Szendrő Town MunicipalityProfessional Fire Brigade3752 Szendrő, Váralja út 3.

SOME POTENTIAL APPLICATION FOR UAVs

ESPECIALLY FIRE FIGHTING

ÁGOSTON RESTÁS

UAVNET Hungarian regional workshop

23rd September 2005 Szendrő, Hungary

HUNGARY

• Location: at the centre of Europe• Lies in the Carpathian Basin• Joining to European Union on 1 May 2004.• Statistic:

- 93 thousand km2- 712 thousand hectares forests- 18.5 % of the country’s territory- 40 % private ownership

SZENDRŐ

AGGTELEK NATIONAL PARK

GLOBAL WARMING

MEDIA STATISTIC

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Number of fire

lost (100 eFt)

100

1900

1350

1100

300200

450

1050

150

1000

800

650

2400

1100

600 700

500750 850

100

850

350

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Number of fire lost (100 eFt)

WHY HELP?

PROCESSE OF FINDING NEW TECHNOLOGIE

NEW TECHNOLOGIE

TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGIE

PRACTICAL

STEPS

JURISTIC

STEPS

THEORETICAL

STEPS

DEVELOPMENT

APPLICATION

THEORETICAL STEPS

1. Analysing the traditional process

2. Gathering the problems of traditional process

3. Finding the theoretical solutions

4. Determine the requests

5. Evidence the economical efficiency

STATUS I.

Analysing the process fighting forest fireGathering the problems of reconnaissanceFinding the theoretical solutionsDetermine the requests

Answer: Aerial reconnaissance – UAVRobot Reconnaissance Aircraft

9th UAVNET Meeting 9th UAVNET Meeting 26 - 27. January 2004, Amsterdam 26 - 27. January 2004, Amsterdam

ANALYSING THE PROCESSE FIGHTING FOREST FIRE

LO

ST

TIME

TLOST = R2 Π

-Δt

saved

9.

ON THE SCENE

GATHERING THE POBLEMSOF RECONNAISSANCE

• The fire may cover such a large area that reconnaissance requires touring around the entire affected area.

• Commander of fire-fighting operations is too close to the fire. He can not see the forest for the trees!

THE THEORETICAL SOLUTIONS

PERSPECTIVE IMAGES RECONNAISSANCE BY UAV-RRA

REQUESTS

• Immediate deployment • Image information• Autonomy flying • Take off vertically • Flying around a circle of 1 km radius

• Flying about 10-15 minutes 

Rapid

Simple

Objective

STATUS II.

Evidence of economical efficiency

- comparison analysis

- affected area analysis

- economical analysis

Answer: UAVThe Utility of Robot Reconnaissance Aircraft

10th UAVNET Meeting 10th UAVNET Meeting 6 - 7. May 2004, London 6 - 7. May 2004, London

AIR RECONNAISSANCE MATRIX

1088∑

xxx xx x Costs

xxx xx x Support

xx xx xxx Information

xx xx xxx Time

UAV - RRA UAV Staff aircraft

INTERVENTION SUPPORT BY UAV-RRA

- Forest

- Affected area by traditional control

- Affected area by UAV-RRA support

– Absolut lost

ECONOMICAL ANALYSIS

COST absolute

+COST affected area by traditional control

+COST traditional intervention

TOTAL COST traditional control

COST absolute

+COST affected area by UAV-RRA control

+COST UAV-RRA intervention

TOTAL COST UAV-RRA control

COST affected area by traditional control >COST affected area by UAV-RRA control

COST traditional intervention > COST UAV-RRA intervention

COST affected area by traditional control

- COST affected area by UAV-RRA control

Δ COST affected area

COST traditional intervention

- COST UAV-RRA intervention

Δ COST intervention

TOTAL COST traditional control

-TOTAL COST UAV-RRA control

Δ TOTAL COST

Δ COST affected area

+ Δ COST traditional intervention

- COST UAV-RRA intervention

Δ TOTAL COST

COSTUAV-RRA intervention<ΔCOST affected area+ΔCOST traditional intervention

ΔCOST affected area

+ ΔCOST traditional intervention

-COSTRRA intervention

> 0 !

PROCESSE OF FINDING NEW TECHNOLOGIE

NEW TECHNOLOGIE

TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGIE

PRACTICAL

STEPS

JURISTIC

STEPS

THEORETICAL

STEPS

DEVELOPMENT

APPLICATION

1. Experiment by traditional equipment

2. Evaluation the results

3. Comparison the requests to results

4. Determine the direction of development

5. Experiment by advanced technology

PRACTICAL STEPS

PRACTICAL STEPS

Experiment by traditional equipmentEvaluation the results

Comparison the requests to resultsDetermine the direction of development

Answer: UAV based fire detectionResult of test flyings in summer 2004.

11th UAVNET Meeting 11th UAVNET Meeting 6 - 7. September 2004, Budapest6 - 7. September 2004, Budapest

EXPERIMENTE I.

East fire

South fire

North fire

Szendrő Fire Departement

Lunch and landing

LAUNCH THE UAV

REAL TIME ANALISYS

REAL TIME ANALISYS

REAL TIME FIRE MONITORING

EVALUATION THE RESULTS

More time 5Flying 10-15 minutes 

Real problem

MeansDevelopment Results

(1-5)

Requests

xTime & Mind

GPS based Robot

1Autonomy flying

Giving up vertically

Hand to hand3Take off place

Longer distance5Flying 1 km radius

xGiving up no control

Training 2Easy to use

Money Thermo cam4Image information

xGiving up no time

Specified plan2Immediate deployment

COMPARISON & CONCLUSIONS

HOW THE PROCESS

Choseingthe bestsolution.

3- STEP PROGRAM FIRST STEP

• Aim: to create a UAV which is as cheap as possible, with limited capabilities, but in a useable form, so that fire fighters have a chance to use UAV without any fear of crashing or losing it.  

• Plane/equipment: the material of UAV is not easy to broken (wing from latex or plastic) but easy to replace. The UAV carries a cheap camera, visible only. Ground control only. Flight capacity: 15 minutes flight time, within a circle of, 1 km radius and 500 m altitude.

• Advantage: no fear from using UAV. Fire fighters get lots of experience in a real fire situation (fire) and within a short time.

• Disadvantage: limited capabilities, providing moderate quality information. Ground control only. At least 2 users.

• Time: I plan to fly it in the second part of March or the first part of April 2006. (Because of the dry grass this period is the first fire season of Hungary.)  

• Costs: 1 – 2.000 Euros/UAV, Szendro Fire Department to finance it.

3- STEP PROGRAM SECOND STEP

• Aim: to create a UAV with autonomous flying ability specialized for supporting fighting against forest fire.

• Plane/equipment: Carried by jeep, measuring 40x40x150 cm. Have to stick or turn the wings to carry it easily (40x40x150 cm). Able to turn, good quality visible/thermal camera with zoom. Autonomous flights, limited ground control. Able to start within 2 minutes. Flight capacity: 30 minutes flight time, within a circle of 3 - 5 km radius and 800 – 1000 m altitude. 

• Advantage: full intervention support. Providing high quality information. User friendly.

• Disadvantage: first UAV is expensive.

• Time: it depends on money and developer but I hope it will fly before the end of 2006.

• Costs: 10 – 20.000 Euros, we apply for money from R&D Found.

3- STEP PROGRAM THIRD STEP

• Aim: to create a mobile and integrated UAV base. It can be used in any type of intervention (not only forest fire).  

• Plane/equipment: about 5 – 7 planes. 2 Zeppelins (1 little and 1 bigger one), (1 Helicopter?), 1 little UAV (as the 1. step), 1 moderate UAV (as the 2. step) and 1 high capacity UAV (have to develop it). Compact system to be carried it in a little truck.

• Advantage: ability to support any intervention from little accidents to disaster management, not only fighting against forest fire (e.g. at chemical accidents attached a special sensors, floods, Before - Fire Patrol, After - Fire Damage Estimation).  

• Disadvantage: expensive. Several hours needed to start the planes. Use it only at long time intervention. Extensive background support needed.  

• Time: development 2006 – 2008.

• Costs: 100 – 200.000 Euros. Need to apply for R&D Found to get money next year. We applied for money earlier but it was not successfully.

FUTURE

Thank You !