Aerial Situational Awareness for Every Firefighter

Project Information

FOTOKITE-SME-P1

Grant agreement ID: 856120

DOI

10.3030/856120

Project closed

EC signature date 28 January 2019

Start date 1 February 2019

End date 31 May 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

PERSPECTIVE ROBOTICS AG
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FOTOKITE-SME-P1 (Aerial Situational Awareness for Every Firefighter)

Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2019-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Summary of the action context and objectives

Fotokite is a privately-owned SME (registered in 2014 as Perspective Robotics AG in Zurich, Switzerland). Fotokite’s mission is to develop and commercialize tethered Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to improve safety and lifesaving capabilities for firefighters and public safety teams. Fotokite systems fly autonomously and stream live thermal video to firefighters on the ground, providing mission-critical situational awareness to help lifesaving operations. Fotokite systems operate hands-free for 24+ hours and without GPS dependency, overshadowing modern drones with significantly less autonomy and shorter flight times. Fotokite can quickly and effectively turn that data into actionable insights and more efficient response to large-scale fires and disaster situations. Fotokite aims at bringing public safety dedicated UAS to the next level in four emergency areas: Scene Monitoring, Search and Rescue, Post Fire or Disaster Assessment, and Wildland Firefighting.

Fotokite’s value proposition to firefighting and public safety teams is unlimited flight time, automatic piloting, easy usability, low training thresholds, industrial quality and performance, fire truck integration compatibility, and live streamed thermal and visual video information for immediate on-site decision making and operational planning.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In 2019, a number of new Fotokite systems have been installed in fire engines, command vehicles, and fire chief SUVs for real-world use in firefighting and public safety operations. These systems have been evaluated by customers and actively used in live fire responses, search & rescue missions, and training programs. Customers have confirmed that Fotokite systems will be compatible with 100 percent of current and future fire engines with at least one of the newly-developed packaging configuration options.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Fotokite is aimed to improve extended fire safety aligned with the European Parliament’s Fire Safety mission and with the upcoming trends. The national fire and rescue administrations in the EU countries are lagging behind in the adaptation of data acquisition and sensor-based technologies. Improved data recording would enable better statistics, forecast, and emergency management readiness. The use of autonomous robotics and automatic analysis tools will be a key trend that will drive the tethered UAS market growth at a CAGR of over 70 percent during the 2019-2024 period.

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