By Evan Ackerman7 Dec 2015 21:30 GMTLockheed's Drones Cooperate to Autonomously Put Out Fires Photo: Lockheed Martin

Last year, Lockheed Martin demonstrated (semi) autonomous firefighting capabilities with an unmanned K-MAX cargo helicopter and a small quadrotor. There were still humans in the loop, though, and the whole test was carefully monitored to make sure that there were no conflicts with other aircraft in the area. Last month, Lockheed held another firefighting demo, this time with even more autonomy and real-time integration with air traffic control.

Usually, when big drones are doing big drone stuff, the Federal Aviation Administration sets up a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) around them, and air traffic control makes sure that no other aircraft get close. This is a good way of maintaining safety, but it’s super annoying for pilots, because it can turn straight line routes into slaloms. To be successful, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are going to have to learn how to play nice with other aircraft, and that means talking to air traffic control just like human pilots do.

Photo: Lockheed MartinLockheed Martin’s K-MAX unmanned helicopter and Stalker XE fixed-wing drone.

During Lockheed’s firefighting demo, both the K-MAX unmanned helicopter and Stalker XE fixed-wing drone used experimental UAS traffic management capabilities to maintain real-time communications with the local air traffic control system. This likely includes information like “here I am” and “here’s where I’d like to go,” along with an interactive component that allows the drones to respond to basic instructions from controllers.

For the actual firefighting part of the demo, the Stalker XE drone used its infrared camera to identify the fire, and then relayed its location to the autonomous K-MAX helicopter, which nailed the fire with a well-targeted water drop:

Fire spotting (and remote firefighting in general) is an excellent task for drones. It’s important to catch fires as soon as possible, since smaller fires are easier to manage, but the best we can do right now is to send out humans in light aircraft to wander around looking for smoke. Midsize fixed-wing drones could easily take over this task, covering enormous areas far more than humans can, equipped with dedicated fire spotting sensors to make them more effective as well. And since the drones would be operating only in remote areas, it wouldn’t be too much of a burden to our air traffic control infrastructure.

The Stalker XE can fly for 8 hours at a time, day and night and in all weather, and the K-MAX is also capable of anytime, all-weather operation, meaning that it could probably conduct water drops in the middle of a monsoon, if you wanted it to for some reason. But seriously, having robots like these available could mean that human firefighters on the ground get triple the amount of aerial support that they do now, relying on manned aircraft, which leads to fewer fires as well as increased safety for the people fighting them.

[ Lockheed Martin ]

洛克希德?马丁公司的无人机能够密切配合，自主扑灭火灾

lockheed的无人机合作，自主提出fires照片：洛克希德马丁

去年，洛克希德马丁公司展示（半）自治消防能力无人K-MAX货运直升机和小型旋翼。不过，在循环中仍然有人，而且整个测试被小心地监控，以确保在该区域没有与其他飞机发生冲突。上个月，公司又举行了消防演示，这一次甚至更多的自主权和实时空中交通控制一体化。

通常，当大飞机所做的大的无人机的东西，联邦航空管理局建立了一个临时飞行限制（TFR）在他们周围，和空中交通控制，确保没有其他飞机接近。这是保持安全的一个很好的方式，但它&rsquo；的超级讨厌的飞行员，因为它可以把直线路线障碍滑雪赛。要想成功，无人飞机系统（UAS） ；要学会如何发挥好与其他飞机，这意味着在空中交通管制就像人类飞行员做。

photo：洛克希德马丁martinlockheed &rsquo；的K-MAX无人直升机和固定翼无人机跟踪Xe。

在洛克希德&rsquo；的消防演示的K-MAX无人直升机和固定翼无人机跟踪氙实验系统交通管理能力与当地的空中交通控制系统保持实时通信。这可能包括像“信息；我在这里&rdquo；和&ldquo；这里&rsquo；是我；我是想去，&rdquo；随着交互式组件，允许无人机应对来自控制器基本指令。

的演示实际的消防部分，斯托克Xe的无人机使用红外摄像头识别火灾，然后传递它的位置到自治K-MAX直升机，这把火一个针对性很强的水滴：< / P > < P > < / P >

飞火（和一般的远程消防）是一个优秀的任务的无人机。它'；的抓火灾尽快重要，因为较小的火灾很容易管理，但我们现在能做的最好的是送了轻型飞机的人四处寻找烟。中型固定翼无人机可以很容易地接管这一任务，覆盖大片地区远远超过人类，配备专用消防检测传感器，使他们更有效的为好。由于无人机将只在偏远地区工作，就&rsquo；不可太多我们的空中交通管制设施的负担。

斯托克Xe能飞8个小时的时间，白天和黑夜，在所有天气，和MAX也能随时随地，全天候运行，这意味着它可能会进行在季风中的水滴，如果你想要它因为某些原因。但是说真的，有这样的机器人有可能意味着人类消防员在地面上得到三空中支持的数量，现在他们做到了，依靠载人飞机，从而为人民而战他们安全增加更少的火灾。