Wildfires that start in backcountry areas sometimes burn for hours before being detected and reported. Satellites offer a vantage point from which infrared sensors can detect fires. Individual satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) offer infrequent overpasses, making the delay from ignition to detection unacceptably long. Geostationary satellites offer a platform from which to maintain a round-the-clock vigil, but lack geographic precision, and cannot detect a rather small fire within a large pixel definitively above noise.

The Global Fire Detection Constellation’s 4-μm camera point design incorporates a high-resolution focal plane array and onboard FPGA processing.
The solution is to place a number of small sensors aboard satellites distributed in a LEO constellation, such as Iridium-Next. The sensors are close enough to Earth to provide adequate spatial resolution for geographic specificity, and can be distributed in sufficient number to provide coverage of every point in the United States every 30 minutes or less. Sub-pixel detection is imperative to keep sensor size small.

A non-optimized system concept has been developed for deployment aboard Iridium-Next or a subsequent satellite constellation offering detection of new fires reaching a size threshold of 15×15 meters within 30 minutes, and downlinking the geographic location to within 500 m to the appropriate emergency service provider within the jurisdiction. The innovation is a distribution of small infrared framing cameras aboard a satellite constellation. They could process the images onboard as part of the instrument in near real time to reduce the false-positive rate, and then determine the geographic coordinates of new detections so that only the geographic coordinates and minimal intensity and size parameters need be downlinked and routed via a Web tool, and e-mailed to the appropriate emergency service.

Future value could accrue if the system is implemented by reducing the time from wildfire ignition to first application of firefighting resources by U.S. federal and state agencies responsible for fire suppression. Early firefighting can minimize the size of a fire, in some cases saving many millions of dollars in firefighting costs, and reducing property loss and loss of life, expense of evacuations, etc. While fighting a large fire, such a system can also dynamically map the full fire perimeter every half hour of all large fires in progress, enabling improved short-term forecasting for deployment of firefighting resources, and forecasting hazards to firefighting crews on the ground. Such mapping is presently done on and off for a few of the largest wildfires, but is limited by cost and availability of airborne platforms and instrumentation, especially when different large wildfires are burning simultaneously in different parts of the United States and abroad. Foreign policy benefits could accrue by providing early detection and monitoring services for other countries with wildfire problems.

This work was done by Robert L. Staehle, David R. Thompson, Edward Blazejewski, William R. Johnson, Michael B. Mercury, and Paula J. Pingree of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NPO-48478

Topics:
Cartography Disaster and emergency management Evacuation and escape Fire Fire detection Fire suppression Hazards and emergency operations Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC) Imaging and visualization Optics Physical Sciences Satellites Sensors and actuators Vehicles
This Brief includes a Technical Support Package (TSP).
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Global Fire Detection Constellation

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    NASA Tech Briefs Magazine

    This article first appeared in the October, 2014 issue of NASA Tech Briefs Magazine (Vol. 38 No. 10).

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    Overview

    The document is a Technical Support Package from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) concerning the Global Fire Detection Constellation, aimed at enhancing wildfire detection capabilities. It outlines the development and requirements for advanced fire detection systems, particularly focusing on the use of satellite technology and high-resolution imaging.

    Key highlights include the introduction of the Raytheon SB450 units, which are equipped with a high-resolution Focal Plane Array (FPA) and onboard FPGA processing. These units are designed to detect fires that have reached a threshold size of approximately 15 x 15 meters within 30 minutes of occurrence, regardless of day or night conditions. The system aims to specify the fire's location within 500 meters and communicate this information to emergency service providers within three minutes of detection, while maintaining a false alarm rate of less than 10%.

    The document emphasizes the limitations of current satellite fire detection systems, which often provide inadequate coverage and slow response times. It suggests that persistent high-altitude Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (AUVs) could offer improved spatial coverage and continuous monitoring capabilities, serving as a bridge application for advanced image processing and validation of spaceborne sensors.

    Additionally, the document outlines the requirements for an effective satellite early warning system, including a repeat time of 15 minutes, ultimate detection time of 5 minutes, spatial resolution of 250 meters, and a false positive rate of 5%. These parameters are critical for ensuring timely and accurate fire detection, which is essential for effective suppression efforts.

    The document also notes the importance of operating under specific conditions, such as avoiding cloud cover, to enhance detection accuracy. It highlights the need for feedback and adjustments from experts in wildland fire detection to refine the proposed system further.

    Overall, the Technical Support Package serves as a comprehensive overview of the ongoing efforts at JPL to develop innovative technologies for wildfire detection, aiming to improve response times and reduce the impact of wildfires through advanced satellite and aerial monitoring systems.