WILD HOPPER - Heavy-Duty UAV for day and night firefighting operations (WILDHOPPER)

Description:

The WILDHOPPER project aimed at developing a heavy-duty multirotor drone for forest firefighting.  

Besides fire monitoring, the 600-litre platform yields to WILD HOPPER enough lifting power to be used as an alternative to traditional firefighting solutions and cover night operations.  WILDHOPPER's design provides high release precision,  made possible by its multirotor platform dynamic capabilities.

The proprietary water jet nebulisation system of WILDHOPPER can yield a higher efficiency than traditional aerial firefighting options like helicopters and hydroplanes, which drop the water at a certain speed at high altitudes over the target fire.

Being an autonomous vehicle, WILD HOPPER does not put at risk human lives, as platform management is performed from a safe ground base.

The WILD HOPPER is a less expensive platform than conventional aerial means, allowing small and medium regional bodies to own their own fast-response resources. Maintenance costs are also lower, due to the lower complexity of the machine.
Finally, WILD HOPPER allows swarm operation to implement several units in coordination to boost efficiency.

Project information

Lead

DRONE HOPPER SRL, Spain

Partners

DRONE HOPPER SRL, Spain

Source of funding

H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs; H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies; EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020 - SME instrument