UAVs May Take to the Skies
Engineers at NASA and the Idaho National Laboratory are investigating whether it makes sense to use flocks of small, inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVS, carrying a variety of sensors for routine surveillance.
Unmanned systems, including aircraft, are important when a need arises to collect data, watch over operations, or secure a parameter, said Mark McKay, an engineer in Idaho National Laboratory's Robotics and Human Services lab.
Small unmanned aircraft properly equipped with GPS/IMU, thermal sensors, and downlink telecommunications provide capabilities that currently don't exist in wildfire mapping programs.
Night flights can verify fire lines, look for remaining hot spots, or predict movement, McKay said. Night flights currently are used sparingly due to the risk to human life.
“UAVS provide a safe way to collect ground registered imagery that can provide quick over-the-hill tactical information to fire managers,” said Everett Hinkley, of the Forest Service's Remote Sensing Applications Center. “These capabilities will augment, not replace, our current capabilities.”
Researchers have developed prototypes of three craft for future firefighting operations. Unmanned ground vehicles such as a remotely operated bulldozer could be used to cut fire lines, increasing operations to 24 hours a day. One such UGV serves as a small research vehicle used to develop the communications and behaviors needed for operations in unstructured environments. Small unmanned fixed-wing aircraft can be used for over-flight operations, whose primary function would be to provide 24-hour imagery of operational areas; while small unmanned rotor-craft can be used to provide a quick eye-in-the-sky for personnel working close to the front line, giving them real-time imagery.
The aircraft have 12 to 15 foot wingspans and payload capabilities in the five to 20 pound range. Testing has been accomplished already, and demonstrations are scheduled to take place this summer.
One remaining concern involves airspace. The FAA needs to be comfortable with the idea of unmanned aircraft in national airspace. Hinkley said this can be resolved with live tracking and see-and-avoid technology.
The Forest Service has been contacted by a number of vendors who are eager to proceed.
“We could see UAVS making entry into tactical fire mapping in the next two or three years,” Hinkley said.
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