Low-cost UAS for Wildfire Logistics and Management

In this Phase I SBIR effort, Dragoon Technology proposes to assess the capability of its long endurance low-cost UAS platform, Coriolis, as applied to the wildfire environment. Specifically, investigation of autonomous behaviors enabled by a combination of the Coriolis aircraft, a low-cost sensor suite, and a communications radio will be completed. Dragoon believes that several basic autonomy behaviors can be created by such a system, including a long-dwell communications relay which can optimize navigation based on terrain and signal strength, intelligent tracking of personnel and assets, and detection and tracking of critical features in the fire environment. The intended use of the funding is to research the above areas, integrate communications equipment onto an existing Coriolis aircraft, and perform a flight test with the equipment onboard. In the commercial sector, target markets for a long-endurance low-cost UAS capability are numerous. The original application for the Coriolis aircraft is long duration weather sensing missions, but the aircraft can also be applied broadly to disaster relief and linear infrastructure inspection. The aircraft is well suited to missions where a long endurance capability is required but return of the aircraft may be uncertain.