Each year, thousands of wildfires release large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and burn millions of acres of forests and grasslands throughout the country, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Containing and responding to these fires is a complex and costly operation, that requires strong coordination between responders on the ground and in the air across multiple government agencies.
NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project is advancing aviation technologies for first responders to keep pace with the growing threat of wildland fires. ACERO is working to enable uncrewed aircraft systems to provide communications, monitoring, logistics, and suppression for wildland fires.
Safely Integrating Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the Airspace
Though drones and other aviation technologies have rapidly advanced over the last decade, emergency responders have to be cautious when using them in the presence of crewed aircraft. One significant barrier preventing broader adoption is lack of tools and situational awareness for responders to see where firefighting drones are operating.
To address this issue, ACERO is developing airspace management technologies to share information between crewed aircraft, drone operators, and ground crews during wildfire responses. These technologies will provide all responders with common situational awareness and ensure there are no conflicts with aircraft operations.
ACERO-developed aircraft safety software will also reduce the likelihood of encountering airborne hazards. Having this situational awareness will enable responders to safely integrate drones into wildfire operations and continuously suppress and monitor a fire over a 24-hour period.
Drones are already being used today for prescribed burns, or fires set and controlled by experts designed to burn away the vegetative fuels that can lead to large-scale wildland fires. Currently, these types of burns are set by a combination of piloted helicopters, ground grew, and a very limited number of drones. Remotely operating drones for these operations can reduce risk to personnel, and can enable crews to execute controlled burns over larger acreages of land each year.
Timely Information Sharing
Currently, first responders on the ground and in the air share live fire information – including fire location, behavior, and size – verbally over two-way radios. These verbal updates can be cumbersome and challenging, and delay vital fire information updates to first responders.
ACERO is working to digitize these information exchanges done today by, for example, developing an ad-hoc communication network that operates like a cell tower in the sky. These information-sharing networks could provide responders with a shared operating picture of fire behavior, and air and ground assets in real time.
ACERO’s timely digital information sharing will better enable response crews to make quick, informed operation decisions during these emergency responses. These advancements are critical for enabling new drone missions for aerial wildfire response, like fire suppression, delivering gear to ground crews, and providing communication relays in areas with limited connectivity.
Round the Clock Wildfire Suppression and Monitoring
Current aerial firefighting operations are limited to times when aircraft have clear visibility – otherwise, pilots run the risk of flying into terrain or colliding with other aircraft. That means aircraft are grounded during the night and during periods of heavy smoke.
Drones can expand the window of time responders can aerially suppress fires because they can be safely operated by pilots on the ground. ACERO’s airspace awareness and communication capabilities will allow responders to remotely suppress fires through nighttime hours and periods of heavy smoke. Using drones for aerial suppression operations would reduce safety risks to pilots and enable 24-hour fire monitoring and suppression.
The Future of Wildland Fire Response
ACERO is collaborating with other government agencies, the science community, and commercial industries to develop a concept of operations for the future of wildland fire management. ACERO will work with other government agencies to help integrate these technologies into wildland fire operations.
In the coming years, NASA will partner with industry and wildfire response agencies to perform joint field demonstrations of newly developed ACERO-led aviation technologies. These demonstrations will highlight developments from the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Science Mission Directorate, and Space Technology Mission Directorate.
ACERO builds on previous NASA Aeronautics research including the Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO) project and the Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management project. ACERO’s aviation advancements for wildland fire operations support NASA’s contributions to the U.S. goal of reaching net zero aviation greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
ACERO is funded by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, managed by the agency’s Airspace Operations and Safety Program.
