What is the STEReO Project?

stereo it stands for scalable traffic management for emergency response operations what does that mean well let's break it down when we say scalable we are referring to a system capable of low and high density air traffic meaning the number of aircraft in the sky that's airplanes helicopters and drones but not just any drones autonomous drones that can fly themselves that is what we are researching with the stereo project what happens when we add more and more autonomous drones into the airspace and for our research we are focusing on a very specific volume of air traffic which includes all types of air traffic that respond to disasters like wildfires hurricanes and floods with scalability at the core of our work we can investigate how to manage more vehicles responding to bigger and bigger disasters and do it safely and efficiently my name is robert mcswain and i am a co-principal investigator on the stereo project the focus of my work is leveraging the latest nasa technologies to make drones smarter these smart drones enable flight into dangerous areas with limited human interaction they perform high-risk tasks undesired for humans like surveillance and data collection in bad environments all while avoiding other vehicles power lines tall trees and other disaster created hazards so how does it work let's take a look at a typical wildfire response there are multiple groups of firefighters on the ground working with a variety of aircraft overhead like spotter planes water tanker planes and helicopters the plane on top of the stack is the traffic manager that directs the tanker planes and helicopters below firefighters on the ground and in the air can communicate with the traffic manager on top using a radio but like a zoom meeting only one person can talk at a time this can be challenging to manage and even harder to scale because the more traffic in the air the longer you have to wait to talk which reduces communication efficiency the stereo research project adds autonomous drones into the mix which requires a digital infrastructure firefighters on the ground and in the air can communicate with the traffic manager in new digital ways increasing communications and situational awareness for all first responders on scene and with this foundation now we have a flying network that isn't just connected via radio but using wireless communications to distribute vast amounts of information with autonomous drones in action and on scene information like where the fire is hottest and where the firefighters are in relation to that danger can be generated and shared real time with more data being shared faster and more confident decisions can be made by key decision makers but to make this happen we need scalable traffic management because the more vehicles in this system the more information is collected and put to use for first responders in the air and on the ground in the future with new data enabled by these autonomous vehicles prediction models to predict where the fire might spread can be more accurate this new data could also provide real-time escape routes for ground personnel or citizens to safely avoid dangers like downed power lines or high water areas so the stereo project is pretty ambitious but that is what we do at nasa we are excited to have the opportunity to work with these first responders and look for innovative ways to leverage nasa technologies and solve real-world challenges if you are interested in our research check out our website and sign up to learn more

Channel: NASA Langley Research Center

Views: 1,379

Rating: 4.9428573 out of 5

Keywords: NASA, Langley Research Center, aeronautics, exploration, science, research, technology, engineering

Id: m9pygDrwgwY

Length: 4min 12sec (252 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 09 2021