ForestFireMon addresses the increasing risk of forest fires in Austria, especially in WUI regions and protection forests, where climate change, droughts, and human activity intensify ignition likelihood and spread dynamics. Existing monitoring and prevention efforts are valuable but fragmented, lacking an integrated, cross-technology system capable of combining real-time data from ground sensors, drones, aerial assets, satellites, and meteorological sources.
Motivation
Although approximately 250 forest fires occur annually in Austria and most are quickly contained, changing climatic conditions and societal dynamics call for new preventative and predictive approaches. Modern wildfire management must integrate prevention, early detection, and response. Advances in drone systems, aerial and satellite sensing, and AI-based analytics offer unprecedented opportunities for real-time situational awareness, risk forecasting, and early detection, but they require harmonization, coordination, and a unifying system architecture. ForestFireMon responds to the need for an integrated, technology-spanning system that supports key stakeholders—including the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management (BML), the Austrian Forests Ministry (ÖBf), and emergency services.
Goals and Innovation
ForestFireMon aims to design a comprehensive concept for an innovative, automated system for wildfire prediction, early detection, and decision support. The project develops a system concept that integrates heterogeneous data sources and uses AI-driven fusion to generate a real-time, georeferenced situational picture. The project analyses suitable sensor and carrier platforms, communication strategies (e.g. for M2M communication) to enable the swarm coordination concept, and operational interfaces. The innovative strength of ForestFireMon lies in its technology-agnostic, adaptive sensor-swarm architecture, combining satellites, drones, IoT devices, and AI into a cohesive system. This goes significantly beyond current wildfire early detection systems, which typically rely on isolated sensing platforms.
Envisioned Results
Expected outcomes include a complete system concept for nationwide wildfire monitoring, subsystem designs for sensing, data fusion, and communication, and a roadmap for follow-up research and development. The project delivers actionable recommendations for authorities and stakeholders, providing the foundation for future operational systems that enhance resilience, support climate adaptation, and protect people and infrastructure.
Lead
Lakeside Labs GmbH
Partners
Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT)
Österreichische Bundesforste (ÖBf)
AIRlabs Austria
FH Joanneum (FHJ)
Bundesministerium für Land- und
Forstwirtschaft, Regionen und
Wasserwirtschaft (BML)
Contact
Lakeside Labs GmbH
Lakeside B04b, 9020 Klagenfurt
Telefon +43 463 287044
E-Mail: office(at)lakeside-labs.com
