The
Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project conducted flight testing at the Monterey Bay Academy Airport in La Selva Beach, CA from November 12–21, 2024. This field exercise served as a dry run for ACERO's first demonstration, successfully verifying the project's Technical Capability Level (TCL1) readiness for a demonstration planned for the Spring of 2025.
The goal of the ACERO project is to develop and demonstrate emerging aviation technologies that will identify, monitor, and mitigate wildland fires to enhance the safety of wildland fire management. Second Shift Capabilities (SSC), a sub-project of ACERO, focuses on utilizing Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UASs) to extend aerial support into low-visibility conditions, while addressing some of the challenges that UAS operators face in the wildland firefighting environment, such as developing good situation awareness of the airspace and sharing real-time telemetry information while operating in locations with degraded communications.
SSC is exploring the integration of a UAS airspace management system ("UTM-in-a-box") into the wildland fire environment. And to support UAS operators, the SSC team, which includes members of the AOL, developed Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS) cases which house equipment to enable information sharing between operators as well as a User Interface (UI) display, that provides increased situation awareness of other aircraft, airspace constraints (e.g., the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) around the fire), fireline updates, and operational intent areas.
During the shakedown testing in November, a team of approximately 50, consisting of members from
NASA Ames Research Center (including eight members of the Human Systems Integration Division's Airspace Operations Lab),
NASA Langley Research Center,
NASA Glenn Research Center, and two partner organizations, were onsite with three UAS vehicles and participated in 11 operational scenarios. Each of the three UAS crews utilized a PAMS case and interacted with the UI. The Type 1 UAS also carried a relay radio, creating a communication network between the three PAMS cases. Through debriefs and questionnaires, the participant operators provided valuable feedback about their experience with the PAMS case UI and identified several areas for improvements.
