New, intelligent fire-fighting drone

A Chinese drone maker has released a new fire-fighting drone, with a bigger payload and intelligent fire-fighting features installed.

From Guangzhou China, Ehang has announced the EHang 216F – a drone based on the company’s flagship 216 fleet of drones – which they say is specially designed for fighting fires on high-rise buildings. 

The height and reach of fire rescue ladders and fire nozzles are usually less than 50 meters – clearly not enough to reach top floors at high-rise buildings – and their operations are often limited to one side of a building.  Besides, because high-rise buildings are located in urban centres, where traffic can significantly lengthen response times, the 216F offers a better alternative for dealing with high-rise building fires.  With the fully-equipped EHang 216F autonomous aerial vehicles and the command-and-control system, this drone offers comprehensive services including investigation, firefighting, rescue and emergency management.

At the launch, Ehang demonstrated how the new drone can fly up to 600 metres in the air, carry up to 150 litres of firefighting foams and six fire extinguisher bombs in a single trip.  The 216F uses a visible light zoom camera to quickly identify the location of fire; it then hovers precisely in position and uses a laser aiming device to fire (in succession) a window breaker, the fire extinguishing “bombs” and then a full-range spray of firefighting foam.  Multiple 216Fs can be deployed to rapidly extinguish the fire.

“We are pleased to introduce the EHang 216F AAV aerial firefighting solution, which solves difficult challenges in high-rise firefighting,” said EHang founder, chairman and CEO, Huazhi Hu.  “The high-rise fire use case highlights the practical application of our passenger-grade AAV platform to different smart city management needs.  The potential of our intelligent AAV technology platform is boundless.  We will explore and develop more aerial solutions and use cases to empower smart cities.”

EHang 216Fs can be deployed in urban fire stations to assist in firefighting within a 5km radius.  The drone’s autopilot and centralised management technologies enable a fleet of EHang 216Fs to be remotely dispatched for first response even before the firefighters arrive.  This significantly shortens response time and can reduce casualties.

EHang is a company based in Guangzhou, China that develops and manufactures autonomous aerial vehicles and passenger AAVs which have entered service in China for aerial cinematography, photography, emergency response, and survey missions.

0 Comments

Leave a Comment

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account

Remember me Lost your password?

Lost Password