Description: Makel Engineering, Inc. (MEI) proposes to develop a compact Chemical Microsensor System as a payload for UAVs to support atmospheric chemical measurements in and around wildfires. This work is an extension of the Phase II SBIR work performed under NNX15CC28C entitled “Chemical Microsensor Instrument for UAV Airborne Atmospheric Measurements.”. The Airborne Microsensor System (AMS) developed in the Phase II program incorporated carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and methane sensors into a compact, robust system intended for small UAVs such as those being used by NASA for UAV and aerostat based volcanic measurements. Under this program, the AMS sensor suite will be expanded to include carbon monoxide, VOCs, and particulate measurements. MEI will work with American Aerospace Technologies, Inc. (AATI), an established UAV operator and developer of the AiRanger UAS which is capable of Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) operation. Medium and low altitude, long range flights will be conducted with carrying both the lightweight AMS payload and also reference instruments and/or calibration gases for accuracy and performance validation in flight. Two generations of the AMS units upgraded for wildfire chemical and particulate detection will be developed over the two year program with both ground and flight testing used to rapidly mature and validate the instrument. The instrument will be applicable to a range of emerging low and medium altitude UAV platforms being developed for operation in airspace around wildfires. Flight tests will simulate flights over realistic wildfire terrain in California and emergency exemptions will be coordinated by AATI with CAL FIRE and the US Forest Service for opportunities to overfly active fires and controlled burns. The objective of this program will be to rapidly advance and implement a science instrument package into airborne vehicles to perform near-term studies of climate change and the characterization of wildfires.

Benefits: Primary NASA application is for NASA SMD ESD near-term studies of wildfires and climate change factors (and the impacts thereof) using airborne vehicles and UAVs. The AMS instrument on UAVs to obtain data to validate models of fire behavior and atmospheric measurements made from high altitude and satellite measurements. The AMS instrument can be used by NASA for atmospheric science such as tracing and evaluation of hyperlocal air quality in urban and agricultural regions which may be impacted by climate change.

Non-NASA applications include use by UAV operators providing services to governmental agencies for wildfire mapping, air quality measurements and situational assessments. The instrument would also be applicable to ground based drones and mounted fire fighting equipment to support fire crew safety.