System Development

Wildfire UAS Development

Introduction

Wildfires are an almost expected occurrence in southern California. The semi-arid conditions create instances where brush and other vegetation grow during rainy seasons, then dry out in the heat. While many of these wildfires are arguably not detrimental to people or infrastructures, there are occurrences that are, or are suspected to be. This is where the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can be of benefit. UAS can provide aerial imaging on and around the wildfires to help fire management, and if needed - recue personnel. The proposed system should incorporate design features that emphasize stability, quality imaging, mobility, and ruggedness. These design criteria will allow for a stable imaging platform that is quickly deployable and is able to withstand environmental elements. This proposed system can be a vital addition to rescue efforts, and therefore should be developed quickly without compromising quality. Given the current market of available commercially-off-the-shelve (COTS) components, this system can realistically be completed in approximately six months using a rapid application development (RAD) development approach.
The following system requirements must be met in order to achieve project goals:

Wildfire UAS System Requirements

1. Transportability
1. Entire system (all elements) shall be transportable (in a hardened case) and weight less than 50 lbs (one-person lift)
1.1 - Case shall provide cutouts for both the air vehicle and hand-held GCS including support equipment
1.2 - Case shall be solid and liquid resistant with a minimum rating of IP22
1.3 - Case shall be able to withstand a drop from 5 feet without damaging all system elements inside
1.2. Aircraft shall be able to be deployed under 5 minutes
1.2.1 - Aircraft shall be able to be assembled (if applicable) by one person
1.2.2 - Aircraft shall be capable of being assembled in under 4 minutes
1.2.3 - Data-link shall be established under 1 minute
2. Cost
2. Entire system (all elements) shall be under $10,000.00
2.1 – Entire system (all elements) shall cost under $10.00 to operate up to one hour
2.2 – Aircraft repairs shall not exceed aircraft cost
2.3 – Aircraft maintenance costs shall be under $30.00/hr.
3. Payload
3. Shall be capable of color daytime video operation up to 500 feet AGL
3.1 - Shall provide a minimum of 10 frames per second (FPS) video feed
3.2 - Shall provide 45 degree field of view (FOV)
3.2 Shall be capable of infrared (IR) video operation up to 500 feet AGL
3.2.1 – Shall provide a minimum of 10 FPS video feed
3.2.2 – Shall provide 45 degree FOV
3.3 Shall be interoperable with C2 and data-link
3.3.1 – Shall operate on 4G data-link
3.3.2 – Shall not interfere with controllability of aircraft
3.4 Shall use power provided by air vehicle element
3.4.1 - Shall not degrade air vehicle vertical or horizontal performance by more than 10%
3.4.2 - Shall not reduce system operable time by more than 30%
4. Testing Requirements
4.1 Transportability
4.1.1 Carrying Case
4.1.1.1 – Inspect case to ensure cutouts are present
4.1.1.2 – Spray case with water at no greater than 15 degrees (IP22) vertical and ensure equipment inside is dry
4.1.1.3. – Verify the case can withstand a drop from 5 feet
4.1.1.3 – Verify equipment inside is not damaged after drop
4.1.2 Deployability 
4.1.2.1 – Verify air vehicle can be assembled by one person
4.1.2.2 – Verify assembly takes less than 4 minutes
4.1.2.3 – Verify data-link can be established in under 1 minute
5. 1 Payload
5.1.1 – Verify daytime video data-link is established
5.1.2 – Verify IR data-link is established
5.1.3 - Ascend aircraft with imaging payload to 500 ft AGL
5.1.4 - Verify color daytime video data-link is maintained at 500 ft AGL
5.1.5 - Verify IR data-link is maintained at 500 ft AGL
5.1.6 – Verify video is maintaining 10 FPS or greater
5.1.7 – Verify FOV is 45 degrees
5.2 Interoperability 
5.2.1 Verify C2, data-link, and video data-link are active
5.2.2 Verify C2, data-link, and video data-link are operable simultaneously
5.2.3 Ascend aircraft with C2, data-link, and video data-link active simultaneously
5.2.4 Verify C2, data-link, and video data are all operable simultaneously at 500 ft AGL
5.3 Power
5.3.1 Verify power for payload(s) derive from the air vehicles power source
5.3.2 Verify air vehicle performance with active payloads does not decrease more than 10%
5.3.3 Verify air vehicle flight time with active payloads does not decrease more than 30%

Summery

By adhering to these design criteria, and following proper component testing procedures, it can be safely assumed a UAS meeting wildfire monitoring task goals can be designed in 6 months. The platform will be small but rugged, and many of the needed components are COTS, therefore much of the developmental considerations will fall under acquisition decisions rather than ground-up designing and manufacturing of components. This dramatically reduces lead times and positively influences and supports the RAD development time frame.