Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems in Wildfire Detection and Management-Challenges and Opportunities

Wildfires are one of the costliest and deadliest natural disasters in the United States, particularly in the Western USA. Wildfire frequency and severity are increasing due to climate change and urban sprawl. Detecting forest fires at early stages enhances the chance of in-time intervention and efficient fire management and evacuation strategies. Forest fires are commonly detected by sensor systems that are not widely available across the nation or using satellite images that offer global coverage but suffer from low temporal and spatial resolution, resulting in missing the forest fires in the early stages. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been recently utilized for this purpose, noting their accessibility and low deployment cost. In this paper, we present some recent advances in drone-based fire detection and discuss current challenges toward a wide-scale deployment.