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1993-05-03
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
A system using aircraft-based infrared remote
sensing and specialized data-processing techniques to provide
forest fire mapping almost in real time for firefighters has
begun development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
and the Forest Service.
Called FIREFLY, the new project calls for a compact
computerized flight system, mounted in a Forest Service
aircraft, to integrate multichannel infrared images from its
sensor with location data from the aircraft navigation system
and to produce simple, precise map information on the
perimeter or boundary of the fire and associated hot spots.
This information is transmitted in digital form to the Forest
Service's portable field computer system, and a special
ground terminal will then construct fire maps for field
commanders while the survey is still going on.
JPL is responsible for developing the airborne part
of the system, including the software, while the Forest
Service is developing the digital communications link and the
ground terminal, both to be integrated into its field
computer and communications system, called INCINET.
FIREFLY is the outgrowth of previous JPL work
sponsored by the Forest Service and by NASA's Office ofTechnology Utilization. The system draws on many years of
JPL/NASA technical developments in remote sensing and the 25-
year JPL development of digital image processing, used for
enhancing spacecraft pictures of other planets and other
applications ranging from medical diagnosis to geological
exploration. It also benefits from the growth of a
commercial infrared-sensor industry, based on space and
defense-related technologies and serving many government and
commercial needs.
The current Forest Service infrared survey system
is the JPL-developed FLAME infrared line-scanner system,
which has been used extensively on major fires, including the
Summer 1988 Yellowstone conflagration. This system captures
its data on film; the aircraft must land before an
interpreter can transfer the data by hand to working maps, a
task which can take hours. FIREFLY will use the space-based
Global Positioning System satellites for more accurate
mapping and will transmit processed data directly to the fire
incident camps for computer plotting on working maps,
reducing to minutes the time between observation and mapping.
"Cutting the turnaround time in getting information
to the firefighters is the key," says Dr. J. David Nichols,
JPL's task manager for FIREFLY. "We will gain time in two
ways: processing the data and integrating the location
information in the airborne computer, and communicating
directly -- computer to computer -- with the mapping system
on the ground."
Another strength of the system is its modular
design, which facilitates use of off-the-shelf hardware
(reducing cost) and later system upgrades, and eases
maintenance. Later modifications to the remote-sensing
system could increase the number of channels to allow surveys
of pest damage, disease, and other adverse effects before
each fire season.
The developers hope to test FIREFLY software and
data-handling equipment with outputs from the FLAME sensor by
the 1991 fire season, and to have the full FIREFLY system at
work during the 1992 season.
At JPL, the task is a part of the Environmental
Technology Program Office, managed by Dr. Amy L. Walton.
FIREFLY's Project Manager, at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Forest Service in Washington, D.C., is William
L. McCleese.
#####
10/27/88/JHW