An Orlando tech company has joined the battle against wildfires through a new partnership that could put its popular weather app to use.
MyRadar’s app has been downloaded more than 50 million times and has more than 14 million active users.
The company’s partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will allow the firm to develop and demonstrate technology that uses satellite-based information to detect and mitigate wildfires.
The award “allows MyRadar to tailor our satellite-based AI approach to near-fire detection and alerting use cases through laboratory and field data collection,” MyRadar’s Chief Scientist and COO Sarvesh Garimella said in a news release.
The company has a constellation of satellites that will use its onboard artificial intelligence and machine learning to process sensor data, allowing unique forecasting of potential wildfire risks.
Users on the ground can then be alerted to impending wildfires.
MyRadar launched its app in 2008 and has been a leader in the weather space ever since. The company now employs 40 people.
“Ultimately the research being done under the NOAA award will bring improved wildfire resilience to bear to help combat the increasing threat,” said Andy Green, MyRadar’s CEO. “This will allow us to provide life-saving, advance intelligence directly through the MyRadar app to its tens of millions of users as one additional tool to help mitigate the destructive effects of wildfires.”
MyRadar launched three satellites in May.