Every minute counts in case of an emergency. The floods in the Ahr valley at the beginning of the year made this clear once again. But even in the regular day-to-day business of authorities and organizations with security tasks (BOS), efficient operational planning is decisive for saving human lives. For this reason, engineering service providers develop optimized fire and disaster protection concepts that support BOS in their operational planning. The Berlin fire protection pioneer hhpberlin and FlyNex show how to save lives with digital twins.

The hhpberlin team has been developing innovative fire protection concepts of all sizes since 2000. However, the company now stands for much more than engineering services. Their vision is to make future cities safer and easier to plan through intelligent concepts. As pioneers of digital transformation, they have recognized the enormous potential of digital twins.

Although the technology of digital twins in manufacturing is already an industry standard, their use for planning and implementing security concepts is less widespread. However, hhpberlin sees enormous potential in this area of application. The 3D models can map the local conditions, and emergency services and authorities get access in advance. Consequently, fire departments can reliably determine access routes and evacuation plans, particularly in the case of large and complex objects such as the Berlin exhibition center. A reason for hhberlin to focus on the digitization of their managed objects.

Picture 1: FlyNex drone pilot Christian Georgi starting the drone

But how can hhpberlin create digital twins for the approximately 20,000 objects for which they are responsible for planning and testing fire safety? The solution comes from the air! With FlyNex, hhpberlin captures the Berlin exhibition center by a drone, quickly collecting high-quality aerial photo data. The planning, flight, and subsequent analysis of the data obtained is managed on the FlyNex platform. After the approximately 45-minute drone flight, the recorded images are transferred to the FlyNex platform using the Connect App and processed using integrated analysis tools to create a digital twin. The model depicts reality with an accuracy of a few millimeters.

Picture 2: Screenshot from the FlyNex platform (on the right is a picture of the fairground and on the left the corresponding 3D model)

Drones cannot only be used for preventive civil protection. Even in an acute emergency, such as a fire, the unmanned aircraft, combined with the FlyNex software, can save lives. In this way, pre-programmed flight routes can be used for surveillance and automatically flown on site. As a result, the BOS can quickly and reliably get a comprehensive picture of the situation in an emergency and derive targeted measures. It is an added value that saves time and is decisive in saving human lives.

Do you have questions about FlyNex’s collaboration with hhpberlin or your individual use case for digitally capturing infrastructure? We look forward to an exchange! Contact us.

We wish you good flights!

Your FlyNex team