Drones that protect the environment by preventing wildfires
OwnerOwen Charles Wengreeninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Wildfires release enormous quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in addition to devastating animal habitats, destroying homes, and causing fatalities. Drones equipped with artificial intelligence to navigate through wooded locations, fire-detection hardware, and firefighting hardware can protect the environment by preventing wildfires. Methods can use a drone system that includes one or more drones to prevent wildfires. Each drone can include an infrared camera configured to detect fires. Each drone can fly in view of areas that might have a fire. After detecting a fire, the drone system can put out the fire if the fire is small. The drone system can also notify systems and people who can put out the fire.
Claims10
A method of using a drone system comprising a first drone to prevent a wildfire, wherein the first drone comprises an infrared camera system, the method comprising:
- flying, by the drone system, the first drone in view of a camping area having a first campsite;
- detecting, by the infrared camera system, a first heat signature of the first campsite, wherein the infrared camera system detects the first heat signature while the drone is at a first location;
- determining, by the drone system, that the first heat signature is indicative of a first fire;
- in response to determining, by the drone system, that the first heat signature is indicative of the first fire, leaving, by the first drone, a first flight path configured to enable the first drone to fly between the first campsite and a second campsite of the camping area, then flying, by the first drone, along a second flight path;
- at a second location located on the second flight path, detecting, by the infrared camera system, a second heat signature of the first campsite;
- determining, by the drone system, that the second heat signature is indicative of a person not being present in the first campsite;
- and
- in response to determining that the first heat signature is indicative of the first fire and determining that the second heat signature is indicative of the person not being present in the first campsite, sending, by the drone system, a notification regarding the first fire to a remote computing device,
- wherein the second location is located within an area that is shaped as a 45-degree cone having a vertex that is located at a center of the first fire, wherein the height of the cone is 100 feet, wherein detecting, by the infrared camera system, the second heat signature of the first campsite comprises flying, autonomously by the first drone, into the area that is shaped as the 45-degree cone, orienting, by the first drone, the infrared camera system outward from the cone to detect the second heat signature outside the 45-degree cone while the first drone is located inside the 45-degree cone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.