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NASA's Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project, led by the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, is using cutting-edge drone and aviation technologies to improve wildland fire coordination and operations. With wildfires becoming an increasingly urgent concern across the United States, containing and responding to these fires requires collaboration among firefighters and ground crews, as well as the coordination of dozens of aircraft operated by multiple government agencies.
ACERO's innovative solutions seek to expand the window of time available for aerial suppression operations by safely using drones during periods of heavy smoke or at night when aircraft have limited visibility. By reducing safety risks to pilots and making aerial wildfire operations more effective, ACERO's work with drones is paving the way for more efficient and safer emergency response operations.
However, the adoption of drones and other aviation technologies in emergency response operations has been slow due to lack of tools and situational awareness for responders to see where firefighting drones are operating. To address this, ACERO is developing airspace management technologies to share information between crewed aircraft, drone operators, and ground crews during wildfire responses. These technologies will provide all responders with common situational awareness and ensure there are no conflicts with aircraft operations.
Through the development of aircraft safety software and situational awareness tools, ACERO is working to integrate drones into wildfire operations and continuously suppress and monitor fires over their entire lifetime, which is not currently possible. With ACERO's groundbreaking work, emergency responders are better equipped to tackle the ever-increasing threat of wildfires and other natural disasters.
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