Israeli students develop tech to identify wildfires before they spread

Forest fire on Har Eitan, next to Jerusalem.. (photo credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Israeli students have developed a special system designed to identify wildfires at an early stage before they spread, preventing damage and even saving lives.

Developed by 17 year-old twins Gilad and Natan Drori, the system uses aerial photos taken by satellite or cameras attached to observer balloons and analyzes and compares them using an algorithm for image processing.

The algorithm analyzes the color of the image using infrared and ultraviolet waves, according to the time of the photograph. It compares images taken at different times in order to ascertain if there is an indication of a fire. If a blaze is detected, an alert is then sent to the relevant authorities with the coordinates of the fire.

According to Gilad, the idea for the project came after the wildfires which ravaged Israel in late 2016. Some 20,000–30,000 dunams were burnt and firefighters from Israel and around the world battled 1,773 fires, at least 39 of which required at least ten crews or more.

In 2010, 44 people were killed in Israel’s worst wildfire.

The three-day Carmel Forest Fire destroyed thousands of acres of land and 17,000 people were evacuated from their homes as well as various prisons, hospitals and military jails.

“I thought that we should develop a system that could recognize a wildfire at an early stage, since once it spreads it’s hard to stop,” Gilad, who wants to be a mechanical engineer told The Jerusalem Post.

“Alerting authorities to a wildfire when it’s just beginning is paramount,” Natan, who likes physics, added. “A fire grows in an accelerant manner because as it’s diameter grows it exposes more flammable material to it and therefore it keeps growing.”

Their project was presented at the 12th annual "Young Engineer" conference that took place earlier this month at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology - put on by the ORT Israel network and sponsored by Lockheed Martin.

Some 250 12th graders from 23 schools from all over the country participated in the conference and presented projects which were divided into a number of categories including bio-medicine, space, ecology, robotics and more. The projects were judged by academics, businessmen, military personnel as well as teachers from technological fields.

According to Joshua Shani, Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin Israel, investing in the education of the future generation of Israeli engineers is of great importance to the company.

“When ORT Israel asked Lockheed Martin through my office if we were willing to support an event in the Technion, and to maybe help them financially and say a few words I immediately said yes,” Shani, whose own father learnt his trade from ORT in an IDP camp following the Holocaust, told The Post.

“It was a great event and I know that the money we contributed has already helped some students,” he said, adding that ORT had no idea of his personal connections to the organization.

According to Shani, Lockheed Martin has been heavily involved in supporting the next generation of engineers in the US, and over the past four years has been increasingly working with Israeli schools, from kindergartens through to universities.

Lockheed Martin doesn’t only “invest in airplanes,” Shani said. “There is a saying in Hebrew that the poor people of your town come first.”

The defense company has invested “lots of time and money” on cyber education for Israeli students, becoming the first in the world outside of the United States to fund activities and educational programs for students.

“We are the first, we opened the eyes of other countries and we are very proud of these activities.”

ORT Israel’s scientific engineering program was established 17 years ago and operates in 32 schools across the country. In addition to their compulsory studies, students in the program study mathematics, English, physics and engineering as well as biology and chemistry at an advanced level.

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