AI-Enabled Wildfire Monitoring Sensors Exhibited at CES 2024

Dryad, a company developing smart sensors for wildfire detection, is showcasing its technology at CES this week.

The company’s system, Silvanet, leverages AI-enabled gas sensors within a large-scale, solar-powered mesh network, which is embedded in forested areas. 

The technology enables early detection of wildfires by monitoring for changes to gasses in the air, triggering an alert if high amounts of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds are detected.

Silvanet’s efficacy was recently demonstrated in Lebanon, where it successfully identified and raised the alarm about an unauthorized fire at a customer site.

Dryad’s system has been deployed in the region since January 2023, with 91 sensors and two gateways covering an extensive 78-hectare area in the forest adjacent to Deir Mar Moussa. 

The incident, in December, involved a farmer burning dry grapevines. Silvanet identified changes to the air composition and triggered an alert predicting a 70% probability of smoke at 10:33 a.m.

Credit: Dryad

"We are dedicated to refining our technology to address evolving challenges,” said Carsten Brinkschulte, Dryad’s CEO. “The recent incident in Lebanon highlights the crucial role of ultra-early detection in protecting vulnerable regions from the devastating impact of wildfires."

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Silvanet’s machine learning models can be adapted depending on the deployment site’s environment enhancing the reliability and accuracy of the system.