Reducing Wildfire Risk with Large Scale Prescribed Fire Drones

Reducing Wildfire Risk with Large Scale Prescribed Fire DronesThis proposal is for research related to the development of a large unmanned incendiary loadsystem for igniting prescribed burns. This proposal responds to the USDA NIFA SBIR priority 6"Developing Technology that Facilitates the Management of Wildfires on Forest Lands." Aerialignition systems for prescribed burns are a critical tool for managing fuel loads as well as forfighting wildfires.Prescribed burns are a vital tool for both land management and active firefighting. The USspends $500M on prescribed burns each year. Aerial ignition for prescribed burns performedwith helicopters is an expensive operation costing between $1K and $2K per hour. Moreoverhelicopter aerial ignition is a very dangerous operation underscored by the recent fatality of afirefighter who died in a helicopter crash in Texas while performing an aerial ignition operation.This proposal aims to provide a safer alternative with significant cost savings for stakeholders.The objective of this Phase 1 proposal is to study the feasibility of a large-scale prescribed firedrone based on a new heavy-lift parallel hybrid UAS being developed by Parallel FlightTechnologies and the Plastic Sphere Dispenser (PSD) technology developed by DroneAmplified. Fundamental research into the applicability of the parallel hybrid system in theprescribed fire mission is required before developing a full solution. Also studying the uniquevibration characteristics of the parallel hybrid airframe and its interaction with a future largePSD system from Drone Amplified is required before developing and integrating the systems.The effort will focus on characterizing airframe/payload vibration isolation flight dynamicstesting with representative payloads in prescribed burn environments sensor and gimbalvibration mitigation PSD drop dynamics testing from the Parallel UAS and development ofterrain follow capability for the Parallel UAS.The anticipated result is validation that a large unmanned system for prescribed burns can bedeveloped based on the parallel hybrid UAS technology and the PSD technology developed byDrone Amplified. A Phase II grant would then provide the resources needed to begin building afull solution for market.The commercial applications for the technology are safer and lower cost prescribed burns forland management as well as controlled ignition as a tool for active wildfire suppression.