Vodafone is using the IoT to prevent forest fires in Spain in collaboration with Dryad and Securitas.

The IoT sensor system adapts to any type of wooded forest environment and the data collected are processed using machine learning and big data tools, allowing the sensors to identify how the forest in which they are installed smells.

Securitas Seguridad will be in charge of implementing this in Spain, installing, maintaining and monitoring these sensors from its operations centre and providing a first response to alerts. Soon, the security services company will close the first pilot at the DuPont facilities in Asturias.

Vodafone has already successfully tested the technology in an area of Sardinia most besieged by fire as part of its agreement with the Extreme E electric off-road car competition.

Vodafone presented the IoT technology for the early detection of fires in Spain at its stand at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The tool, capable of operating in forest environments where the impacts of climate change are more difficult to monitor, could help reduce the percentage of area devastated by fire, which rose to almost 310,000 hectares in Spain in the past year according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

Securitas Seguridad España will be in charge of installing and maintaining these devices and monitoring them from its operations centre.

The technology was conceived in collaboration with German company Dryad, which has developed a wireless network of environmental sensors based on an open standard for long-range radio IoT networks. Its distributed architecture allows large-scale deployment in areas without network coverage. The data collected on the network are processed by machine-learning tools embedded in the sensor itself and also by cloud-based big data tools for analysis, monitoring and alerting.

Specifically, this would be based on an IoT deployment using three types of elements: gas sensors powered by solar panels, which are installed in trees and identify a fire in its initial phase; gateways or mesh gateways with broad spectrum modulation technology, to provide coverage to the gas sensors and aggregate the data from the deployed sensors; and monitoring and communications systems with connectivity, which dump the information collected and send it to the cloud that manages the supervision system.

The technology can adapt to any type of wooded forest environment because the machine-learning processing makes the sensors capable of identifying how the specific forest in which they are installed smells and, if there is a fire, detecting it.

In addition, the system is complementary to detection systems based on cameras and satellites and can warn of the existence of forest fires in the slow combustion phase in a matter of minutes.

Vodafone has analysed the importance and impact that protecting the entire wooded mass of Spain with IoT technology can have to contribute to the prevention of forest fires. The forest ecosystems of Spain occupy just over twenty-six million hectares, of which almost fifteen million are wooded, representing 29% of the national territory. All this wooded area could be protected with this technology.

To test the application, Securitas Seguridad will soon complete the first pilot in Spain, carried out in the forests surrounding the DuPont plant in Asturias. The objective will be to incorporate it soon into its portfolio of services both for other private clients and for public administrations.

“Our cloud-based IoT solutions are world leaders for their detection and communication capabilities, and allow us to optimise the cost of fighting fire, minimising its impact on forest areas and helping to protect the lives of thousands of people and preserve natural ecosystems,” said Daniel Barallat, director of IoT at Vodafone Spain.

Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Dryad, added: “We are delighted to be working with Vodafone and Securitas to bring our forest fire detection technology to Spain, a country so affected by fire. Our Silvanet represents a breakthrough in early detection thanks to its ability to detect smouldering fires in a matter of minutes, and we look forward to further rolling it out in the region.”

The early fire detection technology that was presented at the MWC is already being tested in local communities in the Montiferru area, the region of Sardinia most affected by the forest fires in summer 2021. Vodafone has deployed in the area LPWAN long-life sensors to detect any fire and send an alert to the authorities as soon as possible.

This project is part of the association as a technological partner of the operator with Extreme E, the electric SUV competition that has been held all over the planet since 2021 to raise awareness about climate change. Through this collaboration, Vodafone will contribute its experience and capacity, with technologies such as 5G, MPN, IoT and MEC, which will be integrated into Extreme E’s global operations.