Ángel Ramírez, President of GTD Defense & Security Solutions: “CDTI Innovation helps us bring artificial intelligence to the field to fight forest fires”

Forest fires represent one of the greatest environmental and operational challenges of our time. In a global context marked by climate change, where fires are increasingly rapid, massive and intense, traditional methods of response face critical limits.

In this scenario, GAIA was born, an ambitious technological project coordinated by GTD Defense & Security Solutions aimed at redefining forest management through disruptive technology. According to its president, Ángel Ramírez, the goal of the project responds to an obvious need: “Forest fires are fast, intense and difficult to manage. GAIA seeks to develop a comprehensive solution that will accompany the entire fire cycle, from prevention and early detection to support the extinction and subsequent recovery of the affected land. GAIA aspires to be a paradigm shift because it addresses the problem comprehensively.”

The main objective of this initiative, which is supported by the CDTI through the Science and Innovation Missions aid line, is to provide emergency teams with a complete X-ray of the situation. "Our goal is for teams to have more information, better organized and in real time, so they can make safer and more effective decisions. We intend to unite technologies that today are usually dispersed in a single architecture," says Ramírez.

Members of the GAIA project consortium

The consortium behind this ambitious project is led by GTD Defense & Security Solutions, a leading company in the sector. As a subsidiary of the GTD Group, the firm has more than two decades of experience in critical software and the design of mission control centers, which has allowed it to participate in large, technically demanding land, naval and aeronautical programs.

Backed by this trajectory, in 2014 the company reoriented its business model towards the development of its own products and the integration of systems, and in 2018 the current structure of GTD D&SS was formally constituted, based in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz). As its president details, the subsidiary was born as a platform specialized in defense and security whose mission is to offer “innovative products and solutions based on software, capable of covering current and future operational needs, with an export vocation, flexibility, competitiveness and profitability”.

Technology to bring artificial intelligence to the field

To respond to this complex challenge of the forest environment, the GAIA consortium is working on solutions based on robotics, predictive analytics and highly complex systems engineering. The real innovation lies in the ability to process data in a decentralized and autonomous manner.

"The disruption of GAIA is that we bring Artificial Intelligence directly to the front line through what we call Edge AI," says Angel Ramirez. “We don’t process data in a distant office, but train algorithms to run on board drone fleets and autonomous land vehicles.” This capability makes it possible to process thermal images and map the mountain in three dimensions by merging LiDAR laser technology and conventional cameras immediately, detecting spotlights independently without relying on internet coverage.

To these robotic advances is added a component focused on the protection of the human factor: the development of intelligent garments and exoskeletons. The goal is clear: "They are designed to monitor the forest firefighter's vital constants and dramatically reduce their physical exhaustion" in an inherently changing, hostile and unpredictable scenario.

A unified Command Center for decision making

Another of the great bets of GAIA is the development of an advanced Command and Control System, whose mission is to generate what in the sector is called a Common Operating Image. Its objective is to avoid the dispersion of data, cross-calls or partial maps that slow down the management of major emergencies. "It is a key tool because it allows all teams, from analysts at the base to frontline fighters, to work on exactly the same information in real time," says Angel Ramirez.

Virtual simulation of the forest environment used in the GAIA project

By unifying the information from sensors, drones, and suits under a single, clear visual interface, it completely changes the way the response is managed on the front. "If everyone shares the same X-ray, emergency managers can prioritize critical areas, allocate resources much more sensibly, and react in advance to a sudden change in wind or fire."

Scientific-business collaboration

Under the leadership of GTD Defense & Security Solutions SL, GAIA’s consortium is completed by five other leading companies in their respective sectors: Computer Consulting of Cantabria SL, Spanish Clothing Factory SA, Gogoa Mobility Robots SL, Technologies Telematic Services and Systems and Zenon Innovations. This business fabric works with the support of the scientific community through collaboration with Tekniker, CATEC, the University of Cantabria and the Rey Juan Carlos University.

As Ángel Ramírez explains: “A challenge as complex as forest fires cannot be solved from a single sector, requires a multidisciplinary approach where robotics, textile development, predictive analytics and systems engineering coexist.” This creates a multidisciplinary synergy where “the scientific community brings rigor, basic research and the ability to explore new borders and the business fabric brings market orientation, industrial scalability and transfer”. The purpose is that “cutting-edge innovation is not forgotten in a laboratory, but is transformed into a real technology ready to be deployed in our mountains,” he adds.

The value of the institutional support of the CDTI Innovation

In this path of critical innovation, Ramírez highlights the value of solid institutional support: "The support of CDTI Innovation has been the fundamental impulse to be able to tackle a project of this magnitude and ambition."

In addition, the director adds the added value of having the endorsement of an institution that promotes R&D with a strategic country vision. "Their trust has allowed us to draw national talent and transform a social and environmental need as urgent as the forest crisis into an opportunity for innovation with a profound industrial, technological and social impact," he concludes.

A roadmap geared towards one’s own and international product

For the next few years, the strategy of GTD Defense & Security focuses on consolidating a catalog of its own products, modular and easy to export. This offer will be structured around key technologies such as artificial intelligence applied to video processing, advanced command and control systems, electronic surveillance solutions and geo-intelligence via satellites.

In addition, the company plans to strengthen its presence in Europe by participating in European Defence Fund initiatives, including unmanned vehicle projects and systems to protect critical infrastructure. In this sense, Ángel Ramírez concludes that the great challenge of this new stage goes beyond the technique: "The transversal challenge is not only technological, but also industrial: to turn the capabilities developed in Spain into exportable, scalable and internationally bankable products."

CDTI Innovation

The Center for Technological Development and Innovation, CDTI E.P.E. It is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, whose objective is the promotion of technological innovation in the business environment. The mission of the CDTI is to ensure that the Spanish business fabric generates and transforms scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth. In 2025, within the framework of the Strategic Plan 2024-2027, the CDTI provided 2,423 million euros of support to Spanish companies and startups.

 
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