UAS: Fire Mitigating Missions

UAS have proven to be useful in a vast range of civil missions including the dangerous and the mundane. Fire related missions are becoming more common and the technology necessary for the UAVs to be useful in these missions is progressing as a result.  There are a few platforms that have been used successfully for fire mitigating missions and a variety of technology equipment available to compliment the UAV size and capability.  
Fire mitigating UAVs assist in extracting data, processing the information, and providing it to the operator to support rapid decision-making in the disastrous event (Ambrosia, n.d.). With these specific missions UAVs are being outfitted with imagery payloads that often includes thermal imagery technology.  The Predator B is a common platform for fire mitigating missions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) utilize Altair, the Predator B type UAV that is equipped with high-tech infrared sensors and a near real time broadcast that allow for wildfire parameters to be determined (Berlant, 2007).  The Predator B platform allows for high altitude monitoring flights, an endurance of up to 23 hours, and increased payload capacity (Berlant, 2007).
Another platform is the deployment of multi-UAV helicopters that operate collectively to capture the fire data. A single helicopter UAV is a separate platform in and of itself but in order to satisfy curiosity, the multi-UAV operation was researched.  The helicopters, once synchronized, simultaneously download images of the fire for a given time (Merino, 2010). Helicopter UAVs, unlike the Predator B, remains lower in altitude but have the ability to hover.
The third platform is the ScanEagle. This UAV is a small; lightweight UAV that provides near real time broadcasts, has a flight endurance of 20 hours, and carries a payload of electro-optic or infrared camera to detect hotspots (Fire and Aviation Managment, n.d.). The ScanEagle is a low altitude reconnaissance UAV that has a modular design allowing for new payloads and sensors to be incorporated as technology is advanced (Historical Snapshot, 2016).
Challenges that all platforms face is operating within active airspace without collision avoidance technology. However most fire eruption areas are issued a temporary flight restriction (TFR) but safety is a concern without the necessary technology and proper integration into the National Airspace System (NAS) (Fire and Aviation Managment, n.d.). For situations where the UAVs service is not provided by a third party, a challenge firefighters will face is the requirement to learn how to operate UAVs as part of their job tasks with the threat of a decrease in manned activities as a result (Norwood, 2014).
In summation, there are many platforms available for fire mitigating missions. Whether the high altitude Predator or the hovering capable helicopter is utilized, all provide assistance in situations that are potentially too dangerous for humans. A common challenge that UAS are faced with is safety while operating in the NAS and this concern will not be mitigated until proper collision avoidance technology is implemented. Two ethical challenges that exist with the use of UAVs during fire mitigating missions are violations of privacy and a lack of ethical code for operational use. Violations of civilian privacy by unwanted surveillance is potentially an ethical situation as UAVs monitor and store the data they collect (Dietrich, 2013). During fire missions, UAVs potentially loiter for long periods of time collecting data of not just the fire situation but of the surrounding area. These surrounding areas may include homes, businesses, and property where the owners and occupants may reject unwanted surveillance. The second issue of ethical code of operational use would be imposed on the company operating the UAV. Currently there has been no ethical code of operation created so operators are not required to follow any set of rules while using the UAV (Parsons, 2014). The operator is not restricted, by any ethical code of operation, from extending reconnaissance beyond the fires territory. UAVs are proving valuable in a variety of types of missions but the safety of the NAS will remain a challenge as well as ethical operation and surveillance are implemented.
  

Reference
Ambrosia, V. (n.d.). Disaster Management Applications- Fire. NASA-Ames Research Center. Retrieved from http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/WRAP/projects/docs /ISRSE_PAPER_2003.PDF
Berlant, D. (2007). Unmanned aircraft is latest firefighting tool. Retrieved from http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/communique/2007_winter/unmanned.pdf
Dietrich, T. (2013, January 30). Drones on the home front: Freedom or security? Daily Press. Retrieved from http://articles.dailypress.com/2013-01-30/news/dp-nws-drone-conference-cnu-20130130_1_ben-gielow-uavs-drones
Fire and Aviation Management. (n.d.) Unmanned Aircraft (UAS). National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/fire/aviation /safety/unmanned-aerial-systems.cfm
Historical Snapshot. (2016). Boeing. Retrieved from http://www.boeing.com/history/products /scaneagle-unmanned-aerial-vehicle.page
Merino, L. (2010). Automatic Forest Fire Monitoring and Measurement using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. VI International Conference on Forest Fire Research. Retrieved from https://www.upo.es/isa/lmercab/publications/papers/ICFFR10_Merinoetal.pdf
Norwood, P.J. (2014, October 30). Drones: Changes in the Air. Fire Engineering. Retrieved from http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2014/10/drones-change-is-in-the-air.html

Parsons, D. (2014, January). Academics Tackle Domestic Drone Ethics. Dimensions Engineering. Retrieved from http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive /2014/January/Pages/AcademicsTackleDomesticDroneEthics.aspx

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