SBIR/STTR Research Award
Project QuickFire: A Real-Time Solution for Large Scale Wildfire Monitoring
Award amount
$174,874Program and phase
SBIR · Phase IAward year
2024Award details
- Awarding agency
- Department of Agriculture
- Branch
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture
- Recipient company
- NEAR SPACE LABS INC
- Proposal award date
- 2024-03-29
- Contract end date
- 2025-02-28
- UEI
- VR64MF5SAP63
- Solicitation number
- USDA-NIFA-SBIR-009962
- Topic code
- 8.1
Research abstract
Theescalatingfrequencyintensityandgeographicalextentofwildfireshasbecomeanincreased
societalchallengecausingseveredamagetoecosystemslossoflifeairqualityissuesandextensive
economiclosses.Thefirefighter'stoolstofacethesechallengeshaveevolvedandrecentyearshave
seentheusageofsatelliteimagingcameratowersandamodestdeploymentofdronesforwildfire
monitoring. While these methods help still tothisdaysystemscapableofreal-timelarge-scale
monitoringofwildfiresinremoteareasarenotcommonlyavailabletofirefighters.
Tobreachthisgapweproposetheusageofstratosphericballoonswhicharecapableofmonitoring
morethan800sqmilesofwildernessinamatterofhoursandprovidereal-timefirefrontinformation
tocommandcentersandfireresponders.
ThroughthisprojectwewilladaptthecurrentcapabilitiesofNearSpaceLab'scommercialimaging
balloonstotherequirementsoflivewildfiremonitoring.Thisrequiresdevelopingreal-timedatalink
capabilitiesandresearchingsuitablesensorstoseethroughsmokeandhaze. Theoutcomesofthe
projectwillbeademonstrateddatalinkfordatatransmissionatmorethan50kmrangeand1Mbit/s
rate and the research and selection of a sensor type capable of providingsub-meterresolution
imagingofafirefront.
Theestimatedcostofafullyoperationalizedwildfiremonitoringsolutionfromthestratospherewill
beabout$10000perdayofoperation.Theincreasedsituationalawarenesswillhelpcurbthemore
than$7ByearlylossescausedbywildfiresintheUS.
Technology keywords
Not reported
Other awards by this recipient
Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.
Awards with the same topic code
Verified by an exact topic code match. This is not a text-similarity match.
- Wood-based Circular Biochar Fertilizers that Drive Soil Health and Crop Resilience
- Upcycling of High Value Mass Timber Remnant with Advanced Automation
- Developing Durable Pathogen Resistance Through Inter-Specific Backcrossing in Hybrid Poplar
- A Portable Situational Awareness Toolset for Wilfires Suppression and Team Management
- Comprehensive Utility for Thinning Mechanically via Automated Prescription (CUTMAP)
Research funding history
2 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (2024). Reported award amounts total $299,665. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.
Phases: Phase I
Agencies: Department of Agriculture