SKYWARD, LTD. — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.1

Description

The astronomical costs of wildfires to our nation impact our environment, economy, and our very lives. According to summary of suppression costs compiled by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) for 2015 alone, there were more than 68 thousand wildfires, impacting over 10 million acres, and resulting in more than 2 billion dollars in expenditures across all agencies. On a more personal note, between 1990 and 2015, an average of 17 firefighters lost their lives during fire suppression efforts; twenty-one percent of those deaths were due to entrapment. Further, according to some sources, primary concerns from the firefighting community related to fatalities include a lack of tactical knowledge of escape routes and safety zones (the "black"), and real-time data for decision makers.The national wildfire management community faces many challenges, including detecting and managing wildfires, discovering and reducing fuel loads, ensuring the efficacy and safety of firefighters, and communication and navigation for fire management activities. Remote sensing and geospatial data have been used for many years to help address these challenges. However, current methods for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating remote sensing data are primarily focused on locating and characterizing fires and not on real-time fire operations (i.e., the firefighters). Additionally, these methods are too slow and not of sufficient fidelity to address the time-critical, dynamic nature of real-time, operationally focused wildfire management activities. The objective of this study is to apply advances in geospatial data collection, processing, and visualization, coupled with recent improvements in small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and sensor technologies, to address these challenges more effectively by facilitating the collection, visualization, and sharing of operationally relevant data in real-time. This effort also includes the transition of long-standing Department of Defense (DoD) Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) practices, such as Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (TCPED, aka PED) methodologies. We propose to research the development of a deployable, open-architecture PED system comprised of a combination of Commercial-Off-the-Shelf and innovative technologies, including a small UAS with electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors, a radio relay and range extension capability, a ground-based asset (i.e., firefighter) tracking system, an integrated Ground Control Station (GCS), and a geospatial data fusion and visualization software environment. Phase I research will result in data demonstrating the feasibility of the approach, in addition to comprehensive test plans, specific recommendations for subsystem components, elements of architectural design, and maturation of some elements of the overall solution. The overall system resulting from this study proposes to significantly enhance the management of real-time wildfire operations activities so as to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and to ultimately save lives.