Fire From The Sky!

By: Cheryl Anderson

Ranchers who use prescribed burns to control invasive plant species on their pastures could soon receive some help from above.

Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have developed a prototype unmanned aerial vehicle — commonly called a drone — capable of safely igniting prescribed burns.

Developed at UNL’s Nebraska Intelligent Mobile Unmanned Systems (NIMBUS) lab, the six-rotor AscTec “micro-drone” is only about 1 square foot in size, capable of fitting into a backpack. The drone has various layers of sensors, systems and software which enable an operator to very precisely and safely ignite a prescribed burn, according to Sebastian Elbaum, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Elbaum and Carrick Detweiler, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, designed the prototype for the drone.
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