Prescribed fires are critical tools for maintaining ecosystem health, reducing wildfire risk, and promoting biodiversity. However, executing prescribed burns safely and effectively remains challenging due to the inherent complexities of fire behavior and the need for precise real-time control. This work presents a comprehensive framework for modeling and controlling prescribed fires using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as integrated sensing and actuation platforms. A hybrid digital twin approach is proposed, combining physics-based fire propagation model with simulated UAV-based multispectral and thermal imaging sensors. The digital twin enables accurate, dynamic predictions of fire spread, facilitating UAV-based adaptive control strategies. By leveraging UAVs’ ability to autonomously respond to evolving fire conditions, the framework improves the precision, responsiveness, and safety of prescribed fire management compared to traditional methods. This research lays the foundation for autonomous and intelligent wildfire management systems, significantly advancing future land management practices and wildfire mitigation efforts.
YangQuan Chen earned his Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 1998. He had been a faculty of Electrical Engineering at Utah State University (USU) from 2000-12. He joined the School of Engineering, University of California, Merced (UCM) in summer 2012 teaching “Mechatronics”, “Engineering Service Learning”, “Unmanned Aerial Systems” and “Digital Twins” for undergraduates and “Fractional Order Mechanics”, “Linear Multivariable Control”, “Nonlinear Controls”, “Advanced Controls: Robustness and Optimality” for graduates. His research interests include mechatronics for sustainability, cognitive process control, small multi-UAV based cooperative multi-spectral “personal remote sensing”, applied fractional calculus in controls, modeling and complex signal processing; distributed measurement and control of distributed parameter systems with mobile actuator and sensor networks. He is listed in Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate Analytics from 2018 to 2021. He received Research of the Year awards from USU (12) and UCM (20). https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=RDEIRbcAAAAJ.
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Air Time is a series of seminars on advanced aviation hosted by Crown Innovations, Inc., in collaboration with the University of California’s CITRIS and the Banatao Institute. The seminars feature leading experts on cutting-edge research who share interesting ideas on pertinent topics and innovative methodologies. Air Time speakers include subject matter experts from UC Berkeley, Merced, Davis, and Santa Cruz. The seminars take place weekly.
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