Conceptual design of a wildfire emergency response system empowered by swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Sadrabadi, Mohammad Tavakol
Peiro, Joaquim
Innocente, Mauro Sebastian
Rein, Guillermo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The frequency and extent of wildfire emergencies have increased globally during the past few decades. Consequently, a large amount of resources are regularly spent on these events in order to protect people, their homes, and the environment. Underpinned by software and hardware technology advancements, particularly concerning sensors, navigation, and artificial intelligence, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have proven valuable in supporting different aspects of a wildfire emergency response. However, their use is ad-hoc and task-specific within already established systems rather than forming an integral part of their design. Furthermore, while UAV swarms are aimed at exploiting the power of self-organisation and collective intelligence to collaboratively solve tasks that would be impossible to solve otherwise, they add complexity to the design. Additionally, regulations are still remarkably restrictive in terms of operations beyond visual line of sight, autonomy, and self-organisation. This paper identifies the tasks for which the use of UAV swarms is deemed beneficial for a wildfire emergency response system, and regulations that hinder their acceptance, adoption, and integration. A systems engineering approach is then adopted to propose a conceptual design of a human-centred wildfire emergency response system empowered by UAV swarms—including software, hardware, human components, their interactions, and their interfaces. Such a system offers real-time high-resolution monitoring and situational awareness of the fire front, burned area, and evacuation process; support for propagation forecasts and decision-making; and participation in fire suppression activities. Therefore, it protects wildlife, the lives of wildfire responders, and those of residents in the affected areas and beyond.
Date Issued
2025-06-15
Date Acceptance
2025-04-15
Citation
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2025, 124
ISSN
2212-4209
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Volume
124
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).
License URL
Subjects
Concept of Operations (ConOps)
Digital twins
DRONES
FIRE
Geology
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
MANAGEMENT
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
MODEL
OPERATIONS
Physical Sciences
PROPAGATION
Science & Technology
Systems engineering
UAV swarms
Unmanned aerial systems
Water Resources
Wildfire management
WIND
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
105493
Date Publish Online
2025-06-15