The Flamingo firefighting system has been chosen as one of the 100 best ideas of the year, according to the Actualidad Económica magazine. The magazine notes that this system is the result of several years of research into the use of UAS, especially in its application for controlling and extinguishing forest fires, this system can be used in situations where existing extinguishing methods have problems to be executed as: night operations, bad weather conditions or unreachable places.
The main component of Flamingo system is a guided bomb that flies entirely autonomously due to the association of INS (inertial sensors), GPS and other sensors. With a load of 200 L of retarding agent or extinguisher, enables both direct fire extinction and the creation of chemical firewalls. Flamingo integrates two main components, the control unit; which handles the functions of guidance, navigation and control; and the deposit, which contains the extinguishing agent. It also integrates a rescue device that allows the division of the control unit and opening a parachute, moments before the hit, allowing the recovery of this element. The system has been designed for use in cargo planes with tailgate, not being necessary to change aircraft configuration for its use. To do this, the system has a release device fully compatible with standard 463L pallet assembly.
Actualidad Económica awards and its history
During the past 36 years this magazine has been recognizing the creativity and imagination of the companies that set trends and demonstrate its capacity for innovation, a competitive advantage of crucial importance to get competitiveness in the current economic environment. According Actualidad Económica, for the first time in several years, private investment in R&D has exceeded public investment.
This is the first year that Actualidad Económica awards Embention for its innovations, but we hope that the award repeats.