的 year 2020 will stand out for many reasons, the clear frontrunner being the global pandemic. 但是在美国.S., it will also be remembered for the horrific toll that wildfires took across the West.
总的来说，超过 5.8万处野火被烧毁.100万英亩 nationwide, most of it across California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. 仅加州就占了近40%，大约有4个.200万英亩的土地被炎热干燥的天气和大风引发的大火烧毁. 的 rapid spread of these fires quickly overwhelmed crews on the ground and tankers in the air. Colorado’s East Troublesome fire in Rocky Mountain National Park burned at the staggering rate of 每小时6000英亩 有时, 一次摧毁100,000英亩的土地在一天之内, 因为湿度极低，风速超过每小时35英里.
2021年的情况也不会好转多少, with enormous conflagrations like the Dixie Fire in California and Bootleg Fire in Oregon just two of 47525年大火 在整个美国.S. 截至10月中旬，已经烧毁了6,494,054英亩的土地.
随着西部地区日益干旱, getting a handle on a blaze before it becomes an inferno can be nearly impossible, 特别是传统的消防方法. 直到最近，与迅速蔓延的大火的战斗一直没有太大变化 1950年代当时改装的二战飞机被用来探测火力的大小和方向. 他们通过无线电向地面转播了这一消息, 消防人员根据飞行员的观察部署. 飞机上的摄影师拍摄的照片后来被冲洗和仔细检查.
随着数码照片的出现，效率提高了, but lag time still remained in the time between taking photos and having ground crews analyze them, 做决定, 动员到烧伤地点. 与此同时，大火继续蔓延.
但这一现实正在迅速改变. 在其他领域使用的技术现在也被应用于扑灭野火, and firefighters are using communication links to pinpoint real-time activities on the ground.
技术是关键
多亏了高速公路，消防员的态势感知能力开始提高, 现代宽带技术. 现在, a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with special technology called GeoFOCIS — developed by AEVEX Aerospace along with 高速 satellite connectivity from Viasat — is transforming the 通信, data, 以及控制火灾的整体能力. Giving ground crew firefighters the ability to see the direction and spread of in real time saves time, 财产, 最重要的是，他活了下来.
“很明显, 当火灾处于较小的状态时，您可以更快地分配资源, the easier it is to manage and hopefully prevent it from growing out of control,加勒特·霍根说, 具有智能的程序经理, 监测, 和Viasat的侦察(ISR)组.
AEVEX的GeoFOCIS软件套件提供移动地图显示, 利用全动态视频(彩色和红外数据)等资源, 摄影测量, 通信, 报告/任务数据, 和更多的. This means that a plane flying over a burning area can send both fire perimeters and instantaneous high-definition video to fire managers on the ground.
“有了这个, 消防员不仅可以看到火灾的位置, 他们也能看到火的强度. 然后, 利用天气, 大气信息, 以及当前的风力数据, they can position people and resources in the optimum location to fight the fires,吉姆·赫伦说, 最好的电竞竞猜app大全飞机创新与集成总监.
这一技术在一场战争中得到了很好的应用 加州卡尔斯巴德居民区发生火灾. Crews on the ground spotted palm trees exploding and showering nearby homes with sparks and embers. Firefighters were then able to pinpoint the effected street and extinguish the fire before it grew out of control. 只有3英亩的土地被烧毁, 卡尔斯巴德消防局将快速反应归功于这项技术.
GeoFOCIS套件是一个复杂的3D地理制图服务, 使用带有地理空间数据库的移动地图显示. 成功运作, 它必须有可靠的通道, 高速, 大容量卫星连通性.
“的 AEVEX technology integrates multiple sensor information into useable products to help wildfire management personnel to make better, 更高效的, 和更多的 effective decisions that reduce loss of life and damage to 财产 or infrastructure,罗恩·特罗斯克莱说, AEVEX航空航天公司项目经理.
的 connectivity needed to handle all that data is provided by Viasat’s high-capacity satellites. This is the same technology that evolved efficiency for military aircraft personnel, who can send and receive real-time situational awareness while conducting a mission, 以及航空公司乘客的用户体验, 谁会流媒体视频, 网上购物, 或者在旅行时看实时新闻.
该公司即将推出的全球卫星星座, ViaSat-3, 将为像GeoFOCIS这样的应用提供更大的容量和覆盖范围.
更实惠的解决方案
As satellite capacity grows and becomes more available, the cost for this new technology decreases.
“的se capabilities might have been cost-prohibitive on standard satellites in the past,赫伦说. “But our modern high-capacity satellites allow us to actually reduce the cost per bit so we can complete tasks that weren’t achievable in the past because of the high cost of operating over lower-capacity satellites.”
This high-bandwidth capability also enables aircraft to fly much higher while still getting high-quality, 高分辨率数据. 的 high-resolution cameras in the AEVEX solution allow pilots to avoid the extreme temperatures emanating from a fire and the associated turbulent air, 这使得从正上方捕捉清晰的图像变得困难.
日益严重的问题
Record temperatures and lack of precipitation on the west coast and in the southwest have created ripe conditions for wildfires. 尽管如此，这些火灾易发地区的发展需求很高. 的 国家消防杂志 states that two million homes in California are located in areas considered high risk or extreme risk for wildfires.
“当然，住在森林旁边或森林里听起来很棒, 但很明显，当火灾发生时，这是你房子最糟糕的地方,” 克里斯蒂娜·桑丁·努诺, an associate biosciences professor at Swansea University in Wales who specializes in wildfire research.
Technology used to fight fires and quickly mitigate the dangerous situations they cause grows ever more important as climate change has increased both the severity of wildfires and the length of the wildfire season itself. 而生命和财产在火灾中遭受巨大损失, 还有其他持久的负面影响. 环保局已经 估计 空气中的有毒碎片造成了长期的健康问题, 土壤, and water left behind in burned areas caused $450 billion in health care costs between 2008 and 2012 — the most recent data available. This includes premature deaths, hospital admissions, and chronic respiratory illnesses. 还有天气预报网站 AccuWeather predicted that the costs of the 2020 fire season in 财产 damage and fire suppression efforts alone could total $130-$150 billion.
维克法拉, Viasat保证移动解决方案(AMS)业务副总裁, 对解决这一巨大而昂贵的挑战表示乐观.
“最近在美国通过的两党基础设施法案.S. Senate clearly outlines an ambition to focus resources on wildfire prevention, including 为减少野火风险提供大量资金. 展望未来, the inherent effect-driven capabilities within ViaSat-3 offer a fiscally conscious solution for wildfire mitigation that targets this niche area of operation versus the larger, 更多的成本高昂的模型存在于今天的工业.”
You can find the official joint announcement from Viasat and AEVEX’s on our website.
