Small UAS Demonstration for Wildfire Surveillance

摘要

The US Forest Service in partnership with NASA-Ames Research Center has embarked upon a demonstration series to test the feasibility of using small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to support wildland fire management. The end goal of this effort is to develop UAS operational guidelines, safety standards, and contracting rules so that firefighters can include small UAS in their toolkit. Other critical goals are to evaluate and develop sensing technologies for these platforms that would facilitate improved and rapid fire mapping capabilities.Currently, the fire management agencies rely on both rotorcraft (helicopters) and fixed-wing aircraft equipped with thermal-detection devices to assess fire conditions on wildfire events. The Forest Service believes that UAS can augment manned aircraft capabilities in fire missions that are currently underserved or where manned aircraft are not practical due to duration or safety issues.