demonstrating uav-acquired real-time thermal data over fires - … · 2002. 8. 7. · demonstrating...

Demonstrating UAV-Acquired Real-Time Thermal Data over Fires

Vincent G. Ambrosia, Steven S. Wegener, Donald V. Sullivan, Sally W. Buechel,Stephen E. Dunagan, James A. Brass, Jay Stoneburner, and Susan M. Schoenung

P H O T O G R A M M E T R I C E N G I N E E R I N G & R E M O T E S E N S I N G Apr i l 2003 391

AbstractProject FiRE (First Response Experiment), a disastermanagement technology demonstration, was performed in2001. The experiment demonstrated the use of a thermalmultispectral scanning imager, integrated on an unmannedaerial vehicle (UAV), a satellite uplink/downlink imagedata telemetry system, and near-real-time geo-rectificationof the resultant imagery for data distribution via the Inter-net to disaster managers. The FiRE demonstration pro-vided geo-corrected image data over a controlled burn toa fire management community in near-real-time by meansof the melding of new technologies. The use of the UAVdemonstrated remotely piloted flight (thereby reducing thepotential for loss of human life during hazardous missions),and the ability to “linger and stare” over the fire for ex-tended periods of time (beyond the capabilities of human-pilot endurance). Improvements in a high-temperaturecalibrated thermal imaging scanner allowed “remote” oper-ations from a UAV and provided real-time accurate fireinformation collection over a controlled burn. Improvedbit-rate capacity telemetry capabilities increased theamount, structure, and information content of the imagedata relayed to the ground. The integration of precisionnavigation instrumentation allowed improved accuraciesin geo-rectification of the resultant imagery, easing dataingestion and overlay in a GIS framework. We present adiscussion of the feasibility of utilizing new platforms,improved sensor configurations, improved telemetry, andnew geo-correction software to facilitate wildfire manage-ment and mitigation strategies.

IntroductionLarge-scale wildfires occur frequently throughout theUnited States every year. The “fire” season begins in late

winter in the southeastern U.S. (initially in Florida) andtransitions both northward into the Appalachian states andwestward. The severe fire season transitions into the south-west, north through the Rockies, west to the Pacific North-west, then south through California, culminating in latefall/early winter fire events in southern California. Thisextended fire season taxes the resources of local, state, andfederal agencies mandated to monitor and mitigate theseevents. During the extensive burning seasons throughoutthe United States, piloted aircraft employing thermal imag-ing systems are deployed by some state agencies (CaliforniaDept. of Forestry; CDF) and by the National Interagency FireCenter (NIFC; Boise, Idaho) to collect large volumes of dataover fires spread from Canada to Mexico, and from theRocky Mountain Front to the Pacific Ocean. Large fires,such as the Yellowstone conflagration in 1988, the CerroGrande, New Mexico fire in 2000, the western Montanafires of 2000, and the Colorado and Arizona fires of 2002,burdened these remote sensing data-gathering crews, andtaxed both the resources and the stamina of these personnel.

Through cooperative endeavors between agencies, ateam of investigators have embarked on a research andtechnology demonstration utilizing UAVs and advancedsensor and data distribution technologies focused onimproving the information gathering over wildfire disasterevents. The rationale for exploring the development of theplatform, payload, data telemetry and geo-rectification pro-cedures was to greatly increase the timeliness of the datastream for utility in fire mapping, to reduce potential risksto pilot and system engineers, and to provide improvedand more accurate information on fire conditions than iscurrently realized. The culmination of those effortsresulted in the UAV-FiRE demonstration.

The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) First ResponseExperiment (FiRE) was created in 2001 to demonstrate theutility of integrating remotely piloted aerial platforms,advanced thermal imaging, cost-effective satellite datatelemetry systems, and image geo-rectification for rapiddata dissemination of a disaster event in near real-time(Figure 1). The primary focus of the FiRE demonstrationwas to utilize the unique features of an unmanned aircraftas a data-gathering platform to test the feasibility of longduration missions to support wildfire management activi-ties. Although UAVs are currently expensive to operate, thepurpose of the demonstration was to showcase their feasi-bility for future operational data gathering. Within the next

V.G. Ambrosia is with California State University–Monterey Bay, Earth System Science and Policy Institute,M.S. 242-4, NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,CA 94035-1000 ([email protected])

S.S. Wegener, D.V. Sullivan, S.E. Dunagan, and James A.Brass are with the NASA-Ames Research Center, MoffettField, CA 94035-1000 ([email protected];[email protected]; [email protected];[email protected]).

S.W. Buechel is with Terra-Mar Resource InformationServices, Hood River, OR 97031 ([email protected]).

J. Stoneburner is with General Atomics-AeronauticalSystems, Inc., San Diego, CA 92127 ([email protected]).

S.M. Schoenung is with Longitude 122 West, Inc., MenloPark, CA 94025 ([email protected]).

Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote SensingVol. 69, No. 4, April 2003, pp. 391–402.

0099-1112/03/6904–391$3.00/0© 2003 American Society for Photogrammetry

and Remote Sensing

few years, as operational costs decrease, UAVs will prove tobe an effective alternative platform for long-duration datagathering missions. UAVs and the improved data telemetrytechnologies described in this paper offer vast improvementsin platform range capabilities (ability to cover continental-scale areas), timely delivery of data, and improved qualityof information to the disaster manager. The employment ofa multichannel thermal imaging payload also offers im-provement over the current use of forward looking infrared(FLIR) systems and single-channel thermal systems withpoor (or non-existent) high temperature calibration, narrowFOVs, and low spatial and radiometric resolution. Improve-ments in on-board and ground-based image geo-correctiontechnologies also allow vastly improved data integrationcapabilities and speed.

The success of the FiRE project was the result of a col-laborative effort between government agencies and privateindustry. NASA-Ames Research Center organized the projectand the enhancement and development of the AIRDAS scan-ner as well as the integration of all the components neededfor the demonstration. Ames cooperated closely with Gen-eral Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., (GA-ASI) who de-veloped, built, and flew the ALTUS® II UAV airborne plat-form. System integration was accomplished at the GA-ASIFlight Operations Facility in El Mirage, California. Thetelemetry system, provided by Remote Satellite Systems,Inc. of Santa Rosa, California, was modified by NASA-Amesand integrated by GA-ASI into the ALTUS® II UAV fuselage.All geo-rectification procedures and data handling were co-ordinated and performed with Terra-Mar Resource Informa-tion Services of Mountain Ranch, California. Disaster man-agers from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the State ofCalifornia Resources Agency participated as technology re-viewers and provided feedback on the resultant fire data

sets. The integration of the various technologies and theultimate success of the project were due to this uniquepartnership among all the participants (Brass et al., 2001).

BackgroundFire imaging from remote platforms can be divided intotwo distinct categories: strategic and tactical. Strategicobservations are those that provide a regional view of fireoccurrences. Tactical observations are those that providedetailed, frequent, and repetitive views of specific fireevents. Satellite systems such as AVHRR have been used toprovide strategic views (Matson and Dozier (1981), Matsonet al. (1984), and others) but are ineffective for repetitive,timely observations of fires due to orbit cycles, design char-acteristics, and data relay (days, weeks to months after thefire). While the Forest Service and other agencies utilizesatellite data to provide an overview of fire distribution atregional scales, they rely on the use of airborne platformsas tactical systems to provide continuous coverage andrapid data accessibility over individual fire events. Theability to change aircraft position, altitude, and data acqui-sition time makes them essential for real-time fire fightingand management decisions. This paper will focus on theuse of improved tactical airborne remote sensing systems.

Airborne fire imaging has changed dramatically in theUnited States since the early assessments performed with aPolaroid Land Camera in the late 1940s and early 1950s(Arnold, 1951; Johnson and Thomas, 1951). Throughout the1960s the U.S. Forest Service–Northern Forest Fire Labora-tory (Missoula, Montana) pushed the forefront of fire imag-ing technology with various programs and research efforts(Hirsch, 1962; Hirsch, 1963; Hirsch, 1964; Hirsch, 1968;Hirsch et al., 1971; Wilson, 1968). During the 1970s, exper-

392 Month 2003 P H O T O G R A M M E T R I C E N G I N E E R I N G & R E M O T E S E N S I N G

Figure 1. FiRE Demonstration Concept Plan. Thermal infrared image datacollected from a payload operating on a UAV is telemetered over-the-horizonthrough an orbiting communications satellite to a data command center. At thedata archive center, the imagery is processed in near real time, archived, andalso distributed to the World Wide Web for use in disaster visualization andmitigation response.

imentation with newly developed digital imaging systemsled to an expansion of the aerial fire assessment programswithin the U.S. Forest Service and also within NASA (Brasset al., 1987; Ambrosia, 1990). The Forest Service maintaineda program of fire research at the Missoula Lab and at otherfacilities including the Forestry Applications Program, thenat Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (now the ForestService Remote Sensing Applications Program (RSAC) inSalt Lake City, Utah). NASA’s activities were largely struc-tured around development of technological tools and theemployment of high altitude aerial platforms (such as theU2/ER2) to assist in Earth resource assessments (Brass et al.,1987; Ambrosia, 1990). These programs gravitated naturallyinto cooperative efforts focused on development of plat-forms, payloads, and software for improvement of fire imag-ing technologies.

During the 1980s the National Interagency Fire Center(NIFC) initiated research and development activities ininfrared fire imaging. These activities included the use offorward looking infrared (FLIR) systems (George et al.,1989), and development of the Flying Infrared EnhancedManeuverable Operational User Simple Electronic TacticalReconnaissance And Patrol (FIRE MOUSE TRAP (FMT)) imag-ing system (Dipert and Warren, 1988; Warren, 1990; Warrenand Celarier, 1991; Scott, 1991). In the late 1980s and early1990s the Forest Service and NASA-JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab-oratory) jointly developed the FIREFLY (FF) thermal fire imag-ing system (Warren, 1992; Warren, 1994). That system wasutilized for a number of years and was reconfigured in themid/late 1990s into the PHOENIX system.

Following a parallel development track, NASA-AmesResearch Center began research on improved thermalinfrared scanning systems for fire imaging. NASA-Amesresearchers focused on developing complete end-to-endsystems that would deliver accurate fire temperature dataand deliver the information remotely in near real time. TheAirborne Infrared Disaster Assessment System (AIRDAS) wasthe result of those activities. AIRDAS was designed to fill acritical gap in remote sensing fire research and to supportfire applications related activities. Those critical gaps relateto the need for design of appropriate thermal channel andband-pass regions, improving high temperature calibrations,improvements to electronics systems to facilitate high dataquantization, and development of high temperature resolu-tion systems. The AIRDAS was conceived to overcome short-comings of previous instruments not designed for accuratediscrimination of high temperatures found in a wildfirecondition. Those shortcomings led to the development ofnarrower thermal bandpass filters, improved detector devel-opment, and innovative design changes to signal pre-amplifiers to facilitate high temperature discrimination withappropriate detector designs (Ambrosia and Brass, 1988).

Perceiving the need for rapid payload data delivery,NASA-Ames shifted development to aircraft telemetry sys-tems (Ambrosia, 1990). Low-bit data rates (4.8 Kbs) wereachieved by enhancing a Flitefone 800® air-to-ground digi-tal cellular phone system for data relay of “frame grabbed”scenes from the AIRDAS controller’s station on-board theacquiring aircraft. This procedure necessitated dialing intoa computer server at Ames Research Center and transmit-ting a single spectral band image file from the aircraft. Thefile was sent unrectified and was available for analysiswithin approximately 15 minutes. This procedure wasemployed successfully for a number of years in the 1990’sand was used over numerous fires both in the western U.S.and in Brazil.

The requirement for geo-rectified, GIS-compatiblethermal-infrared image data drove the development andfurther refinement of the AIRDAS and telemetry system.Cooperative efforts with private industry (Terra-Mar) led to

the development of faster geo-rectification algorithms forcorrecting the telemetered thermal data when it arrived atthe data server location. The data were required to be geo-corrected and in a universal GIS-compatible format. Thesuccess of that development effort was evident in the WILD-FIRE project (Ambrosia et al., 1998). AIRDAS data, capturedfrom a NASA Lear jet, over a controlled burn, were relayedto a field-portable computer at an Incident Fire CommandCenter via the aforementioned Flitefone 800® system. Thedata were geo-corrected using a single control point and anapproximated two-dimensional model, and were availablewithin 30 minutes of collection.

In the late 1990s, cooperative efforts between the USFSand NASA-Ames established new requirements for improv-ing wildfire monitoring from airborne platforms. Theserequirements included over-the-horizon (OTH) telemetrycapability, greater bit-rate throughput telemetry, multiplespectral band data collection and transmission, and im-proved geo-rectification procedures. The final requirementwas to provide these elements within one hour or less ofdata collection. With the advent of remotely piloted aerialvehicles and their attendant large payload capacity, the part-ners began efforts to develop new technologies to exploit theUAV as an aerial remote sensing platform. That effort led tothe UAV FiRE project in 2001. The demonstrations of these,and emerging technologies, are the focus of this paper.

Goals of FiRE DemonstrationProject FiRE focused on demonstrating engineering conceptsfor future use of UAV platforms, integrating appropriate dis-aster imaging payloads, integration of improved data teleme-try systems, and data rectification and distribution. Thegoals of the project were to

● Integrate an imaging system and telemetry equipment on ahigh performance UAV,

● Operate the payload remotely from a ground station viatelemetry protocols,

● Telemeter payload data from the UAV to a communicationssatellite and OTH to a ground receiving station,

● Provide automated geo-rectification and correction of thedata, and

● Globally distribute that data to the Internet and disastermanagers.

The first goal of the FiRE demonstration was to success-fully integrate and fly the AIRDAS scanner on a UAV platform.The ALTUS® II UAV payload integration of the AIRDAS wasperformed at the GA-ASI Flight Operations Facility in ElMirage, California during late summer of 2001.

The second goal, to operate the AIRDAS payload remotelyfrom a ground station via command and control telemetry,required modification of the instrument control software andall functionality performed by a systems engineer.

The third goal, to provide satellite data communica-tions telemetry, required modification and integration of asatellite phone antenna system onboard the ALTUS® II UAV.The telemetry system provided a communication and datalink to the INMARSAT (International Mobile Satellite Orga-nization) satellite system.

The fourth goal, to provide improved geo-rectificationof fire image data, required customized image correctionsoftware provided by Terra-Mar. The software requiredinputs from the platform, and payload navigation informa-tion collected in conjunction with the AIRDAS image data.

The fifth goal, to globally distribute the real-time cor-rected thermal imagery via the Internet, allowed the use ofthe resultant data both at an Incident Command Center(ICC) and at other facilities, including remote fire camps.An uncorrected image file and geo-rectified file were sentto a server at NASA-Ames and accessed via a web address.

P H O T O G R A M M E T R I C E N G I N E E R I N G & R E M O T E S E N S I N G Month 2003 393

The following sections describe the FiRE experimentcomponents, the demonstration, results, and future direc-tions for our research and development program.

FiRE DemonstrationOverviewThe FiRE demonstration mission occurred on 06 September2001 at the GA-ASI Flight Operations Facility in El Mirage,California. Disaster managers and fire management person-nel viewed the FIRE demonstration and participated in anevaluation of the procedures and products. Integration ofthe payload and telemetry suite occurred during the weekpreceding the mission, and a full, end-to-end UAV/payload/telemetry test flight was also performed the previous day.

The FiRE Demonstration controlled burn site was locatedat the GA-ASI Flight Operations Facility at El Mirage, Cali-fornia. The first phase of the FiRE project involved localflights over controlled burns in the vicinity of El Mirage.The fire location was moved to the GA-ASI facility to im-prove control of the burn (during high fire season on sur-rounding wildlands), and to better coordinate the projectobservers and fire managers. The ALTUS® II UAV was there-fore limited to flights within the GA-ASI Flight OperationsRange. The Flight Operations Facility at El Mirage is situ-ated at 872 meters (2861 ft) elevation at 34° 37 30� north lat-itude and 17° 36 21� west longitude and has a 1525-meter(5000-ft) runway situated on a dry lakebed. The field is30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of Victorville, Californiaand 47 kilometers (29 miles) east of Palmdale, California,in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County (Figure 2).

The demonstration burn was located approximately50 meters (50 yards) north of the runway. The burn wascreated by a controlled ignition of a large supply of propanefuel fed through a series of vented feeder pipes. The feederpipes were laid out in a linear pattern and extended ap-

proximately 35 meters. After the propane was ignited, ver-tical flame lengths reached approximately 3 to 5 meters. Pitscontaining fuel were disbursed around the propane feederpipes (Figure 3). These fuel pits were ignited and providedadded flame and thick black smoke, obscuring the flames,as would occur in a natural fire. The controlled burn wasignited immediately prior to the ALTUS® II rollout andtakeoff and continued for the duration of the mission (overone hour).

A GA-ASI PREDATOR B® UAV was launched prior tothe ALTUS® II to provide overhead video coverage of themission. The video data were relayed to the Command andControl station and distributed via closed-circuit monitorsto the attending disaster managers and audience. A pilotedGA-ASI Cessna 182 aircraft was used for in-flight photo-graphy while the aircraft flew within the test range.

The controlled burn was ignited adjacent to the aircraftrunway and the UAV was launched at 0800 (PDT). After at-taining the planned data collection altitude of about 945 me-ters AGL (about 3100 ft), the ALTUS® II flew “racetrack” pat-terns in an east/west orientation over the controlled burn.This altitude provided a pixel spatial resolution of about2.5 meters. The first data collection pass was made at0822 (PDT).

ALTUS® II UAV DescriptionThe ALTUS® II aircraft used for this demonstration is aderivative of the GA-ASI PREDATOR® UAV. The ALTUS® IIbuilds on the proven technology of the PREDATOR® sys-tem with an altitude optimized propulsion and control sys-tem to create a UAV that is capable of high altitude, longendurance flight (Table 1). The ALTUS® II was developedunder the NASA AeroSpace Enterprise, EnvironmentalResearch Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) programand is designed as a technology demonstrator for scientificresearch and commercial applications (Figure 4).


Figure 2. Location of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. Flight OperationsFacility and FiRE test burn site. The demonstration site is in the Mojave Desert nearEl Mirage, San Bernardino County, California, northeast of Los Angeles.

The ALTUS® II UAV is controlled via a command andcontrol (C2) link that is separate from the data telemetry link.The C2 link is used strictly for flight and instrument opera-tions. The aircraft can be easily disassembled, crated, moved,and reassembled rapidly (assembly in under five hours). Thisfacilitates operations in remote areas away from base opera-tions and provides rapid response for emergency situations.The remote operations for the UAV platforms are provided bypersonnel in a Ground Station C2 trailer, which is describedin detail in the following section.

GA-ASI ALTUS Ground StationRemotely piloted flight operations for the ALTUS® II UAVplatform are performed on the ground at the GA-ASI GroundStation (Figure 5). The ALTUS® II and all GA-ASI aircraftare controlled by a portable common solid-state digitalground control station (GCS) through a C-Band line-of-sight(LOS) data link. The GCS is capable of direct control of the


Figure 3. Controlled burn site at GA-ASI Flight Opera-tions Facility, adjacent to runway. The controlled burnwas created with a propane pipe feeder system and fuelpits ignited immediately prior to ALTUS® II take-off. Figure 4. The ALTUS® II UAV in flight during the FiRE

demonstration mission, September 2001. The telemetryantennas are integrated into the fuselage and located onboth sides of the aircraft at the FiRE logo, aft of the pay-load section. The payload (AIRDAS scanner) is located inthe nose.

TABLE 1. GENERAL ATOMICS-AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS, INC. (GA-ASI) ALTUS®IIUAV SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

Dimensions Wing Span 55.3 ft.; Wing Area 132 sq. ft.; Length 23.6 ft.; Height 9.8 ft.

Weights Max Fuel Wt. 550 lb; Payload Wt. 330 lb.; Max GTOW 2,150 lbs.

Propulsion/Fuel Rotax 914-2T Dual Turbo; liquid-cooled four cylinders. Rated 100 HP @ 52,000 ft.

Performance Max Altitude 65,000 ft.; Endurance: 8 Hours (at 60K), 18 Hours (at 30K), 24 Hours (at 25K); Max Speed 100 KIAS, Cruise/Loiter Speed 65 KIAS

Payload Specs Size: 58�L � 26�H � 27�W, (Adaptable); Max Wt. 300 lbs., Payload Power Available 1.8 kW

Shipping Size 319�L � 48�H � 57�W

Navigation Litton LN-100G INS/GPS (P-Code GPS)

Avionics GA-ASI PCM, C-Band Line-Of-Sight RF, adapt-able for Over-The-Horizon Operations.

FTS GA-ASI Rocket deployed parachute and NASA

Flight Termination System

Landing Gear Normal tricycle-type retractable landing gear.

Figure 5. The GA-ASI Ground Control Station with thepilot (left) and co-pilot seats (right) located in the mobiletrailer. Communications link between the pilot and theUAV are provided by a C-band command and control datalink or Ku-band, OTH link. The flight crew utilizes a mov-ing map display (upper left) and a UAV-mounted, forward-looking video camera display (lower left), in conjunctionwith attitude and navigation information (lower right) tomaintain the appropriate flight profile.

UAV and passing real-time payload data at ranges up to280 km (150 NM). In addition to the LOS link, a high datarate Ku-Band satellite data link for routine over-the-horizonoperations is available and has been used by the military.GA-ASI has also developed a high mobility ground controlstation and a portable ground control station that allowscontrol of an unmanned aircraft to be passed to remotepilots at an advanced location. The pilot and co-pilot relyon aircraft attitude and positional information provided bythe Litton LN-100G INS/GPS system as well as forward-

looking real-time video camera data collected on the UAVand streamed to the pilot console via the same C2 link. Thevideo, in conjunction with UAV positional informationdisplayed on a moving map base, allows the crew to monitorthe aircraft condition and location at all times.

AIRDAS Imaging PayloadThe AIRDAS thermal scanner (Ambrosia et al., 1994) wasflown on the ALTUS® II for the FiRE demonstration (Table 2;Figure 6). The AIRDAS was integrated on the ALTUS in latesummer 2001, following system checkout flights on pilotedaircraft. Integration was facilitated by the design elements ofthe UAV as a NASA scientific imaging platform. As such, onlyminor modifications were made to the platform to allowintegration of the scanner. Significant software modificationswere made to the AIRDAS operating system to allow remotecontrol and operations by the payload engineer from theground station. These modifications required the greatesttime allocation for integration and mission performance.

The AIRDAS has been laboratory-calibrated to resolvefire intensities up to 973 K (700°C). Accurate higher tem-perature discrimination of the thermal channels is possiblebut is restricted by the peak temperature efficiency of thelaboratory-calibrated thermal source in use (maximum atabout 700°C). The NE�T of bands 2 and 3 is less than 0.5°Cat 500°C. During AIRDAS science missions, where highlyaccurate temperature discrimination is required, a narrow-ing band-pass filter is employed for channel three. Thisfilter narrows the channel to 3.95 to 4.05 �m, allowing foraccurate temperature discrimination, but restricting theenergy transfer to the sandwiched detector channel 4. Thisreduces the signal strength at channel four and precludesuseful data in that thermal region. Integration of non-linear

response pre-amplifiers for the near-infrared (channel 2)and thermal-infrared (channel 3) allows for a greater rangeof temperature discrimination than do standard linear cali-brated pre-amplifiers. The pre-amplifiers allow for two dis-tinct, non-linear temperature discrimination curves to bedeveloped. For low temperatures (30 to 100°C), discrimina-tion is approximately 1.0°C/count while, in the higher tem-perature portion of the non-linear curve (500 to 600°C),discrimination is approximately 0.2°C/per count in themid-infrared thermal channel 3. This design allows for dis-crimination for low temperature earth ambient targets, andalso discrimination of discrete temperatures emitted by avariably hot target.

For the FiRE experiment, discrete temperature variationswere not necessary to convey the fire properties; therefore,images of relative fire intensity sufficed for data telemetryto the disaster managers. Therefore, the narrowing filterswere not employed for the FiRE experiment. The fire datawere portrayed as either single-channel grayscale images(channel 3 or 4) or as thermal-infrared-visible (RGB) colorcomposites. Temperature variations were portrayed as vary-ing shades of color in these image files.

Each of the specific AIRDAS bands provides usefulinformation for fire analysis. The visible band 1 is suitablefor monitoring smoke plumes as well as distinguishing sur-face cultural and vegetative features not obscured by smokeor clouds. Band 2 is suitable for analysis of vegetative com-position, as well as very hot fire fronts, while still penetrat-ing most associated smoke plumes. Band 2 is sensitive tofires and hot spots at temperatures above 573°K (300°C)(Riggan et al., 1993). Band 3 (mid-infrared thermal) is specif-ically designed for estimating high temperature conditions.Band 4 is designed to collect thermal data on earth ambienttemperatures and on the lower temperature soil heating con-


TABLE 2. AIRDAS SYSTEM CONFIGURATION AND CHARACTERISTICS FOR PAYLOADOPERATIONS ABOARD GA-ASI ALTUS® II UAV

System Composition: Texas Instruments® RS-25 thermal line-scanner optics; Non-linear detector pre-amplifiers; Sixteen-bitDigitizer; Dichroic filters for spectralchannel separation.

Control Computer: Pentium® I Pro 233 MHz system; On-Board ETHERNET; SCSI; High-speed serial ports running QNX OS;Kingston® 18.0 GB removable harddrive storage device; IntegratedMotorola® Chassis-Mounted GPSReceiver; Crossbow® DMU-FOG-VGFiber-Optic Gyro, 2-axis

Weight and Power: Scan Head: 95 lbs.; Control computer and peripherals: 70 lbs.; Requires28V DC @ 20 amps

Sensor Parameters: Quantization: 15-bit true (signed 16 bit)FOV: 108 degreesIFOV: 2.62 milliradiansScan Rate: 4–23 scans/secondDigitized Swath Width: 720 pixelsSpatial Resolution: 26 ft. (8m) at 10K ft.NE∆T: Band 2 and Band 3: �0.5°C

@ 500°C Temperature Sensitivity: 1.0˚C/DN / 0.2˚C/DN (non-

linear two-step pre-amp; below andabove breakpoint)

Thermal Calibration Temp: �700˚C

Spectral Configuration: Channel 1: 0.64 - 0.71 mm2: 1.57 - 1.70 mm3: 3.75 - 4.05 mm (narrowingfilter available)4: 5.50 - 13.0 mm

Figure 6. The AIRDAS system integrated into the GA-ASIALTUS® II UAV payload pod. The scan head is located inthe forward portion of the payload bay above the openport window, with the computer control rack immediatelyaft of the head electronics. Aft of the control computeris the Litton LN-100G INS/GPS. The forward lookingvideo camera can be seen in the nose of the UAV, whilethe command and control communications antenna islocated on the belly of the fuselage, aft of the payloadbay and ports. The hatch cover for the payload bay (notvisible) incorporates the NERA telemetry antennas onboth sides of the airframe.

ditions behind fire fronts, as well as the minute temperaturedifferences in pre-heating conditions (Ambrosia et al., 1994).

The AIRDAS contains an integrated Motorola® chassis-mounted Global Positioning System (GPS) unit and aCrossbow DMU-FOG-VG (Fiber-Optic Gyro-Vertical Gyro)®

two-axis gyro. The GPS data are integrated into the scanneroutput and provide encoded location information on air-craft position to the header file for each flight segment(scan line). The two-axis gyro sends encoded informationon pitch and roll to the control system in order to allow forpost-flight correction. A magnetic compass assists in deter-mining heading, allowing for geometric correction. Thebarometric altimeter data are also incorporated in theheader. The system accommodates additional serial inter-faces to integrate other avionics navigation systems on air-frames that acquire such information.

Significant software and hardware modifications weremade to the AIRDAS system to allow UAV remote payloadcontrol from the GCS. These modifications included stream-ing the system health data from the on-board computer tothe payload engineer’s computer on the ground. This allowedfor real-time monitoring of payload performance, image arealocation, and spatial coverage.

Remote Operations of PayloadThe AIRDAS payload engineer and all system controls werecollocated in the GCS. Collocation enabled direct commu-nication with the pilots and flight engineer, and access tothe same forward- and downward-looking video data. Adownward-looking video camera, placed in the nose of theALTUS® II, provided real-time coverage information of thepotential target areas. By incorporating this camera viewwith the streaming GPS and moving map display, the pay-load engineer could monitor the UAV position and selectthe optimum flight profile (approach, altitude, and speed)for AIRDAS data capture.

The engineer initiated AIRDAS image data gatheringafter ascertaining the position of the UAV in relation to thetarget (fire) area. When the UAV passed over the approxi-mate center of the fire target area (visible on the down-ward-looking video display), the engineer saved that AIRDASimage stream to a file. The AIRDAS image data were com-pressed from the signed 16-bit data to 8-bit data and“remapped” employing a histogram equal probability dis-tribution stretch to portray the appropriate fire informationfrom each band. The resultant file was then jpg-compressedto 720 by 640 pixels by three bands (approximately 100 Kb)to reduce unnecessary data volume prior to telemetry. Anassociated navigation file of approximately 9 Kbs, com-posed of sensor profile and attitude data (pitch, roll, yaw,time, heading, etc.), was also captured and telemetered toa ground computer server along with the image file. Thenavigation files were used in AIRDAS image geo-rectification.

Following completion of a data collection pass, theresultant image and navigation file were saved for teleme-try. The ALTUS® II UAV was then aligned with a headingnecessary to transfer data via the telemetry antenna oneither side of the fuselage. During that procedure, thepayload engineer determined the appropriate INMARSATsatellite for data relay, and initiated a communicationsconnection.

Airborne Data Telemetry SystemThe UAV data telemetry system was derived from a wirelessmobile handheld telecommunications system that communi-cates through the INMARSAT series of geo-stationary satel-lites. The NERA World Communicator M4 is a portable satel-lite terminal offering ISDN functionality and a pure digitalinterface (NERA website URL: http://www.nera.no/index.html, last accessed 07 August 2002). The NERA an-

tennas were selected for integration simplicity, cost, and ad-equate functionality. The M4 was designed primarily for themobile remote satellite voice and data communications mar-ket. The M4 functions as a “suitcase phone” with a modem,phone handset, and folding, lightweight antennas (Figure 7a).The INMARSAT system currently operates at 64Kbs, sufficientfor the FIRE project data telemetry activities.

The AIRDAS scene data and navigation file were sentfrom the AIRDAS control computer to the NERA system on-board the UAV. Data were telemetered through a pair ofphased array antennas mounted into the skin of the ALTUS®

II fuselage, pre-positioned (in elevation) to acquire signallock with an appropriate INMARSAT geo-stationary commu-nications satellite. A custom fairing was built to accommo-date the satellite communications antennas mounted onboth sides of the UAV airframe (Figure 7b). These opposingantennas allowed the aircraft to fly in either direction toattain proper intercept angles. Orientation of the aircraftflight direction was optimized to attain an antenna inter-cept angle of 90 degrees. Proper intercept angles weredetermined from known fixed locations of the nearest IN-MARSAT satellite in the constellation. For the FiRE demon-stration, both the Atlantic Operating Region–West satellitelocated at 54° West longitude over the equator and thePacific Operating Region satellite at 178° East longitude atthe equator were used. Given the fixed location of the satel-lites, and the known location of the UAV, an appropriateantenna intercept angle was derived and used to obtainmaximum bit rate throughput during data telemetry.

When signal strength was maximized (through an indica-tion at the payload engineer’s workstation), a TCP/IP networkconnection was established and the image data were trans-mitted to either of the appropriate antenna panels. A switch-ing mechanism was created to select the appropriate trans-mitting antenna remotely (depending on flight orientationand best signal strength intercept angle).

Ground Data Distribution SiteAIRDAS data and the associated navigation data file weretransmitted via a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) login from theUAV through INMARSAT to a SUN SPARC workstation serverlocated at the NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,California. The data were accessible immediately at theproject website (http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/UAVFiRE/).


Figure 7. (a) NERA Telecommunications M4 WorldCom-municator® portable satellite terminal phased arrayantenna. The antennas are approximately 340 mm by774 mm by 12 mm (depth). The antenna communicateswith the INMARSAT series of communications satellites at1626.5 to 1660.5 MHz. Data throughput is 64 Kbs withnear future upgrades to +300 Kbs. (b) The antennas(one on each side of the UAV fuselage at the FiRE logo)were installed at an appropriate intercept angle forsatellite communications. Data were relayed from theAIRDAS system through this antenna setup, throughINMARSAT, and to a dialup server site at NASA-Ames.

Automated website page refresh updates were performedwhenever a new image file set was received, updating infor-mation at the user’s monitor. Labels for the uncorrectedimages were provided automatically from the navigation file(such as date, time, etc). The uncorrected jpg file allowedthe disaster manager an opportunity to view the imagery innear real time (within two minutes of telemetry initiation).

Image Geo-Rectification ProcessThe image geo-rectification processing was performed on aDual-Pentium III, 1.0 GHz computer. The image data andnavigation file, housed at the NASA-Ames server, were ac-cessed by the PC via FTP. The two files were then used tocreate the geo-rectified data sets using the Terra Mar DataAcquisition Control System (DACS) software package. TheDACS system was designed to receive ephemeris streamsfrom airborne platforms and to rectify the associated imagefile in real time. The DACS system requires platform posi-tion (GPS), pitch, roll, heading, and altitude information inorder to automatically project and geo-reference theimagery. The terrain-corrected, geo-rectified image fileswere generated using the navigational file (scan line acqui-sition time, aircraft altitude, GPS location, pitch, roll, yawangle, and track), sensor attribute and configuration infor-mation (sensor scan angle and scan rate), and terrain data(USGS DEM data). The navigation data were used with thephotogrammetric projective transformation equations(Wong, 1980) to project the imaged pixels to a ground loca-tion. The aircraft orientation data provided the parametersnecessary to compute the transformation coefficient matrix,which then was iteratively corrected for the ground eleva-tion when a DEM was available, or was adjusted to a user-supplied average elevation (Buechel et al., 2001). Symbol-ogy such as fire perimeter delineation, annotation notes, orgeo-referencing tick marks may be added to the image aswell. A spatial database, Terra-Mar’s Global Data Catalogautomatically logged the image information, coverage, andoriginal metadata for ease in referencing and retrieving in-cident imagery.

The rectified output file was saved in a tif format withan associated tfw file. Spatial resolution of the geo-correcteddata was set at 2.5 meters, matching that attained by theAIRDAS at the platform altitude of 945 meters (3100 ft) AGL.The tfw file was used to describe the geographic position,and contained a listing of variables such as the coordinatesof the upper-left image corner, rotational characteristics,and pixel resolution. The common format of the tif and tfwfiles allowed import into compatible GIS or image process-ing systems. The total time required for these procedures(from sensor data acquisition, satellite uplink/downlink,geo-correction, and distribution via the web to the usercommunity) was under 10 minutes.

The geo-corrected AIRDAS tif and tfw data were placedat a central web server and were accessed by the on-site firemanagers or by the general public. Data can then be over-lain with other digital data (DRG or DEM) and used in a GIS.

Data Collection and DistributionDuring the FiRE mission, AIRDAS single-band and multiple-band color composite images were collected and relayedfrom the UAV through the telemetry link. The black-and-white images were composed of single-band data sets ofeither the mid-IR thermal channel (band 3: 3.60 to 5.50 �m)or the long-wavelength thermal channel (band 4: 5.50–13.0 �m). Color composites were also collected and relayedvia the telemetry link. The color composites were com-posed of thermal, mid-IR, and visible channels of the AIR-DAS scanner. Either of the two AIRDAS thermal bands werecombined with channels 2 (1.57 to 1.70 �m) and 1 (0.61 to

0.68 �m) to compose the three-band color image (Plates 1and 2). Five data collection passes were made over the firesite with data telemetry occurring on the completion ofeach pass.

Real-time quicklook imagery was viewed on the FiREwebsite by the fire managers immediately following teleme-try. Concurrently, the image and navigational file wereacquired from the server by the image-processing operatorand integrated with the DACS software to create a geo-rectified image file. Image quality control was performedon the geo-rectified data sets to ensure data integrity priorto distribution to the fire managers and public. The imagefiles were formatted to tif and associated tfw files andtransferred via FTP to the NASA-Ames server and website.The DACS processing took approximately six minutes beforedata were sent to the FiRE website.

The ALTUS® II completed the FiRE data collection mis-sion and landed at 0930 (PDT) (Figure 8). Within the onehour allocated for the FiRE demonstration, the ALTUS® IIUAV had been launched, attained altitude, and made fivepasses over a controlled burn; and the AIRDAS payload datahad been telemetered from the UAV to INMARSAT and backto the ground, and the data were geo-rectified and weredistributed through the World Wide Web where they weremade available to disaster managers around the globe.

Results and DiscussionThe UAV FiRE demonstration was highly successful, ex-ceeding many of the objectives of the program, yet the au-thors also note some technology upgrades that could haveimproved the demonstration. The successes and techno-logical barriers that arose are discussed in the followingsections.


Plate 1. AIRDAS data collected from the GA-ASI ALTUS®II UAV flying at �945 meters (�3100 ft) AGL over the FiREcontrolled burn at El Mirage, California on 06 September2001 at 0847 (PDT). The scene is composed of AIRDASbands 4, 2, and 1 (R-G-B). The small fire can be seen inwhite and bright yellow in the cleared area adjacent tothe runway. This scene was the first data set teleme-tered to the ground station and is not geo-rectified. Totalcollection, compression, and web distribution time wasapproximately three minutes.

SuccessesFrom a UAV operating at an altitude of about 945 meters(~ 3100 ft) AGL, five fully geo-rectified fire status imagesfrom an imaging payload were collected, uplinked via asatellite telemetry system, and delivered to an IncidentCommand Center and over the World Wide Web. Ourobjective to deliver accurate geo-rectified data employingthis methodology in less than one hour was achieved.Overall collection, telemetry, geo-processing, and deliverywere achieved in less than ten minutes once the UAV wason station at the fire site. In a “real” fire event, time con-sideration for the aircraft to arrive at the site must be ac-counted for, although there are no significant speed differ-ences in a UAV versus a manned, propeller-driven airframe.As UAVs attain higher speeds, they will compete with jetaircraft for on-fire travel time, but will also have the advan-tage of increased linger and on-station time over fires versusthose possible by manned jet or propeller aircraft. The fiveimages were obtained over a one-hour flight profile whilethe ALTUS® II UAV “lingered” in the airspace above the con-trolled burn site.

The GA-ASI ALTUS® II UAV proved to be a capableplatform for this disaster support mission. The uniqueness

of remotely piloted aircraft facilitates hazardous operationsduring critical data gathering conditions. With the abilityto switch out pilots easily, the aircraft can remain on-station over a disaster event such as a fire for extendedperiods of time. This becomes critical in long-durationmissions, or where monotonous, long-term data collectionmissions would stress an aircraft pilot. A UAV operateseffectively under hazardous conditions (unstable air, largeobscuring smoke plumes, and possible rugged terrainconditions) that pose risks to flight crews.

Integration of the AIRDAS scanning instrument into theALTUS® II was facilitated by the configuration and capacityof the airframe payload and sharing of electronic andsystem command and control links for remote payloadoperation. The AIRDAS, having been optimized for fire anddisaster-related imaging, was enhanced further with remoteoperations capabilities. These enhancements will enableintegration on other UAVs in the future, simplifying thetask of remote operations of the payload.

The NERA M4/INMARSAT data telemetry communica-tions link was highly successful in this demonstration andwill continue to prove itself as a useful telemetry systemgiven planned bit rate upgrades and evolution of an im-proved and cost-effective airborne system. The antennasthat were configured into the UAV payload fairing weredesigned originally for remote satellite telephony and datacommunications and were modified for this demonstration.Further refinements, including an inexpensive tracking an-tenna, are warranted and forthcoming. Data usage costs forthe INMARSAT system are reasonable, with anticipated de-clining costs over the next several years. Satellite signal“lock-on” was achieved within specifications, although theuse of the UAV platform necessitated designing moveableantenna mountings and aligning the platform for specificsatellite signal intercept angles. This is another reason forexploring tracking antenna opportunities to use aboardaerial platforms.

Currently, INMARSAT communications are rated at64 Kbs, although the actual throughput was approximately45 Kbs, due to NERA file information being sent with thedata stream. Larger bandwidth throughput upgrades (greaterthan 300 Kbs service by 2003/04) to the INMARSAT satellitesystem will enable greater data volumes and minimize file


Plate 2. AIRDAS data collected from the GA-ASI ALTUS® IIUAV flying at �945 meters (�3100 ft) AGL over the FiREcontrolled burn at El Mirage, California on 06 September2001 at 0847 (PDT). The small fire can be seen in thecircled area adjacent to the runway. This scene is a spa-tially and geometrically rectified dataset of Plate 1.Lat/Long tick marks (visible around the edges of theimage) were automatically inserted for orientation pur-poses. The total collection, data compression, telemetry,geo-rectification, and data web distribution time wasunder 15 minutes.

Figure 8. The ALTUS® II UAV containing the NASA-AmesAIRDAS imaging payload on low pass prior to landing atthe GA-ASI Flight Operations Facility. Flames and smokefrom the controlled burn, ignited earlier, can be seenbelow the aircraft.

compression. The high bit rate, combined with tracking an-tenna configurations, should greatly enhance the ability totelemeter data from airborne platforms.

The NERA/INMARSAT telemetry system accommodatedhigh data rates from the AIRDAS payload. This proved criti-cal in providing multichannel color composite images ofvarious spectral band combinations of AIRDAS. The multi-channel color image data readily displayed the fire parame-ters, such as fire front, perimeter, and hot spots, allowingmore rapid decision making on the deployment of resourcesto combat the fire. An increased data throughput (colormulti-band images) will increase interpretability of fire(or other disaster) parameters by the disaster manager orthe GIS integrator.

BarriersTechnological and procedural barriers were noted in theFiRE demonstration and are addressed here. The shortcom-ings were primarily in the available technology at the timeof the demonstration or involved cost constraints.

A current barrier to the operational use of UAV technol-ogy is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lack of aregulatory framework for UAV operations and certifications.These regulatory uncertainties precluded operating the UAVover a larger scale controlled burn in the nearby NationalForest or on other State or Federal lands. The UAV industryis working closely with the FAA to develop the regulatoryframework to allow UAVs unrestricted access in nationalairspace. These issues should be resolved in the near future,allowing expanded use of UAVs for commercial anddisaster support activities.

Integration of the M4 antennas into the UAV fairingrestricted the aircraft to distinct flight alignment vectors tomaximize signal strength. In a large fire condition withnumerous fire support aircraft in constrained airspace overthe fire, vectoring the UAV to specific flight paths mayprove to be an unreasonable proposition. Valuable timewas also lost between the image acquisition time and trans-mission of the data. A tracking antenna would allow con-tinuous collection, communication, and data telemetrywith INMARSAT without specific UAV flight orientations.This communications antenna system shows great promiseas a telemetry link in the near future, and is being exam-ined for integration on future UAV missions.

The use of an onboard differential GPS would increasethe accuracy of the platform position, particularly theaircraft/sensor altitude calculation. Currently, altitude isdetermined from the barometric pressure altitude instru-ment on the aircraft. This information is not of sufficientaccuracy to allow refined geometric/terrain correction ofimage data. With improved GPS and aircraft pointing vectorinformation, very reliable geo-location (�1.0 pixel RMS) canbe achieved. During this demonstration, geo-location RMSerrors were approximately 3 to 4 pixels, sufficient todetermine fire location.

Image geo-rectification error resides in the quality, de-tail, and rate at which the navigation information wassaved and telemetered. Most of the navigation variablesand sensor/aircraft positional information were collectedon a one-hertz (1.0-Hz; 1.0/sec) cycle, while the AIRDASscanning configuration is 4 to 23 scans per second. Al-though navigation data are recorded for every scan line ofsensor data, only every fifth scan line of navigation infor-mation was telemetered with the associated image. Thiswas done to reduce the size of the navigation file. Aplanned improvement to this procedure is to transmit thenavigation information for every image scan line, therebyincreasing the geo-rectification precision.

Further image utility upgrades are being developed toportray fire information more efficiently on the collected

AIRDAS data. These enhancements include on-board datacompression (from the “raw” signed 16-bit data to 8-bitdata) to efficiently portray the thermal and spectral rangeof the data. Other upgrades include development of variousband combinations, and color enhancement procedures.The authors are working closely with personnel from thedisaster community to improve customizable products fordisaster managers that would enhance their value for real-time decision making.

During the FiRE demonstration, data were delivered toa NASA server and website for global distribution. This isnot an optimum location for data storage or dissemination.The optimal solution would involve the establishment of acentral “clearing house” for data from individual fire events.Distribution to multiple users at various Incident CommandCenters located at the fire base camps or other locationscan be coordinated by an appropriate disaster agency. Thiswould allow the base camp to be mobile, and allow accessto the data provided by wireless remote modem connectionto the central data server. This functionality would decreasethe need for full on-site (fire camp) data collection andprocessing and centralize these processes at an appropriatelocation.

Final Remarks and Future FocusThe FiRE project successfully demonstrated the potentialfor utilizing UAVs for real-time remote sensing data gather-ing to support disaster management strategies. The capabil-ity of UAVs to safely acquire and disseminate data duringhazardous conditions could significantly enhance the dis-aster management community’s ability to monitor and miti-gate a broad range of disasters. Development and refine-ment of remote payload operations enhances the use ofthose payloads on UAVs and other platforms where weightor safety precludes the use of an on-board systems engineer.Rapid development of satellite communications (telemetry)played a significant role in the FiRE demonstration. Theability to telemeter accurate multispectral imagery to anylocation in the world frees the disaster manager from being“on-site” at the event. Data distribution can therefore behandled at an appropriate disaster facility, allowing multi-ple events throughout the continent to be flown, collected,and distributed without the need for multiple ground sta-tions and support crew to retrieve the data. Individual fireevent data can be distributed to the responsible on-site man-agement team. With rapidly increasing data-bit rates, large,multiband data streams can easily be telemetered from anyaircraft to anywhere on the globe. Our success at integrat-ing telemetry equipment on the ALTUS® II UAV platform,and the potential to integrate new tracking antenna sys-tems, will greatly advance the field of rapid data delivery.With an increasing bit-rate/decreasing-cost ratio, the nextchallenge will not be in data delivery, but in the ability tointerpret all the information relayed to the manager and tomake rapid, informed decisions during a major disastersuch as a wildfire. Improvements to the image quality ofthe delivered product will be foremost in the next phase ofthese activities. Disaster managers and GIS specialists willhave to play a key role in defining the variables they needto make more informed decisions during a disaster event.

Although the AIRDAS system has been used extensivelyfor data collection over fires, this was the first integrationof the system on an unmanned platform. Integration of thisor any other imaging instrument was easily accomplished,given the design purpose of the UAV as a reconnaissanceplatform. If an operational UAV/fire-imaging payload wererequired by disaster agencies, integration time and abilityto rapidly deploy would be similar or faster than thosesame constraints posed by manned aircraft.


The FiRE project team is focused on the further ad-vancements of UAV, payload, telemetry, and informationprocessing for disaster management. The team is planninga large-scale demonstration of enhanced disaster manage-ment capabilities using the ALTAIR® platform (Table 3) in2003. The ALTAIR® is a scientific variant of the GA-ASIPREDATOR B® UAV for use by NASA and other organiza-tions. The ALTAIR-FiRE project will demonstrate 24-hourcoverage of fires throughout the western United States. Thislong-duration mission will allow a fire management organi-zation to request multiple AIRDAS thermal-IR digital dataacquisitions over numerous fires spread throughout an areastretching from Mexico to Canada and the Pacific Ocean toColorado. The �6437-km (�4000-NM) endurance of theALTAIR will allow lingering over many of these potentialfire events. Data will be transmitted via a high data rate(500 Kbs) commercial Ku-band satellite (SATMEX 5) commu-nications datalink system to a fire data management facility.All data will be geo-rectified in near real time and will beGIS-compatible. This long-duration, large-area coveragedemonstration mission will exceed the capabilities currentlyemployed to capture tactical fires data over large regions. Itis anticipated that the ALTAIR FiRE demonstration will leadto new technologies and procedures supporting anticipatedUAV airspace operational and system certification standards.

The disaster management community is on the cusp ofa great technological leap forward, enabled by advancementsin airborne platforms (particularly UAVs), sensor and imag-ing systems, telemetry, and information processing andproduct delivery. The authors are committed to assistingand enhancing the development of these supporting tech-nologies for use by the disaster management community.

AcknowledgmentsThe authors wish to acknowledge numerous individuals andorganizations for their efforts in supporting the FiRE project.In particular, we would like to thank the NASA ERAST pro-gram; the NASA Office of Earth Science Code Y and YO, par-ticularly Cheryl Yuhas and Dr. Timothy Gubbels; GeneralAtomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), particularly

Tom Cassidy, Scott Dann, and Jeff Hettick; the U.S. ForestService, particularly Dr. Philip Riggan, Paul Greenfield andTom Bobbe; the California Department of Forestry and FireProtection; the National Interagency Fire Center; RemoteSatellite Systems International, in particular Rob Rosen; andthe California Resources Agency. Numerous individuals atthe NASA-Ames Research Center, particularly Robert Hig-gins, Edward Hildum, Robert “Buzz” Slye, Sue Tolley, andRoy Vogler, supported this project in various capacities, andwe greatly appreciate their assistance.

DisclaimerThe use of product or trade names in this document doesnot represent endorsement by the U.S. Government or itsagents; the product and trade names are included for infor-mation purposes only.

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TABLE 3. GENERAL ATOMICS—AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS, INC. (GA-ASI)ALTAIR®UAV SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS (GA-ASI ALTAIR

EXPERIMENTER’S HANDBOOK, 2001).

Dimensions Wing Span 84 ft.; Length 36.2 ft.; Height 11.8 ft.

Weights Max Fuel Wt. 3500 lb; Payload Wt. 750 lb.;Max GTOW 7700 lbs.

Propulsion 700 BHP TPE331-10 Allied Signal Turbopropwith McCauley 3-bladed, hydraulic, constantspeed, variable/reverse pitch propeller

Performance Max Altitude: 55,000 ft.; Endurance: 32 Hours(with 700 lb payload); Cruise/Loiter Speed144 KIAS; Range: 4500 nm

Payload Specs Size: 80�L � 35�H � 40�W, (Adaptable); MaxWt. 750 lbs., Payload

Shipping Size Aircraft w/o prop: 36.5L � 5.3H � 6W; Prop:8 � 8 � 3

Navigation Three integrated IMUs and three DifferentialGPS (optional P-code)

Avionics C-Band LOS Range: 100 nm; 500 Kbs Ku-bandOTH Operations; autonomous flight (nodatalink)

FTS GA-ASI Rocket deployed parachute and NASAFlight Termination System

Landing Gear Normal tricycle-type retractable landing gear.

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(Received 29 March 2002; revised and accepted 01 August 2002)


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