Bioremediating Wildfire-Damaged Ecosystems Utilizing an Autonomous Aerial Vehicle

Overview

As our world becomes increasingly impacted by the onset of global warming, the risk for wildfires has consequently risen exponentially over the past decade - causing substantial damage to the global economy and to worldwide biospheres. The Congressional Research Service finds that an average of 72,400 wildfires have scorched and destroyed more than 7 million acres of ecosystems yearly. The devastation left in the wake of wildfires has created a pressing need for an automated, accessible device that has the potential to rehabilitate and restore millions of damaged acres across the United States. The goal of the project was to develop an autonomous, aerial multi-rotor vehicular device that has the capability of remote seed dispersal in wildfire-damaged areas in an effort to bioremediate ecosystems in the aftermath of wildfires. The aerial vehicle is powered by 4 Quanum MT Series high-thrust brushless motors mounted in an X-formation. The aircraft leveraged ground-to-air communication from a host computer system to a NodeMCU 12-E (Arduino-firmware based microcontroller) and a DJI Datalink module to control the seed spreading mechanism and direct the drone’s flight path. The control systems interface wirelessly with the host computer and a serialized connection with the flight controller in order to receive flight plans and routes from the host and process GPS waypoints to determine the shortest course towards the next waypoint. A servo motor was affixed to an injection molded seed spreader that is connected inline to signal outputs on the microcontroller. The vehicle will begin to spin the continuous motor, dispersing the seeds in an arc across the ground beneath the drone as determined by the controller. The resulting prototype is one that is able to accurately follow GPS waypoints, interpret and take action to waypoints transmitted over WiFi by the host computer, and to deploy seeds at target locations. The utility and affordability of the prototype demonstrates an effective and efficient method of remediating wildfire-damaged ecosystems. When compared to traditional aerial seed dispersal methods, the prototype fills the need of a cost-effective and extensible solution that takes into account new innovative models and technologies. Indisputably, the role of more accessible and low-cost methodologies of environmental recovery systemically lessen the financial burden faced by developing nations, and can benefit not only the stricken country, but the world at large, with faster recovery of vital, carbon-sinking foliage.