WASHINGTON, DC—Earlier this month, the USDA Forest Service Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Program was named an XCELLENCE Award first-place winner by the Association for Uncrewed Vehicles Systems International. It was selected from a pool of accomplished applicants as one of six winners of the Public Safety Award for the Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations Project, or STEReO, a joint project between NASA’s Ames Research Center and the Forest Service.

When a natural disaster occurs, a significant number of participants is often needed to help with the response. Airspace coordination during a wildfire is complex. Consider just the different aircraft that might be involved in fighting a wildfire: air tankers dropping fire retardant, lead planes to guide them, helicopters doing water bucket drops, and UAS conducting firing operations. And that’s to say nothing of the activity on the ground.

The STEReO Project technologies are designed to help UAS operators integrate into the airspace as safely as possible. Before STEReO, the responsibility to maintain safe separation between aircraft lay with the eyes and ears of the UAS operator on the ground. In 2022, the Forest Service began field tests of prototypes that track nearby aircraft locations and alert the UAS operator if any piloted aircraft gets too close.

“The audible ping from the ground control system lets operators know the location of aircraft so they don’t have to monitor separate air space management tools and fly the mission simultaneously,” said Forest Service UAS Program Manager Dirk Giles.

The Forest Service UAS program provided subject-matter expertise that informed the initial design of the prototype by NASA. It also recognized the value of testing those capabilities in the field, so the Forest Service set up a two-week evaluation of the technology during aerial-ignition training. The unique experience gave NASA valuable real-world feedback on what aspects of the prototype worked well or could be improved. NASA delivered a software update in the fall, and the UAS program continues to explore the benefits of this new technology in the field today.

“They are redefining what's possible with uncrewed and robotic technology,” Keely Griffith, vice president of Strategic Programs at AUVSI, said of the winners.

The agency’s UAS program is leading the way in exploring new technologies and ways of doing business. The program is helping strengthen the safety and professionalism of UAS as an essential tool in wildland firefighting.

The AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards honor innovators with a demonstrated commitment to advancing autonomy, leading and promoting safe adoption of uncrewed systems and developing programs that use these technologies to save lives and improve the human condition.