(Airplane propellor engines sounds)
Narrator: Air tankers are practicing fighting
wildfires from the skies of Northern California.
This time, with the help of NASA researchers and
STEReO, a technology called Scalable Traffic
Management for Emergency Response Operations.
It's a system that acts like an air and ground
traffic controller, coordinating all the
moving parts of a wildfire response operation.
As part of a training, CAL FIRE and the
U.S. Forest Service flew planes over
simulated flames in coordination with NASA drones.
On the ground, researchers put the
STEReO system into action.
It can coordinate uncrewed and piloted aircraft,
track people on the ground while monitoring fires,
and send real-time updates of ongoing operations,
all using STEReO's own portable internet.
The goal is to help emergency responders
work more safely and efficiently.
In preparation for the training, the STEReO team
tested aircraft at NASA's Ames Research Center
in California's Silicon Valley.
Drones were flown simultaneously.
And researchers monitored system performance.
Three NASA research centers - NASA Ames, Glenn,
and Langley - will continue developing
the system's capabilities.
Firefighters will test tools
independently next year.
(Sound of drone engines buzzing fades away)