Autonomous aerial wildfire detection and suppression system

A method for autonomous wildfire detection and suppression, comprising:

• continuously monitoring a vast geographic region to generate monitoring results, using high altitude unmanned aerial vehicles that are equipped with long-wave infrared sensors such that each point within the region is sensed within an first period that does not exceed about five minutes;
• processing in real time and by a computerized system, the monitoring results to detect an ignition signature at an ignition point, using sub-pixel radiometric processing and temporal analysis;
• when finding the ignition signature, executing a fire extinguishing process that is completed within a second period, wherein a duration of a sum of the first period and the second period does not exceed a defined value between fifteen and thirty minutes;
• wherein the executing comprises:
• launching by a given high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle, a guided fire-suppression capsule toward the ignition point;
• autonomously navigating the guided fire-suppression capsule towards the ignition point;
• and
• autonomously delivering, by the guided fire-suppression capsule, a fire suppressant material to the ignition point.