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Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO)

The Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project is expected to develop, integrate, demonstrate, and transition to operations, evolving aviation technologies from NASA and industry to identify, monitor, and suppress wildland fires as a means to enhance safety, improve operational efficiency, and prevent economic loss. Some of the concepts ACERO explores are: wildfire airspace mangement to improve safety and resource utilization during a disaster, applying new aviation technologies to improve safety and demonstrate new mission-support capabilities, second-shift operations to enable progress towards 24/7 aerial response, and the integration of capabilities across NASA's Aeronautics Research, Science, and Space Technology mission directorates to enable expanded and scalable operations. Realizing this vision is expected to bring positive impact to such areas as: consistency of technology adoption through a unified concept of operations, airspace coordination and deconfliction that integrates portable solutions and enables diverse operations, remote sensing and data fusion for modeling and predictions that support in-time decision making, aircraft technologies for hazard avoidance and state management, and increased response capabilities through persistent communications and surveillance. ACERO continues the research begun under the Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO) activity, which brings together several technologies in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM), Autonomy, Communications, Human Factors, and Domain Expertise & Tools, aimed at providing scalability and flexibility, as well as operational resiliency to dynamic changes during a disaster event. Some of the concepts STEReO explores are: collaborative tools to ingest remote sensing information and distribute a common mission operating picture, apply ad-hoc communication networks to facilitate timely information sharing and communication of changes, vehicle-to-vehicle and onboard autonomy technologies ensure the safety and resiliency of operations, and apply NASA’s UAS traffic management system (UTM) as a public safety UAS Service Supplier (USS) to access and coordinate use of the airspace by both manned and unmanned operations. The potential benefits of STEReO include: standardized, cross-platform communication means increased interoperability and ease of cooperation/collaboration, increased situation awareness and common operating picture allow for earlier detection and decision making, and scalable to size and complexity of environment, operations, and mission objectives. This presentation gives an informational overview of the ACERO and STEReO projects to the Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF) Western State Fire Managers (WSFM) Committee.

emergency response operations↗

Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO)

The use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to support disaster management is becoming more widespread. Uninhibited by many of the operational constraints imposed on crewed aircraft, UAS have the potential to augment the aerial response in a number of ways, including supporting situation awareness, thereby accelerating disaster management efforts. The intent of the Scalable Traffic management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO) activity is to build an ecosystem that will allow small UAS (sUAS) operations to fly safely in the airspace during disaster management events. The first step toward this goal was to develop a small, single-user tool (the UASP-kit) that will enhance an sUAS pilot’s situation awareness of the airspace. In a subsequent project (Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO)) the UASP-kit will be expanded and built upon to develop and airspace management tool.

STEReO↗

ACERO, Wildfire Damage and Impact of Aerial Support

This presentation offers an overview of the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project, highlighting key accomplishments in FY24 and outlining the plan for the first Technical Challenge, which is scheduled for completion by FY30.

Wildfire airspace management↗

Incorporating UAS Traffic Management into Wildland Firefighting Operations: Initial Findings of Subject Matter Expert Interviews

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UASs) are being utilized throughout the disaster and emergency response domain, including in wildland firefighting operations. While UASs can offer safety benefits in comparison to crewed aircraft, such as removing the human pilot from the vehicle so that they are not exposed to the same risks and the ability to operate in low-visibility conditions, they are not without tradeoffs. For example, it can be challenging for UAS pilots (UASPs) to build situation awareness of the airspace in which their UAS is operating. In order to address some of the challenges associated with using UASs and provide greater assistance to the firefighters and incident personnel in the wildland firefighting environment, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project. Building on previous NASA research, ACERO will explore the implementation of a traffic management system in the wildland fire environment to enhance safety and support situation awareness. ACERO draws on the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system previously demonstrated in an urban environment. However, a traffic management system implemented in the wildland fire environment is expected to look and function much differently in order to meet the unique needs of this domain. At the outset of the ACERO project, interviews were conducted with five UASPs who operate UASs at wildland fire incidents. The interviews focused on exploring UASPs’ initial insights about the application of a traffic management system in wildland firefighting and understanding the unique needs of this environment. The UASPs discussed a range of topics including, the shape, size, and organization of UAS operations in the wildland fire environment, information needs for a user interface, such as traffic and map information, an alerting function when other traffic nears their operation area, and the importance of conformance monitoring. The UASPs also discussed their willingness to share operational information to support safety. In this paper, we describe the foundational work upon which ACERO will build and summarize the information and insights gathered during the UASP interviews, some of which have already informed the development of the ACERO work.

Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS)↗

Incorporating UAS Traffic Management into Wildland Firefighting Operations: Initial Findings of Subject Matter Expert Interviews

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UASs) are being utilized throughout the disaster and emergency response domain, including in wildland firefighting operations. While UASs can offer safety benefits in comparison to crewed aircraft, such as removing the human pilot from the vehicle so that they are not exposed to the same risks and the ability to operate in low-visibility conditions, they are not without tradeoffs. For example, it can be challenging for UAS pilots (UASPs) to build situation awareness of the airspace in which their UAS is operating. In order to address some of the challenges associated with using UASs and provide greater assistance to the firefighters and incident personnel in the wildland firefighting environment, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project. Building on previous NASA research, ACERO will explore the implementation of a traffic management system in the wildland fire environment to enhance safety and support situation awareness. ACERO draws on the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system previously demonstrated in an urban environment. However, a traffic management system implemented in the wildland fire environment is expected to look and function much differently in order to meet the unique needs of this domain. At the outset of the ACERO project, interviews were conducted with five UASPs who operate UASs at wildland fire incidents. The interviews focused on exploring UASPs’ initial insights about the application of a traffic management system in wildland firefighting and understanding the unique needs of this environment. The UASPs discussed a range of topics including, the shape, size, and organization of UAS operations in the wildland fire environment, information needs for a user interface, such as traffic and map information, an alerting function when other traffic nears their operation area, and the importance of conformance monitoring. The UASPs also discussed their willingness to share operational information to support safety. In this presentation, we describe the foundational work upon which ACERO will build and summarize the information and insights gathered during the UASP interviews, some of which have already informed the development of the ACERO work.

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS)↗

NASA Research to Expand UAS Operations for Disaster Response

Natural disasters can result in the loss of life and cost governments and private industry billions to recover each year. Over the past decade the rate and severity of natural disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes have resulted in increasingly negative impacts to communities, public health, natural ecosystems, and the economy. To help reduce these impacts, NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is working to advance technologies and enable the safe and efficient inclusion of novel aviation applications to better assist in disaster response. To execute on these efforts, NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) and System-Wide Safety (SWS) projects have developed coordinated strategic research plans focused on aviation operations for disaster response. The ACERO project will be a multi-year effort that focuses on enabling the use of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) to improve firefighter safety and efficiency and enable the use of UAS to conduct new missions such as logistics and aerial suppression. The ACERO project will demonstrate technologies that support the Second Shift concept, enabling UAS and ground technologies to support aerial suppression in degraded visual conditions (e.g., heavy smoke, nighttime). The SWS project will be a multi-year effort that focuses on addressing the key safety barriers that are preventing the authorization of UAS operations in a variety of increasingly complex disaster response applications: post-hurricane response, medical courier, and urban disaster response. The SWS project will demonstrate an In-Time Aviation Safety Management System (IASMS) designed to effectively monitor, assess, and mitigate safety risks associated with hazards to UAS operations for disaster response. This paper will provide a deeper insight into NASA’s research and development plans and discuss how solutions developed in partnership with industry stakeholders and federal agencies will improve disaster response across the globe.

disaster response↗

Communications System Concept of Operations (ConOp) for Supporting Second Shift (SS) Operations

Wildland fires take place most often in remote areas without access to communications infrastructure. Communication during wildfire operations is crucial for safe and effective command and control of air assets, ground-based firefighters, and fire management. Without connectivity, Incident Command (IC) cannot exchange information, receive alerts or work with all parties involved in the wildfire suppression operation. Current policy directs IC to use voice radio communications, which require no prior infrastructure, to provide information needed for the command, control and safety of personnel and resources. Cellular communications are used only for logistical purposes unless no other method is available. To address some of the shortcomings of the current state of communications, the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) Second Shift (SS) technical team is developing characteristics of an air-to-ground Mesh Radio System (MRS) and preparing for a future demonstration. The MRS will allow air and ground assets to automatically join a radio network without relying on existing infrastructure and exchange information critical to maintaining situation awareness and air traffic management by the onsite IC. The MRS will also give users more options for communications in addition to voice communications.

David Fuller↗

The 2010 Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Flare and 10 Years of Multi-Wavelength Observations of M87

The giant radio galaxy M87 with its proximity (16 Mpc), famous jet, and very massive black hole ((3-6) X 10(exp 9) Solar Mass) provides a unique opportunity to investigate the origin of very high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma-ray emission generated in relativistic outflows and the surroundings of super-massive black holes. M87 has been established as a VHE gamma -ray emitter since 2006. The VHE gamma -ray emission displays strong variability on timescales as short as a day. In this paper, results from a joint VHE monitoring campaign on M87 by the MAGIC and VERITAS instruments in 2010 are reported. During the campaign, a flare at VHE was detected. triggering further observations at VHE (H.E.S.S.), X-rays (Chandra), and radio (43 GHz VLBA). The excellent sampling of the VHE gamma-ray light curve enables one to derive a precise temporal characterization of the flare: the single, isolated flare is well described by a two-sided exponential function with significantly different flux rise and decay times of rise tau ((sup rise sub d) = (1:69 +/- 0:30) days and tau(sup decay sub d = (0:611 +/- 0:080) days, respectively. While the overall variability pattern of the 2010 flare appears somewhat different from that of previous VHE flares in 2005 and 2008, they share very similar timescales (approx day), peak fluxes (Phi (sub > 0:35 TeV) approx. equals (1 - 3) X 10(exp -11) ph / square cm/s), and VHE spectra. 43 GHz VLBA radio observations of the inner jet regions indicate no enhanced flux in 2010 in contrast to observations in 2008, where an increase of the radio flux of the innermost core regions coincided with a VHE flare. On the other hand, Chandra X-ray observations taken approx 3 days after the peak of the VHE gamma -ray emission reveal an enhanced flux from the core (flux increased by factor approx 2; variability timescale < 2 days). The long-term (2001-2010) multi-wavelength (MWL) light curve of M87, spanning from radio to VHE and including data from HST, LT, VLA and EVN, is used to further investigate the origin of the VHE gamma -ray emission. No unique, common MWL signature of the three VHE flares has been identified. In the outer kpc jet region, in particular in HST-1, no enhanced MWL activity was detected in 2008 and 2010, disfavoring it as the origin of the VHE flares during these years. Shortly after two of the three flares (2008 and 2010), the X-ray core was observed to be at a higher flux level than its characteristic range (determined from more than 60 monitoring observations: 2002-2009). In 2005, the strong flux dominance of HST-1 could have suppressed the detection of such a feature. Published models for VHE gamma -ray emission from M87 are reviewed in the light of the new data.

Abramowski, A.↗

Development of the Model of Galactic Interstellar Emission for Standard Point-Source Analysis of Fermi Large Area Telescope Data

Most of the celestial gamma rays detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope originate from the interstellar medium when energetic cosmic rays interact with interstellar nucleons and photons. Conventional point-source and extended-source studies rely on the modeling of this diffuse emission for accurate characterization. Here, we describe the development of the Galactic Interstellar Emission Model (GIEM),which is the standard adopted by the LAT Collaboration and is publicly available. This model is based on a linear combination of maps for interstellar gas column density in Galactocentric annuli and for the inverse-Compton emission produced in the Galaxy. In the GIEM, we also include large-scale structures like Loop I and the Fermi bubbles. The measured gas emissivity spectra confirm that the cosmic-ray proton density decreases with Galactocentric distance beyond 5 kpc from the Galactic Center. The measurements also suggest a softening of the proton spectrum with Galactocentric distance. We observe that the Fermi bubbles have boundaries with a shape similar to a catenary at latitudes below 20deg and we observe an enhanced emission toward their base extending in the north and south Galactic directions and located within approximately 4deg of the Galactic Center.

gamma rays: diffuse background – gamma rays: gen↗

Measurement of the X-Ray Proper Motion in the South-East Rim of RXJ1713.7-3946

We report on the first proper motion measurement in the supernova remnant RX J1713.73946 using the XMM-Newton X-ray telescope on a 13 yr time interval. This expansion measurement is carried out in the south-east region of the remnant, where two sharp filament structures are observed. For the outermost filament, the proper motion is 0.75(+0.05-0.06) +/- 0.069 syst arcsec/ yr which is equivalent to a shock speed of approx. 3500 km/s at a distance of 1 kpc. In contrast with the bright north-west region, where the shock is interacting with the border of the cavity, the shock in the south-east region is probably expanding in the original ambient medium carved by the progenitor and can be used to derive the current density at the shock and the age of the remnant. In the case where the shock is evolving in a wind profile (p varies as r(sup -s), s = 2) or in a uniform medium (s = 0), we estimate an age of approx. 2300 yr and approx.1800 yr respectively for an ejecta power-law index of n = 9. The specific case of an ejecta power-law index of n = 7, and s = 0, yields an age of approx. 1500 yr, which would reconcile RX J1713.73946 with the historical records of SN 393. In all scenarios, we derive similar upstream densities of the order of 0.01/cu cm, compatible with the lack of thermal X-rays from the shocked ambient medium.

ISM↗

A New Nearby Pulsar Wind Nebula Overlapping the RX J0852.0-4622 Supernova Remnant

Context. Energetic pulsars can be embedded in a nebula of relativistic leptons which is powered by the dissipation of the rotational energy of the pulsar. The object PSR J0855􀀀4644 is an energetic and fast-spinning pulsar (E' = 1.1 x 10(exp 36) erg/s, P=65 ms) discovered near the South-East rim of the supernova remnant (SNR) RXJ0852.0-4622 (aka Vela Jr) by the Parkes multibeam survey. The position of the pulsar is in spatial coincidence with an enhancement in X-rays and TeV gamma-rays, which could be due to its putative pulsar wind nebula (PWN). Aims. The purpose of this study is to search for di use non-thermal X-ray emission around PSR J0855-4644 to test for the presence of a PWN and to estimate the distance to the pulsar. Methods. An X-ray observation was carried out with the XMM-Newton satellite to constrain the properties of the pulsar and its nebula. The absorption column density derived in X-rays from the pulsar and from different regions of the rim of the SNR was compared with the absorption derived from the atomic (HI) and molecular ((12)CO) gas distribution along the corresponding lines of sight to estimate the distance to the pulsar and to the SNR. Results. The observation has revealed the X-ray counterpart of the pulsar together with surrounding extended emission thus confirming the existence of a PWN. The comparison of column densities provided an upper limit to the distance of the pulsar PSR J0855-4644 and the SNR RX J0852.0-4622 (d less than or equal to 900 pc). Although both objects are at compatible distances, we rule out that the pulsar and the SNR are associated. With this revised distance, PSR J0855-4644 is the second most energetic pulsar, after the Vela pulsar, within a radius of 1 kpc and could therefore contribute to the local cosmic-ray e-/e+ spectrum.

overlapping↗

PHEMTO: The Polarimetric High Energy Modular Telescope Observatory

Based upon dual focusing techniques, the Polarimetric High-Energy Modular Telescope Observatory (PHEMTO) is designed to have performance several orders of magnitude better than the present hard X-ray instruments, in the 1–600 keV energy range. This, together with its angular resolution of around one arcsecond, and its sensitive polarimetry measurement capability, will give PHEMTO the improvements in scientific performance needed for a mission in the 2050 era in order to study AGN, galactic black holes, neutrons stars, and supernovae. In addition, its high performance will enable the study of the non-thermal processes in galaxy clusters with an unprecedented accuracy.

X–/γ–ray focusing telescopes↗

Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog

We present the fourth Fermi Large Area Telescope catalog (4FGL) of gamma-ray sources. Based on the first eight years of science data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission in the energy range from 50 MeV to 1 TeV, it is the deepest yet in this energy range. Relative to the 3FGL catalog, the 4FGL catalog has twice as much exposure as well as a number of analysis improvements, including an updated model for the Galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission, and two sets of light curves (one-year and two-month intervals). The 4FGL catalog includes 5064 sources above 4 sigma significance, for which we provide localization and spectral properties. Seventy-five sources are modeled explicitly as spatially extended, and overall, 358 sources are considered as identified based on angular extent, periodicity, or correlated variability observed at other wavelengths. For 1336 sources, we have not found plausible counterparts at other wavelengths. More than 3130 of the identified or associated sources are active galaxies of the blazar class, and 239 are pulsars.

S. Abdollahi↗