NASA tests portable airspace system to enable round-the-clock wildfire drone operations
NASA is testing a portable airspace management system designed to let drones support wildfire response safely at night.
Aerial firefighting still largely stops after dark because pilots lose the visibility needed to avoid terrain and nearby aircraft. NASA says that limit leaves a major operational gap as fires continue to spread overnight. To address it, researchers in the agency’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations, or ACERO, project are developing the Portable Airspace Management System, known as PAMS. Each unit is about the size of a carry-on suitcase and combines a radio for links between PAMS nodes with an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast receiver to track nearby air traffic. Packed in a rugged field-ready case, the system lets drone crews share flight plans, monitor potential conflicts, and access weather and fire-location data from the same portable setup.
A key element is an airborne communications relay that removes the need for internet service at the fire line. In this configuration, a drone carrying a communications package acts as a bridge between ground-based PAMS units spread across difficult terrain. NASA first tested the concept at Ames Research Center in California, where three PAMS units placed beyond line of sight successfully exchanged flight-plan information over a mesh radio network. The agency then expanded the work at Langley Research Center in Virginia using a long-range vertical takeoff and landing aircraft equipped with a camera, computer, mesh radio and ADS-B receiver. That aircraft flew with two smaller drones and showed that the airborne relay could connect both the drones and multiple ground PAMS stations in one network.
NASA later moved to a more realistic wildfire scenario at Monterey Bay Academy Airport in California. There, a winged VTOL drone from Overwatch Aero provided the communications relay for three separate PAMS units while two additional drones flew nearby. Pilots deliberately filed conflicting flight plans and operated outside preapproved areas to test the system’s response. NASA said PAMS detected the conflicts, warned pilots, and shared real-time aircraft positions, weather updates and simulated fire-location data. The agency plans more flight evaluations this year to refine the technology before eventual transfer to firefighting agencies. If fielded, the system could extend aerial firefighting into low-visibility periods, improve coordination over active fires, and help reduce the damage and loss of life caused by major wildfires.