The research, which builds on work Afghah and Razi have been doing for almost three years, is exploring ways to use Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAVs) in tracking forest fires. Their goal is to give firefighters a better situational awareness about the fire environment; provide up-to-date information on where the fire is; and help fire responders form reliable predictions about the fire activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Southwest, especially Arizona, fire is a very big deal,\u201d Afghah said. \u201cWhen you get to the fire, it\u2019s going to have a huge impact in informing the strategies of first responders to control fire, helping the survivors and coming up with evacuation plans in time.\u201d<\/p>\n Drones are autonomous and less expensive than helicopters; when equipped with cameras, operators on the ground can observe the fire, predict its direction, look for and even communicate with people who are at risk and help inform decisions about evacuation routes. Drones can collect real-time video streaming, track and detect object and track survivors.<\/p>\n All of this happens without putting fire officials in the line of fire. The UAVs will have thermal cameras as well, so they can get pictures at night or in areas of heavy smoke. It\u2019s increasingly important as the number and severity of fires in the Southwest increases due to climate variability and the accumulation of fuel in the forests.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can potentially give us the fastest solutions,\u201d Afghah said. \u201cWe are designing technologies that will give the drones the better view of the fire. We\u2019re looking for ways to create safe and fast evacuation plans, and we\u2019re also working on low-computation fire modeling techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n Ful\u00e9, who is a fire ecologist focused on climate warming and increased fire severity, said he is always looking for better ways to understand and manage wildland fire to gain the most benefits from environmentally helpful fires and limit dangerous fires.<\/p>\n \u201cDrone technology, like aviation and satellite technology, is another step forward in providing timely, detailed information to managers, helping them make safer and more efficient decisions that benefit communities and our forests and watersheds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Razi\u2019s role is to develop machine learning tools to model fire expansion based on the imagery the drones collect. His team will exploit key topography and geographical features using advanced image processing methods, then develop integrated modeling that incorporates these features along with environmental factors such as wind, temperature, humidity, terrain and vegetation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis data-driven model will help characterize fire expansion as a dynamic system, generalizable to similar scenarios,\u201d he said. \u201cThe results of<\/p>\n this research can be used to predict active and future fire behaviors and help the ground force and firefighters to better use their fire management resources. For instance, they could focus on areas that fire is expected to grow faster and affect the surrounding residential area.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the academic collaborators, the team is working with the Flagstaff Fire Department and the Kaibab and Coconino national forest administrators. In cooperation with fire managers under approved conditions, the researchers are able to put drones into both prescribed and naturally occurring fires and work with the firefighters on the ground to help them use the equipment, interpret the data received and get feedback on its user-friendliness.<\/p>\n The drones right now are not being looked at to actively fight fires; they\u2019re not large enough to carry water tanks or other equipment. Neither are they looking at managing fires with drones in this study. However, they can take in emergency equipment to people if needed, such as bringing in a cellphone, water or other supplies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe field tests will progress from a highly controlled environment to a realistic wildland fire environment,\u201d the grant application reads. \u201cWe expect that the outcomes of our project and experimental validation will enable a transformational and practical framework for managing wildfires that typically occur in rugged and remote terrains where land access is slow, safety zones are scarce, and the air access is limited by flight hazards while specialized firefighting aircraft have high cost and limited availability.\u201d<\/p>\n Heidi Toth | NAU Communications <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Abolfazl](\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/5450_abolfazl_razi_20200909.jpg\")
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\n(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n