This webinar combines two expert views of using drones in fire management. First Patrick Shin of Northern Arizona University will briefly discuss his research on using drones to evaluate canopy fuels and then Jim Higgins, Chief Engineer at Drone Amplified, will discuss how drones can be used for igniting prescribe fire and suppression back burns.

Evaluating Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Images for Estimating Forest Canopy Fuels: UAV-based multispectral images and Structure-from-Motion point clouds can be used to estimate canopy cover, canopy height, tree density, canopy base height, and canopy bulk density. Results indicate that UAV imagery can be used to accurately estimate forest canopy cover. Tree density estimates correctly detected 74% of field-mapped trees. Individual tree height estimates were strongly correlated with field measurements, whereas canopy base height estimates had a weaker correlation. UAV-derived inputs resulted in drastically different estimates of potential crown fire behavior when compared with coarse resolution LANDFIRE data.

UAVs for Fighting Fires and Prescribed Burning Aerial: Ignition combined with Unmanned Aerial Systems facilitates fighting fires and prescribed burning in a whole new way. It leverages cutting edge technology to provide a cost effective and most importantly, safe solution. By combining robotics, automation, thermal imagery, machine learning and with the addition of feedback from real world practitioners, Drone Amplified is leading the way in unmanned aerial ignition with IGNIS.