I’m currently working on my final project for my bachelor’s degree in aircraft technology. Our project idea is a Fire Detecting Drone—a drone equipped with a thermal camera that scans an area to detect heat signatures from fires and sends an alert to the operator.
Our budget is limited, and we need advice on how to set up and fully operate the system. Since this is just a small-scale prototype to complete the course, we’re not aiming for anything too advanced—just something that works well enough to demonstrate the concept.
Your options depend a lot on your budget. If you’re in the US, keep in mind that you’ll need a Part 107 license for this. You might be able to find a used thermal drone on Marketplace or eBay.
You’ll need to define the detection range of the thermal sensor. It should flag heat signatures above ambient temperatures but filter out false positives like hot surfaces from the sun or animals.
FYI, UV sensors have a much longer detection range than IR sensors for fire detection.
That said, be prepared to spend money—thermal drones aren’t cheap, and UV sensors cost even more.
If budget is tight, consider reaching out to Facebook groups or drone service platforms like Upward to see if a thermal drone operator can collaborate with you. Good luck!
Fires can develop in different ways. For example, a fire in a sawdust pile might smolder for a while before igniting fully, while other fires can start suddenly with intense heat.
To improve detection, you could train your system to identify both smoke in RGB images and temperature anomalies in thermal scans.
For best results, scan your target area multiple times to establish a baseline, then introduce test fires and train your detection system to recognize them.
Here’s an approach that might work for your project:
Set up waypoints: Program the drone to automatically patrol a defined area.
Offload processing: Don’t do image processing onboard the drone—it drains battery. Instead, stream the thermal video feed to a computer or controller for analysis.
Detect & respond:
Use software to analyze the live thermal feed for hot spots.
If a heat anomaly is detected, pause the waypoint patrol and move the drone closer.
If the software confirms a hotspot, trigger an alarm.
This way, your drone can operate efficiently while maximizing battery life.