UAVs Ideal for Forest Surveillance

NASA is developing new fire surveillance technology in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) that will increase the efficiency of monitoring wildland fires. Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and thermal infrared imaging technology and data telemetry, scientists hope to provide accurate wildfire data in a shorter amount of time.

"We're developing technology to assist the USFS in understanding, managing and mitigating fire occurrences," said Vince Ambrosia of NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley. "This will decrease their time constraints on data access…and ultimately reduce risk to life and property."

The five-year project, entitled, "NASA Wildfire Response Research and Development, Applications and Technology Implementation," is sponsored by the Ames Ecosystem Sciences and Technology Branch (ECOSAT). It is funded by the NASA Headquarters' Earth Science Research program Research, Education and Applications Solutions Network (REASoN).

The project is divided into three fundamental elements.

• The first element includes sensor development technology using NASA's Airborne Infrared Disaster Assessment System (AIRDAS), which Ames developed specifically for fire observation and control. This system is carried aboard either piloted or UAV aircraft.
• The second element is a data telemetry research and development phase. NASA scientists will test data transmission options, such as satellite uplinks or wireless LAN technology, to find the fastest way to send AIRDAS infrared imaging data to the fire manager on the ground. The data will go directly to a Web server that the fire manager can access. (During a recent experiment using satellite uplinks, scientists were able to transmit thermal data to the fire manager in just 10 minutes.)
• The third stage of the project is data integration, which includes changing the data into an easily understood information format similar to that of a map. This format will help the fire manager decide where to deploy firefighters.

This strategy will lead to a significant improvement in tactical fire imaging, information extraction and fire management and mitigation efforts, according to Ambrosia.

The project is a strong collaboration between NASA and the USFS, and also draws on research and development from the aerospace, information technology and UAV science communities at NASA Ames.

"Even though it involves the ECOSAT branch, the project is an effort that will pull from a lot of people here at Ames," Ambrosia said. "It's not just within the branch - it's a cross-cut where many communities participate."
 
NASA Ames has been actively involved in airborne fire imaging since the 1960's. In July 2000, NASA Headquarters selected NASA Ames to coordinate the Wildfire Response Team (WRT) for the Agency.

FMI: www.nasa.gov