Latitude's applet for transferring small files (fire perimeter polygons) from over a fire over AFF to the ground is in beta and working.
Also working is the 15MegaPixel intervalometer. CHDK software for the canon SD990 is now available. Setting it up the first time is still being simplified, but once ready, it is very esy to use.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
www.AerialFireTech.org is now available.
"How-to" information for using what is discussed here. Please provide feedback and reviews so I can make this work for other aerial firefighters.
This website will be used as the presentation for the ATGS training sessions. It will also be updated regularly as new information becomes available.
"How-to" information for using what is discussed here. Please provide feedback and reviews so I can make this work for other aerial firefighters.
This website will be used as the presentation for the ATGS training sessions. It will also be updated regularly as new information becomes available.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
XMap does nicely import ESRI .shp files one by one. Fire perimeters from several of last years fires came in very detailed without the need for intermediary .gpx files. Names did not come through very well. DeLorme says there is a way to transfer names and all files at once using their Enterprise XMap server. I’m investigating with the team.
There is a msg on our newsgroup about using Mobile ESRI in Australia, so I talked with Russ Johnson of ESRI. ArcGIS from ESRI is not yet a standalone moving-topo package, so it doesn’t yet replace DeLorme or Maptech. It might help translate .shp files, facilitate communications and coordinate data. Russ was an ATGS for five years and is very interested in finding a way to help.
I was told about SingalLink from TigerTronics for transmitting photos to the ground over VHF radios. It’s a Ham radio thing. Two small boxes (~$100 ea) have been tested transmitting over normal radios at a distance of 12 miles line-of-sight, and 60 miles over a repeater. Speed/baud rate is not very high, and the noise on the radio can sound awful, but nice photos will transmit point-to-point in around a minute. This may take some special testing and setup. I'm hoping Tom Bagwell will have a sample configuration at the Sacramento ATGS refresher in two weeks.
There is a msg on our newsgroup about using Mobile ESRI in Australia, so I talked with Russ Johnson of ESRI. ArcGIS from ESRI is not yet a standalone moving-topo package, so it doesn’t yet replace DeLorme or Maptech. It might help translate .shp files, facilitate communications and coordinate data. Russ was an ATGS for five years and is very interested in finding a way to help.
I was told about SingalLink from TigerTronics for transmitting photos to the ground over VHF radios. It’s a Ham radio thing. Two small boxes (~$100 ea) have been tested transmitting over normal radios at a distance of 12 miles line-of-sight, and 60 miles over a repeater. Speed/baud rate is not very high, and the noise on the radio can sound awful, but nice photos will transmit point-to-point in around a minute. This may take some special testing and setup. I'm hoping Tom Bagwell will have a sample configuration at the Sacramento ATGS refresher in two weeks.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Latitude is developing a utility for Aerial Firefighters to transfer small files (fire perimeter polygons) to the ground over the AFF Satellite link (Iridium).
Bob Roth is arranging for a NIFC-FTP folder to receive these aerial polygon files, and then auto convert -> upload to Google Earth. Initial testing has worked very well. The ultimate goal is to have fire perimeters appear within 10 minutes on ground bound iPhones-Google Earth for fire fighters at the scene.
DeLorme has created some sample fire symbols. I’m waiting for XMap to test ESRI import. The hope is that SHP file will import directly, and GPX files won’t be needed. XMap is already less than 1/10 the price of Matech for the western states, and DeLorme is talking about giving firefighters special pricing.
Special firmware is being written for the Canon SD 990IS camera to make it run continuously as an intervalometer for 5 hours. 15 MegaPixel photos will record every ~8 seconds for the entire flight. For $310 this could be your next personal pocket camera, and then bring it along flying. Set in the windshield (on a cloth for dampening) or strap to the back seat, and let it run through the whole flight. Use the photos for post flight debriefing, for Incident Command, dispatchers, GIS teams or upload the best ones to Google Earth. DeLorme will Geo-map the photo according to the GPS log file. Throw them away if uninteresting or archive photos by just retaining the SD chip (put a fresh one in the camera for $17) or copy them to a PC. Initial tests show great resolution (vertical lines can be one pixel thick), and shooting through plexi-windows only reduces contrast, not resolution. You should dampen the plane’s vibration, so set it on something soft.
Cockpit Training: Moving-map topos with GIS overlays
I’m scheduled to present "Inexpensive technology for immediate use: Why & How-to" at two ATGS refreshers classes:
- March 31-April 2 in Sacramento, California
- April 28-30 in Twin Falls, Idaho Agenda Outline:
1) Moving-map topos for ground names and situational awareness
2) GIS overlay of last night’s fire info transferred by GPX (or ESRI if XMap will allow)
3) Transmitting .txt fire perimeter polygons to earth over satellite AFF boxes
4) Camcorders continuously recording radio-intercom-audio+through-the-window-HDvideo to SD cards
5) People who want this should watch the blog/newsgroup for details and updates
I'm planning to demo as much of this as possible.
Bob Roth is arranging for a NIFC-FTP folder to receive these aerial polygon files, and then auto convert -> upload to Google Earth. Initial testing has worked very well. The ultimate goal is to have fire perimeters appear within 10 minutes on ground bound iPhones-Google Earth for fire fighters at the scene.
DeLorme has created some sample fire symbols. I’m waiting for XMap to test ESRI import. The hope is that SHP file will import directly, and GPX files won’t be needed. XMap is already less than 1/10 the price of Matech for the western states, and DeLorme is talking about giving firefighters special pricing.
Special firmware is being written for the Canon SD 990IS camera to make it run continuously as an intervalometer for 5 hours. 15 MegaPixel photos will record every ~8 seconds for the entire flight. For $310 this could be your next personal pocket camera, and then bring it along flying. Set in the windshield (on a cloth for dampening) or strap to the back seat, and let it run through the whole flight. Use the photos for post flight debriefing, for Incident Command, dispatchers, GIS teams or upload the best ones to Google Earth. DeLorme will Geo-map the photo according to the GPS log file. Throw them away if uninteresting or archive photos by just retaining the SD chip (put a fresh one in the camera for $17) or copy them to a PC. Initial tests show great resolution (vertical lines can be one pixel thick), and shooting through plexi-windows only reduces contrast, not resolution. You should dampen the plane’s vibration, so set it on something soft.
Cockpit Training: Moving-map topos with GIS overlays
I’m scheduled to present "Inexpensive technology for immediate use: Why & How-to" at two ATGS refreshers classes:
- March 31-April 2 in Sacramento, California
- April 28-30 in Twin Falls, Idaho Agenda Outline:
1) Moving-map topos for ground names and situational awareness
2) GIS overlay of last night’s fire info transferred by GPX (or ESRI if XMap will allow)
3) Transmitting .txt fire perimeter polygons to earth over satellite AFF boxes
4) Camcorders continuously recording radio-intercom-audio+through-the-window-HDvideo to SD cards
5) People who want this should watch the blog/newsgroup for details and updates
I'm planning to demo as much of this as possible.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
New Discussion Group: See link on the right hand panel here ==>
This is for people to have easier conversations.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The International Aerial Firefighters Conf was great. Lots of good presentations. I mostly hung out in the exhibit area discussing how to better use technology in the cockpit.
Several Satellite phone companies were present, Latitude and SkyrTrac. Both want to help with transmitting fire perimeter polygons to the ground. Latitude says they will look into making a transmission applet. I’m hoping it will work like this:
- Draw a fire/perimeter polygon on DeLorme, Maptech, etc. (fly corners or hand draw as we do already)
- Save/export to a file. DeLorme .TXT files are often tiny - under 500 bytes
- Attach the file or drag’n drop onto Latitude floating’s applet
- Hit Send - preloaded email address goes to Incident Command and someone on the ground posts to Google Earth
- Within minutes laptops or iPhones on the ground, even at the fire, can then see the perimeter
There should be no additional cost to implement this if your plane has an AFF/sat-phone box with a serial port (the planes I fly do). Transmission costs should be about $1.
This is for people to have easier conversations.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The International Aerial Firefighters Conf was great. Lots of good presentations. I mostly hung out in the exhibit area discussing how to better use technology in the cockpit.
Several Satellite phone companies were present, Latitude and SkyrTrac. Both want to help with transmitting fire perimeter polygons to the ground. Latitude says they will look into making a transmission applet. I’m hoping it will work like this:
- Draw a fire/perimeter polygon on DeLorme, Maptech, etc. (fly corners or hand draw as we do already)
- Save/export to a file. DeLorme .TXT files are often tiny - under 500 bytes
- Attach the file or drag’n drop onto Latitude floating’s applet
- Hit Send - preloaded email address goes to Incident Command and someone on the ground posts to Google Earth
- Within minutes laptops or iPhones on the ground, even at the fire, can then see the perimeter
There should be no additional cost to implement this if your plane has an AFF/sat-phone box with a serial port (the planes I fly do). Transmission costs should be about $1.
Friday, February 13, 2009
An interagency-private industry working group is forming. Individual and group conversations are leading to good actions that should bring about new aerial tech tools for the 2009 fire season. Current members are Robert Roth-USFS, Steven Banks-BLM, Sean Triplett-USFS GIS, Mark Zaller-Air Attack Pilot.
Moving-map topos with GIS fire data overlays:
Sean has received DeLorme and is evaluating how GIS info can be easily saved as a native file for transfer to aerial firefighters. In the mean time his interagency GIS organizations are standardizing on posting ESRI and Google Earth files. Robert pointed out Google Earth now has topo overlays, so I’m evaluating if this is usable in the cockpit. We are all hoping to come up with a streamlined process for getting GIS fire data into the cockpit for this season.
Cockpit data real-time to the ground:
Multiple types of data and ways of transferring it real-time to the ground are being discussed. Although many, first to discuss is possibly very easy and relatively low cost. Data files of hand drawn fire perimeters can be transmitted over Iridium satellite serial port packets (part of the AFF and Satellite phone system).
Many ATGSs already hand draw fire perimeters on Delorme and Maptech topos. This is often printed out on the ground and handed off (physically). These data files that make up the perimeters can be emailed from the air to anyone on the ground within 5-10 minutes usnig a special email package. I’m also working on new software that could transfer more automatically, faster and even from plane to plane. The holy grail here will be drawing a precise drop line and zapping it between planes to an incoming tanker.
Transmitting aerial images and/or video is another hot topic that several of us are pursing in different ways…more later
Please contact me or others directly if you have something to contribute, or just want to be part of the solution.
Moving-map topos with GIS fire data overlays:
Sean has received DeLorme and is evaluating how GIS info can be easily saved as a native file for transfer to aerial firefighters. In the mean time his interagency GIS organizations are standardizing on posting ESRI and Google Earth files. Robert pointed out Google Earth now has topo overlays, so I’m evaluating if this is usable in the cockpit. We are all hoping to come up with a streamlined process for getting GIS fire data into the cockpit for this season.
Cockpit data real-time to the ground:
Multiple types of data and ways of transferring it real-time to the ground are being discussed. Although many, first to discuss is possibly very easy and relatively low cost. Data files of hand drawn fire perimeters can be transmitted over Iridium satellite serial port packets (part of the AFF and Satellite phone system).
Many ATGSs already hand draw fire perimeters on Delorme and Maptech topos. This is often printed out on the ground and handed off (physically). These data files that make up the perimeters can be emailed from the air to anyone on the ground within 5-10 minutes usnig a special email package. I’m also working on new software that could transfer more automatically, faster and even from plane to plane. The holy grail here will be drawing a precise drop line and zapping it between planes to an incoming tanker.
Transmitting aerial images and/or video is another hot topic that several of us are pursing in different ways…more later
Please contact me or others directly if you have something to contribute, or just want to be part of the solution.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Several Air Attack refresher course have requested this spring I give 30-60 minute training sessions on this subject: Moving map topos in the cockpit with electronic overlays of GIS fire info . Also the International Aerial Firefighters conference in Anaheim (Feb 19-20) is trying to make spot for a presentation (not yet confirmed).
If anyone is interested in seeing overlayed firelines from last seasons fires, please contact me. I can show a demo on your computer remotely over the Internet using skype and my webcam (you don't need a webcam, just me).
On the communication front, I've had interesting discussions with the people who make the satellite phones and flight following in our planes. Latitude Tech says there is way to send data packets from the plane to ground through the satellite link. It is relatively slow & expensive, but might work. Just now I drew a sample fire perimeter on DeLorme Topo, and saved it to a .gpx file. The data file was less than 1KB in size - just a text listing of Lat-Longs. I will continue to investigate.
If anyone is interested in seeing overlayed firelines from last seasons fires, please contact me. I can show a demo on your computer remotely over the Internet using skype and my webcam (you don't need a webcam, just me).
On the communication front, I've had interesting discussions with the people who make the satellite phones and flight following in our planes. Latitude Tech says there is way to send data packets from the plane to ground through the satellite link. It is relatively slow & expensive, but might work. Just now I drew a sample fire perimeter on DeLorme Topo, and saved it to a .gpx file. The data file was less than 1KB in size - just a text listing of Lat-Longs. I will continue to investigate.
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