SDG&E, Qualcomm and UC San Diego Launch Edge AI Collaboration to Advance Wildfire and Extreme-Weather Response
Initial deployment in Southern California will demonstrate how real-time, on-site intelligence can strengthen climate resilience and emergency response
SAN DIEGO, June 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE:SRE), Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography today announced Edge Alert Sentinel (EAS), a new collaboration that will bring artificial intelligence (AI) directly to the front lines of wildfire and extreme-weather response. Designed to detect and analyze rapidly changing conditions in real time, the initiative represents a new approach to environmental intelligence — processing critical data at the point of risk to help utilities and emergency responders act faster when it matters most.
While the initial deployment is in San Diego, the collaboration is intended to demonstrate how edge-based AI can support grid reliability, emergency preparedness and climate resilience.
Southern California faces some of the most complex wildfire and extreme-weather conditions in the nation, with Santa Ana winds, drought and highly varied terrain creating rapidly changing and often unpredictable risk. In these environments, conditions can shift in minutes, and delays are not an option. EAS will integrate environmental sensors, edge AI computing and atmospheric science to generate near-instant insights where conditions are unfolding — not minutes later in distant data centers. The first system is being installed on Mt. Palomar, where it will begin analyzing wind, weather and environmental data to provide earlier visibility into conditions that influence wildfire behavior and extreme-weather impacts.
"For nearly two decades, our region has avoided a catastrophic electrically caused wildfire because we chose to lead early and never stop looking ahead," said Scott Crider, President of SDG&E. "Edge Alert Sentinel reflects that same mindset. By working with Qualcomm Technologies and UC San Diego, we're bringing world-class technology and science together, so intelligence lives where the risk lives — on the front lines — and communities are safer because of it."
EAS reflects a shared effort to anticipate tomorrow's climate risks today — aligning utility operations, breakthrough technology and climate science into a coordinated approach designed to support faster, more informed decisions when seconds matter.
In parallel, Qualcomm Technologies and SDG&E are working to apply AI directly integrated on field devices and real-time connectivity to support automated inspections of critical utility infrastructure through autonomous aerial operations, extending the same intelligence-at-the-edge approach to physical grid assets.
Intelligence-at-the-Edge — Where Conditions Unfold
Traditional monitoring systems often rely heavily on remote cloud processing, which can introduce delays — particularly during severe weather or emergencies. EAS will process data at the point of collection, enabling rapid analysis even when connectivity is strained.
"Through this collaboration, we're intending to bring real-time intelligence directly to the front lines of wildfire response," said Nakul Duggal, EVP and Group GM, Automotive, Industrial and Embedded IoT, and Robotics, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "By combining on-site AI with advanced sensing and connectivity, we're helping deliver faster, more reliable insights where conditions are changing — so responders can assess risk and act with greater speed and confidence."
This on-site processing enables near-instant analysis, reducing delays that can cost critical time during wildfire response and helping utility responders move more quickly from observation to action during fast-changing conditions.
At the core of the deployment is a ruggedized edge AI gateway platform powered by the Qualcomm Dragonwing™ IQ9 processor, a high-performance, multi-core application processor that features a neural-processing unit capable of delivering up to 100 trillion operations per second. Using an MLOps platform from Edge Impulse, a Qualcomm company, on-device models help forecast conditions that could impact grid infrastructure in residential areas, to support more proactive decision-making for utility operators. Monitoring data and predictive alerts can be transmitted directly to SDG&E's control center via its private cellular network.
These localized analytics and telemetry data will help identify emerging risks earlier, strengthening operational decision-making, safety and overall grid resilience.
Industry and Academia Unite to Deliver Actionable Intelligence
EAS unites complementary strengths across industry and academia:
- Qualcomm Technologies will provide advanced on-device AI processing capabilities and low-latency, edge-computing architecture to support SDG&E's environmental intelligence, autonomous inspection and grid-resilience efforts at the edge.
- SDG&E will contribute operational expertise, grid infrastructure and weather-data networks.
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography will provide long-standing observational data and scientific expertise to enhance modeling and real-time analysis.
Together, the collaborators are building a continuous loop of live data, on-site AI analysis and actionable insights designed to translate rapidly changing conditions into timely action that enhance safety, reliability and grid resilience.
Why This Matters for the Region
By delivering intelligence directly at the point of risk, EAS is designed to reduce latency, improve preparedness and strengthen coordination across utilities and emergency responders — helping protect lives, communities and critical ecosystems in regions facing increasingly complex weather risks.
While developed in Southern California, the approach is designed to scale to other regions facing increasingly frequent and severe climate-driven events — from wildfires to extreme storms — where real-time, location-specific intelligence can improve how decisions are made under pressure.
"Scripps has been making real-time observations of atmospheric conditions throughout San Diego County since the turn of the millennium, building a uniquely rich dataset that advances our understanding of wildfire and extreme weather risk in Southern California," said Frank Vernon, director of the University of California Scripps Institute of Oceanography High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network. "With this new onsite AI capability, we're moving beyond observation to predicting impact in real time — at the exact moment and place where danger emerges. That's what becomes possible when industry brings operational scale, real-world deployment experience, and urgent community needs together with academia's scientific rigor and long-term observational record."
What's next
During the upcoming Public Safety Power Shutoff season, the companies will evaluate the performance of the initial Palomar Mountain deployment, a high-elevation site critical for wildfire and extreme-weather monitoring in the region, with plans to expand the technology to additional sites beginning next year. Insights from the pilot phase will inform expansion, enhanced modeling capabilities and broader regional applications, with a wider rollout targeted for 2027. The collaboration will also explore joint training and coordination opportunities to support emergency preparedness across Southern California and other regions facing similar risks.
About SDG&E
San Diego Gas & Electric® (SDG&E) is an innovative energy-delivery company that provides clean, safe and reliable energy to better the lives of the people it serves in San Diego and southern Orange counties. The company is committed to creating a sustainable future by increasing energy delivered from low- or zero-carbon sources; accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles and investing in innovative technologies to ensure the reliable operation of the region's infrastructure for generations to come. SDG&E is a recognized leader in its industry and community, as demonstrated by being named Corporate Partner of the Year at the San Diego Business Journal's Nonprofit & Corporate Citizenship Awards and receiving PA Consulting's ReliabilityOne® Award for Outstanding Reliability Performance for 20 consecutive years. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE:SRE), a leading U.S. utility growth business. For more information, visit SDGEtoday.com or connect with SDG&E on social media @SDGE. Message funded by SDG&E shareholders.
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm relentlessly innovates to deliver intelligent computing everywhere, helping the world tackle some of its most important challenges. Building on our 40 years of technology leadership in creating era-defining breakthroughs, we deliver a broad portfolio of solutions built with our leading-edge AI, high-performance, low-power computing, and unrivaled connectivity. Our Snapdragon® platforms power extraordinary consumer experiences, and our Qualcomm Dragonwing™ products empower businesses and industries to scale to new heights. Together with our ecosystem partners, we enable next-generation digital transformation to enrich lives, improve businesses, and advance societies. At Qualcomm, we are engineering human progress.
Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering and research and development functions and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business. Snapdragon and Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Qualcomm patents are licensed by Qualcomm Incorporated.
About UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography is one of the world's premier centers for climate, atmospheric and Earth science research, providing foundational knowledge for regional resilience. Visit scripps.ucsd.edu.
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Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include: California wildfires, including potential liability for damages regardless of fault and any inability to recover all or a substantial portion of costs from insurance, the wildfire fund established by California Assembly Bill 1054 and the wildfire fund continuation account established by California Senate Bill 254, rates from customers or a combination thereof; decisions, disallowances or denials of cost recovery, audits, investigations, inquiries, ordered studies, regulations, legislative actions, denials or revocations of permits, consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions, including the failure to honor contracts and commitments, by the (i) California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other regulatory bodies and (ii) U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein where we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks related to, as applicable, (i) negotiating pricing and other terms in definitive contracts, (ii) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (iii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, (iv) obtaining regulatory and other approvals and (v) third parties honoring their contracts and commitments; changes to our capital expenditure plans and their potential impact on rate base or other growth; changes, due to evolving economic, political and other factors and increasing geopolitical instability as a result of wars or other conflicts in various parts of the world, to (i) trade and other foreign policy, including the imposition of tariffs by the U.S. and foreign countries (and uncertainty related to the implementation and enforceability thereof), and (ii) laws and regulations, including those related to tax; litigation, arbitration, property disputes and other proceedings; cybersecurity threats, including by nation-state actors, of ransomware or other attacks on our systems, the energy grid or our other infrastructure, or the systems of third parties with which we conduct business; the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of capital resources and our ability to borrow money or otherwise raise capital on favorable terms and meet our obligations, which can be affected by, among other things, (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative outlook, (ii) instability in the capital markets, and (iii) fluctuating interest rates and inflation; the impact of efforts to increase affordability of U.S. utility customer rates on our ability to obtain cost recovery from applicable regulators, our capital expenditure and other growth plans and our ability to advance statewide policies; the impact on affordability of customer rates, cost of capital and operating margin due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates, commodity prices, and tariff rates and (ii) the cost of meeting the demand for lower carbon and reliable energy in California; the impact of climate policies, laws, rules, regulations, trends and required disclosures, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies, the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and uncertainty related to emerging technologies; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism, information system outages or other events, such as work stoppages, that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials or fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of electric power, natural gas and natural gas storage and transportation capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the transmission grid or pipeline and storage systems or limitations on the injection and withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or Southern California Gas Company, nor are they regulated by the CPUC.
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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)