Controlled Burn by UAV

University Communications Author

11/11/2014 Added

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The Nimbus Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is collaborating with partners across campus to create a flying robot that takes some of the danger out of controlled burns. Prescribed burn video courtesy UNL masters student Amanda Hefner.

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[00:00:00.430][music]
[00:00:05.541]A flying robot drops a trail of balls filled with a liquid
[00:00:09.428]that starts on fire.
[00:00:12.870]It looks like a game, but it has a serious purpose.
[00:00:17.852]The problem that we're trying to address with this is
[00:00:20.405]how do you start controlled fires for land management
[00:00:25.340]in safe and effective ways.
[00:00:28.213]Prescribed burning is a conservation tool that keeps the great plains healthy,
[00:00:33.324]protecting it from species that invade and choke off the land for other uses.
[00:00:38.364]In the absence of fire, what we've see are a lot of invasions
[00:00:40.596]of Eastern red cedar and as result we see major changes
[00:00:44.476]with livestock production potential in these landscapes,
[00:00:47.879]grassland birds and we've recently seen in the southern great plains
[00:00:51.132]some endangered species that are listed.
[00:00:53.756]Currently controlled fires are started by hand or using
[00:00:57.260]helicopters that drop the delayed ignition balls,
[00:01:00.812]methods that can be dangerous and costly.
[00:01:04.303]University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientists are collaborating on a solution.
[00:01:09.180]We realized that there was this great opportunity to work
[00:01:11.428]together and by tailoring some of these technologies to
[00:01:15.036]this particular problem domain.
[00:01:17.172]In this case it turned out that this aerial robot is a really good platform
[00:01:20.429]for this type of problem.
[00:01:23.380]While the robot is in flight, the cargo feeds balls into
[00:01:26.501]a chute. Each ball is rotated and injected with alcohol
[00:01:30.902]to start a chemical reaction before being dropped to the ground.
[00:01:34.950]Seconds later, the ball ignites.
[00:01:39.765]The balls can be dropped in a straight line, or a precise pattern.
[00:01:44.156]The robot was developed with experience learned in the
[00:01:47.316]Nebraska Intelligent Mobile Unmanned Systems Lab.
[00:01:50.468]Other robotics software projects provided a solid foundation.
[00:01:55.180]We have been working with these types of vehicles, these aerial robots for a while
[00:01:58.806]so we've been able to leverage a lot our existing systems.
[00:02:01.932]Nebraska's expertise in this area also benefits students.
[00:02:07.732]It's fun to actually see a design go from concept to the computer to
[00:02:12.301]then actually being built in real life and now doing physical test
[00:02:15.588]and seeing it validated, that's a lot of fun.
[00:02:17.509]I think it went very well and I'm very excited for our next revision.
[00:02:22.260]Because I think we learned a lot today.
[00:02:23.916]In the future, aerial robots could help local and national agencies protect forests and rangeland.
[00:02:30.236]The devices could also provide a cost effective option
[00:02:33.685]for an individual property owner.
[00:02:36.349]Because it's downscaled, there's going to be more opportunities
[00:02:39.620]to link that to what landowners are doing on their own individual properties.
[00:02:43.044]Whereas they would have no potential to do say helicopter based ignitions.
[00:02:47.252]Looks like if we were out doing a prescribed fire right now,
[00:02:51.637]it would have been a successful ignition.
[00:02:54.124]More revisions are needed, but Nebraska researchers hope the innovation will catch fire as
[00:02:59.468]an alternative for range management.
[00:03:02.134][music]

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Controlled Burn by UAV

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