TECH

The firefighter drone

China's EHang company has already launched several services in China for the movement of people and goods in the company's autonomous air taxi. Yesterday the company demonstrated a new modification of the autonomous drone - the EHang 216F model, which can help firefighters fight fires in buildings at altitudes up to 600 meters.
Urbanization has reached an impressive pace in China. The centers of megacities are rapidly being built with skyscrapers. This also leads to the risk of fire. According to 2019 statistics, for example, of the 233,000 fire cases in the country, 6,974 cases occurred in skyscrapers, which corresponds to an annual increase of these events at the level of 10.6%. In other words, firefighters need new tools to fight fire at altitudes above 50 meters - above the level of fire escapes and the range of conventional water cannons.
The EHang 216F drone can be a solution for rapid fire response in skyscrapers. It is not afraid of traffic congestion nor does it need operator control. The system can automatically reach the fire site and reach open fire sources. For this, the drone is equipped with a high-precision camera and a light sensor.
After detecting the fire source in the apartment, the drone breaks the window using the laser pointer and drops up to six fire bombs in the room. After that, he can fill the fire with 150 liters of extinguishing foam. This payload should be sufficient to eliminate a fire in one or more apartments and, after all, drones can work in swarms.
EHang 216F drones are expected to be installed in the city's fire stations to help extinguish fires within a 5 km radius. “EHang's autopilot and centralized control technologies allow the EHang 216F to be dispatched remotely for a first response, even before firefighters arrive. This significantly reduces response times and can reduce victims."

AVnews