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What if we could win the race against the flames?

Thanks to smart sensors connected to satellites, Kinéis detects wildfires at an ultra-early stage.
Discover how in the article from French magazine Le Point.

The summer of 2026 is expected to be particularly critical for wildfires in France. In early July, several departments in the south of France were placed on red alert after fast-moving, highly destructive fires. In Sainte‑Marie‑la‑Mer, near Perpignan, one blaze spread in less than an hour, destroying 281 bungalows and forcing the evacuation of 3,000 people.

Faced with this multiplication of megafires, a French technological solution has emerged: the combination of Kinéis nanosatellites and the intelligent sensors developed by German start-up Dryad Networks. Together, they enable very early detection of wildfires, significantly limiting damage and improving the response time of emergency services.

Read the full article in Le Point (French magazine).

Full article

Traditional methods that are not truly preventive

Until now, forest monitoring has relied mainly on two approaches:

Ground-based thermal or optical cameras, which depend on visible smoke and open flames and typically detect fires with a delay of 1 to 3 hours.
Conventional satellite imagery, where limited resolution and revisit frequency delay detection by 3 to 6 hours, a timeframe that is often too late to contain large wildfires.
These methods provide information, but they are not preventive enough to stop fires at a very early stage.

Ultra‑early detection thanks to space-based IoT

By combining its low‑Earth‑orbit nanosatellites with Dryad sensors, Kinéis offers a new kind of solution based on space IoT (Internet of Things).

Small green sensor units, attached directly to trees, continuously analyze key environmental data in real time:

Air temperature
Humidity
Atmospheric pressure
Fine particles
Carbon monoxide, and more

When several alert thresholds are crossed at the same time, the system can confirm a wildfire ignition within minutes of its start, compared with several hours using traditional methods. This level of responsiveness is crucial, because the first 60 minutes are often decisive to prevent full-scale forest conflagrations.

Find out more about Dryad Networks and its smart wildfire sensors.

Learn More

A technology tailored for remote and hard-to-access areas

Unlike conventional terrestrial communication networks, which are difficult and expensive to deploy in dense forests or mountainous regions, Kinéis nanosatellites provide global IoT connectivity without requiring any additional network infrastructure on the monitored sites. Thanks to low‑power, short and intermittent messages, the system ensures up to 5 years of autonomy for the sensors, with no need for battery recharging. This makes the solution particularly suitable for remote, isolated forest areas where regular maintenance is impossible.

This effectiveness has already convinced emergency services. Since 2025, the system has been tested in southern France in partnership with Entente Valabre (a French civil security and wildfire risk management organization), as part of the France 2030 innovation program. Firefighters operating in the monitored zones now receive operational alerts and updated environmental data several times a day, enabling them to anticipate local conditions that are favorable to fire outbreaks.

Discover this real-world use case with Entente Valabre

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Monitoring water tanks in forest areas

In parallel, Kinéis is working with French company Hiotee on another key challenge: monitoring water tanks in forest massifs. An ongoing project aims to equip 2,000 water tanks with connected modules. The goal is to optimize water resupply and firefighting operations thanks to continuous remote knowledge of the available water level.

This remote monitoring allows civil protection teams to better plan logistics, position resources closer to high‑risk areas, and avoid unpleasant surprises when a fire breaks out.

A big thank‑you to Le Point for highlighting this wildfire detection solution, in an international context ever more impacted by climate change, a major aggravating factor for forest megafires.