summer dry seasons, and drier soils and vegetation caused by climate change are some aspects that have made wildfires uncontrollable in the past few years, with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions sharing similar views.

Stuck in a vicious cycle, the severity of wildfires across the US, Canada, and plenty of foreign nations is also causing over 5% of global emissions each year, pushing organizations and companies to search for more efficient solutions in the detection, prevention, and suppression of fires.

This includes early-stage startup Data Blanket, founded by Omer Bar-Yohay, Yair Katz, and Gur Kimchi. The startup utilizes automated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as well as AI-enhanced computing features in developing its innovative wildfire management platform.

Swift Prevention and Management

Aware of the thousands of lives and millions of acres lost in wildfires, along with the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage, Data Blanket dedicates its platform to empowering firefighters, helping them make more informed and faster decisions in managing wildfires.

While startup Pano AI has developed prevention technology that focuses on swift reporting and detection before a potential fire spreads, Data Blanket centers its innovation on both the prevention and extinguishment of wildfires of various sizes, the former by environmental analyses and assessments and the latter through 5G and Wifi-based communication and data-sharing.

Using its UAVs, Data Blanket is able to conduct surveys of the locations it is covering, paying attention to surrounding vegetation, topography, and other natural factors to determine the likeliness or unlikeliness of a fire occurring in specific spots. By combining the power of innovative AI computing and surveillance, Data Blanket can then determine how a fire may spread along with how quickly a wildfire can occur, collecting all its data to be analyzed and sharing them with firefighters, incident commanders, and pilots.

With this tech, firefighters will have the ability to not only stop a fire from happening in the first place but also to respond and arrive at the scene quickly enough before it spreads uncontrollably. While an increasing number of wildfire management policies, such as mastication, aerial firefighting, and satellite forest patrols, have become more omnipresent, Data Blanket’s innovation of swift reaction time and extensive flame profiling features can very much increase efficiency in fire handling.

Around-the-Clock Management

According to Bar-Yohay, wildfire management has become so incredibly intense that it has to be something equally available around the clock. Data Blanket is made to become the platform that betters overall firefighting systems in every possible way.

Prioritizing speedy reaction times and comprehensive information, all data collected by Data Blanket’s drones are received in real-time, marked with perimeter mapping details included in the startup’s platform. Any relevant fire incident information is also displayed in the form of 2D or 3D images.

Once set up, Data Blanket’s drones, which are equipped with RGB and infrared cameras as well as tactical navigation features, can operate completely on their own without any need for human intervention. The drones capture vital data and visibility on fires that can help firefighters make decisions without having to charge into dangerous territories when unnecessary.

To further develop, fine-tune, and perfect its innovative tech before public release, planned to be in 2024, Data Blanket has demoed its drones and platform with West Coast-based fire agencies. At the moment, the startup’s target market seems to be government-run fire departments, with two business models. Users can either purchase Data Blanket’s system or treat the tech as a service that they can use hourly or daily.

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