Observing Wildfires: Demonstrating uses of UAS for civilian disaster monitoring

Vince Ambrosia from CA. State University-Monterey Bay / NASA-Ames Research Center, will speak to our show, sUSB Expo . The show takes place July 25th and 26th at the Golden Gate Club SFC. Other speakers include 3DR CEO Chris Anderson and the designer of the ScanEagle, Tad McGeer.

NASA and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) have collaborated since the 1990’s in the development and use of unmanned airborne vehicles and improved sensing systems to support wildfire observations. Over the past decade, the team has progressed from mission design concepts, to actual UAS emergency support data collection flights  over wildfires in California and the western US in 2006-2009.  Those missions, supporting the wildfire incident teams directly with real-time data, has led the various resource agencies in the US to develop their own UAS capabilities to support their assessment needs and emergency / disaster monitoring needs.  There is now a major shift occurring in UAS use from military objectives to civilian use of platforms.  He will highlight those capabilities, as they relate to supporting the firefighting community.