A Distributed Control Framework of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Dynamic Wildfire Tracking

TL;DR

This paper presents a distributed control framework for UAV teams to safely and effectively monitor and track wildfires, enhancing fire observation while reducing risks and operational costs.

Contribution

It introduces a novel distributed control framework enabling UAV teams to collaboratively monitor wildfires with collision avoidance and adaptive tracking capabilities.

Findings

UAV team effectively covers spreading wildfires in experiments.

The framework ensures collision-free and safe flight above fire.

UAVs maintain optimal altitude for fire monitoring.

Abstract

Wild-land fire fighting is a hazardous job. A key task for firefighters is to observe the "fire front" to chart the progress of the fire and areas that will likely spread next. Lack of information of the fire front causes many accidents. Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to cover wildfire is promising because it can replace humans in hazardous fire tracking and significantly reduce operation costs. In this paper we propose a distributed control framework designed for a team of UAVs that can closely monitor a wildfire in open space, and precisely track its development. The UAV team, designed for flexible deployment, can effectively avoid in-flight collisions and cooperate well with neighbors. They can maintain a certain height level to the ground for safe flight above fire. Experimental results are conducted to demonstrate the capabilities of the UAV team in covering a spreading wildfire.