UAV based navigation system for forest fires monitoring

Abstract

In recent years, large amount of forest has been destroyed by fires, bringing terrible consequences for the environment and society. It is important that firefighters possess an increased situational awareness about the fire spread, in order to act appropriately to prevent the fire to an uncontrollable size. Recent advances in UAV technology shows promising applications for UAVs to detecting and monitoring forest fires. Therefore, one of the most important issues is UAV’s flight navigation system. In this study, we suggest a structural diagram of the UAV navigation system, which is based on radio control from a ground control panel using geolocation system. This approach provides effective application of UAV, both in automatic and manual modes by means of onboard navigation and control equipment. The results shows that the use of UAVs is an effective way of combating a fire situation in addition to existing methods and technologies for solving operational problems of fire detection.