Fires are a growing challenge for the modern society, with increasing evidence of rapid urbanisation and climate change effects (e.g. global warming, shorter precipitation seasons etc.) fuelling both the scale and frequency of the occurrence of these fires. For instance, it was reported1 that in the year 2017 an area the size of Luxembourg was destroyed by 677 forest fires across the European Union, an increase of 215% over the yearly average between 2008 and 2016.
The aforementioned prevailing trends and the dynamic nature of fires make firefighting operations increasingly complex, of high risk and demanding in terms of required firefighting resources. A firefighting operation may involve everything from prioritization of engagements, international agreements, protection of citizens, security of emergency areas, handling traffic situations, evacuations, communications, definition of areas for water acquisition, coordination with military, to having the right supporting frameworks in place at the right time with the right performance.
The use of increasingly sophisticated public safety communications systems and aerial support systems is now critical for enhancing safety and efficiency of firefighting operations. To that end, the PriMO-5G project is exploring the use of 5G communications technologies and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones for firefighting operations. For this, the PriMO-5G project has specified firefighting use cases that consider both forest fires (wildfires) and urban fires. These use cases take into account contextual differences between those two environments and envision how 5G-related solutions (e.g. network slicing, edge computing etc.) may be leveraged to support firefighting operations both from the ground and from the air using drones.
A recently completed PriMO-5G deliverable report outlines further the firefighting use cases and related requirements. This report provides a framework for future developments in the PriMO-5G and we welcome you to visit this website regularly or follow the PriMO-5G social media channels to receive updates on how the project contributes to this societal challenge.
Illustration of a PriMO-5G urban firefighting use case
A recently completed PriMO-5G deliverable report outlines further the firefighting use cases and related requirements. This report provides a framework future developments in the PriMO-5G and we welcome you to visit this website regularly or follow the PriMO-5G social media channels to receive updates on how the project contributes to this societal challenge.
Visit the project’s deliverables page to download D1.1 – PriMO-5G Use Case Scenarios
1UNISDR, Fires in Europe Fuelled by Urbanisation and Climate Change, 8th August 2017.
