Wildfire Wingmen: Prepping Drones for the Heat Ahead
Photography by Jay Shears
It's not just about flying RESOLUTE, It's about flying RESILIENT". The crucial role of rigorous testing and validation for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) that are 'Revved-up' for Wildfires; so that safety and reliability are ensured amidst the 'perfect fire storm'.
In the unpredictable performance of nature, wildfires play the role of both the protagonist and antagonist. However there's a new first responder that’s all the buzz in Public Safety. It’s UAS Systems and their first responder crews helping firefighters to mitigate Wildfires.
Photography by Jay Shears
Before these cutting-edge mechanical 'blaze battlers' soar into a wildfire, they require rigorous test and training, not just any testing. We're talking top-tier, meticulous drills and simulations to understand how their systems will behave and failsafe in extreme 'firestorm' conditions
This preparation examines every twitch, turn, and twist under the microscope of wind and weather extremities. Sounds intense? It absolutely is!
Instead of merely throwing in some gusty winds or setting up a fog machine; the rehearsal to script the wildfire defenders mitigation, delves into the heart of the science. Simulated Wind Patterns aren't just your regular "blow a gust and see if it flies" leaf blower experiments. We're talking about the aerodynamics of 'von Kármán vortex streets' and 'Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities'. Essentially, you need an indoor repeatable testing environment with unique digital "Windshaper" tools, to quantify the aircrafts operating envelope and failsafe behavior when a firestorm subjects a drone to it's erratic and violent self imposed weather conditions .
Photography by Jay Shears
And the challenges don't end with just winds. The temperature variations tests are akin to taking drones on a trip from the Sahara to the Alps in a matter of minutes. Exposing them to the thermodynamics of 'radiative heat transfer' and 'convective cooling.
Here’s why these tests are important; Drones, operate under intense conditions when battling wildfires. At the heart of ensuring their efficiency, are two essential principles - radiative heat transfer and convective cooling. In layman's terms, think of radiative heat transfer as the "glowing warmth" you feel from a campfire even when you're not directly touching the flames. Wildfires, are colossal infernos, that can radiate intense heat, primarily as infrared radiation. Our buzzing mechanical wonders, equipped with specialized cameras, can pick up these heat signatures, to aid firefighters in pinpointing precisely where the most intense parts of the fire are blazing. However, the same warmth that drones detect can also harm them. Just as we might use sunscreen to protect our skin from the sun's radiation, drones require protective measures to shield their sensitive parts from the wildfire's intense heat.
Now, let's discuss the other extreme as it relates to our inferno avengers. It's called convective cooling and it's akin to the cool breeze that refreshes you on a hot day. When drones whirl through the air near wildfires, they encounter not just the fire's heat, but also the hot air rising around it. This can cause the drone's parts to overheat, much like how a car left in the sun gets swelteringly hot inside.
But thanks to the principle of convective cooling, drones can be designed to channel cool air over their parts, keeping them from getting too hot.
Additionally, because hot air rises, drones have to navigate the "updrafts" or "thermals". Testing these drones and their systems in a repeatable laboratory environment, ensures they remain stable in a firestorm and can gather accurate reliable data. In essence, by testing inspecting, validating, and applying these scientific principles, in a 'repeatable' laboratory environment; we're ensuring that our drones not only survive the fiery ordeal of a wildfire, but also realize the transmission of important quality data, making them indispensable allies in our fight against these natural disasters.
But wait, there's more! We know drones have really keen vision. But, how well do they see and autonomously navigate in a Smoke and Particulate Replication test?
Amidst the scientific nuances of terms like of 'aerosol optical depth' and 'Mie scattering', these inferno navigators also need to be tested and validated, so that they can still snap those HD images and navigate autonomously around obstacles, even when Mother Nature tries to play peek-a-boo with smoke screens.
Then there’s Rain and Humidity scenarios! For this, think of drones taking a spa day, except this spa tests their resistance to 'hygroscopic growth' and 'water ingress'.
Hydroscopic growth is important on a UAS Wildfire mission, because Hygroscopic growth can pose multiple challenges for drones. Here's some of those challenges:
Performance Impact - As particles grow in size, they can become more likely to adhere to the drone's surfaces, especially the propellers.
Accumulation of these particles can affect the drone's aerodynamics, potentially reducing flight time, battery efficiency, and maneuverability.
Sensor Interference - Advanced drones are equipped with an array of sensors to gather data and navigate. Hygroscopically grown particles can obscure sensors or, if they adhere to them, skew the data being collected. This could severely compromise their ability to provide accurate real-time information that could severely compromise the drones ability to provide accurate real-time information.
Component Degradation - Drones are made of intricate components, many of which are sensitive to moisture. As hygroscopic particles settle on the drone, they can release the absorbed moisture, potentially damaging these components or shortening their operational lifespan.
So here's the thing; we live in a world driven by the need for data, and not just any data, but validated, reliable data. "Quality Data In" ensures "Quality Decisions Out". We are training, testing, inspecting and validating our drones to be our firestorm wingmen, who dive into the perfect storm to capture data, while we harness the vital data from a safe distance. We're molding them to be the 'Flame Strike Force' of the skies!
“In the throes of nature’s fury, wildfires command both awe and devastation, yet technology rises resilient and resolute, to meet the challenge. The UAS industry is on the cusp of a paradigm shift, where our mechanical sentinels, our Blaze Battlers, stand ready to brave the perfect fire storm, ensuring the safety of our human first responders. ”
