FireDrone - Unmanned aerial vehicle for extreme temperature environments

The wide field of applications for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is mainly limited by environmental factors such as wind, water or temperature. Especially the use of UAVs in high-risk environments of disasters could enable a faster and more precise response, while providing first responders crucial information before entering the danger zone. In firefighting applications, current systems are mainly used for aerial surveillance of the disaster site. Furthermore, large UAVs have been shown to hoist fire-hoses up skyscrapers or to drop fire retardant in remote areas to slow down the spread of wildfires. However, current systems developed for faster and more precise response to fire threats lack the ability to fly in close proximity to heat sources. The employed materials tend to burn or melt at temperatures below common fire temperatures, thus close-range aerial reconnaissance solutions are currently not available on the market. Building an aerial robot from temperature agnostic materials could enable a precise assessment of disaster environments to achieve improved situational awareness and identify danger zones or lives in danger. In accordance with the ever ongoing development of technical aids for such situations, this project investigates the application of novel thermal insulation materials in aerial robotics, such as aerogels that have been developed at EMPA Dübendorf. The objective is to design and manufacture a temperature agnostic aerial robot that stays operational in extreme temperature environments. Building on mission requirements derived from interviews with firefighters, material properties and design constraints, the project aims to provide a vision and a design approach for the future development of firefighting UAVs. A prototype UAV is manufactured and tested in a testing campaign to verify the design decisions. The tests increase in complexity, from low fidelity subsytem tests, to full system tests in reallife scenarios.