Airborne Wildfire Mapping Utilizing An Array Of Thermal Infrared Cameras And Automated Multi-Aperture/Multi-Platform Fire Map Processing

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of western wildfires.The threat to peopleand infrastructure is growing with more population living in the wildland-urban interface.Advances in technology provide the opportunity to improve wildfire mapping accuracy timelinessand dissemination. An un-stabilized airborne fire mapping sensor is proposed utilizing an array ofminiature thermal infrared cameras providing wingtip-to-wingtip downward-looking coverage.Asolid-state Inertial Navigation System (INS) is included to provide accurate sensor orientation forgeo-referencing fire mapping data.The sensor is small and light enough to be conformal mountedon every airborne firefighting asset making all participating aircraft fire mapping nodes.Aninnovative image processing algorithm will automatically combine multi-aperture and multi- platform sensor data onto a common time-based 3D fire map.During Phase I a ConceptDemonstrator was built and test flown validating sensor sensitivity and INS pointing accuracy data.Fire imaging data was processed and depicted on a time-based 3D map.Phase II will complete the research required to implement a full functioning prototype system toinclude; real-time map processing map data download via data-link cloud processing and mapdistribution.The successful development and commercialization of the proposed technology will provideIncident Commanders improved time-based data for managing wildfires that threaten people andinfrastructure.The end goal is to improve the efficiency of fighting wildfires.Damage costs willbe reduced and lives will be saved by improving the situational awareness of firefighting personneland the general public.