Guided, Accurate Slurry drops on Fire (GAS on Fire)

In this Phase II SBIR effort, RoGO will take our existing DropBlock technology and adapt it to support the needs of aerial firefighting applications. DropBlocks are small, portable, lightweight satellite-enabled devices that are a data portal for wildland firefighting crews. Wildland Firefighters operate in cellular-denied areas more than 90% of the time they are deployed on an average wildfire. DropBlocks provide 3 critical functions to Wildland Firefighters: 1) DropBlocks provide GPS tracking of all human & non-human fire resources 2) DropBlocks transmit fire weather data to all firefighters in an incident 3) DropBlocks allow for point-to-point text communications so crews can coordinate and align their tactical efforts at the edge. This proposal suggests adding in key software and hardware functionalities that will allow firefighters with DropBlocks on the ground to coordinate and communicate key firefighting information and efforts with aerial firefighters on their ForeFlight tablet app (or any other tablet flight app) via API integration from a DropBlock in the aircraft, whether rotor-wing or fixed-wing. This proposal suggests we modify our existing DropBlock communication device to: 1) Allow ground firefighters to mark a requested slurry drop starting point and line to drop slurry along (a vector position), and display this information to the pilot. 2) Take in ground wind information, calculate wind drift information given the aircraft’s altitude and suggest a corrected flight line so slurry falls where it is intended, accounting for slurry drift. 3) Most importantly, for ground firefighter safety, we enable ground crews to signal an “All Clear” message up to slurry/water bombing pilots to let them know all firefighters have cleared the line and if it is safe to drop the slurry, or not. Intended use of funding is for engineers’ materials and time building and testing devices in real-world settings with RoGO’s many wildland firefighting contacts.

While this technology is primarily meant for State wildfire agencies and Federal agencies who fight wildfires (to include the USFS, BLM, BIA, NPS & FEMA), RoGO’s technology has a future NASA application with guiding autonomous slurry-dropping drones to target. NASA is currently investigating using drones in the wildland fire arena for water bombing and slurry dropping; once this technology is made available, RoGO’s DropBlock devices on the ground or in the air will be a perfect complement to make for a fully autonomous aerial firefighting attack, coordinated with ground crews for effectiveness and ground crew safety. The mission and vision of RoGO's satellite-enabled communications technologies is to create a common operational picture (COP) for all wildland fire firefighters, improving safety, tactical collaboration and mission execution. RoGO aims to help in America's battle against the biggest domestic terror we all face: Wildfires. The relentless destruction of the recent Palisades wildfire in California proves this point. Non-NASA applications of this technology include all Federal agencies who fight wildfires (to include the USFS, BLM, BIA, NPS & FEMA), US Federal agencies who fight other natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes that occur in -or cause there to be- a cellular-denied area. Other non-NASA applications are providing backup communications abilities to the Mobile Data Computer (MDC) found in every police car, firetruck and ambulance in America. With this technology, every State fire agency is a customer application, as are Border Patrol, the National Guard, and DoD entities. Commercial applications exist in electrical utility power companies, oil & gas energy industries, shipping industries, State Search & Rescue organizations, even hunters and adventure travelers can use this technology to stay connected. RoGO also has a large application of this technology in allied countries to help them in the mitigation of All-Hazards disaster response.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.