James Higgins Christian Laney Sebastian Elbaum Carrick Detweiler Craig R. Allen Dirac Twidwell Evan Beachly 2017 <p><span>Prescribed fires have many benefits, but existing ignition methods are dangerous, costly, or inefficient. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a micro-UAS that can start a prescribed fire from the air, while being operated from a safe distance and without the costs associated with aerial ignition from a manned aircraft. We evaluate the performance of the system in extensive controlled tests indoors. We verify the capabilities of the system to perform interior ignitions, a normally dangerous task, through the ignition of two prescribed fires alongside wildland firefighters.</span></p> application/pdf 10.1007/978-3-319-50115-4_2 en Springer A micro-UAS to start prescribed fires text