Revolutionizing Firefighting: UAV-Based Optical Communication Systems for Wildfires

Abstract

Wildfires are one of the most devastating natural disasters in the world. This study proposes an innovative optical wildfire communication system (OWC) that leverages advanced optical technologies for wildfire monitoring and seamless communication towards the 5G and beyond (5GB) wireless networks. The multi-input–multi-output (MIMO) optical link among communication nodes is designed by gamma–gamma (GG) distribution under consideration of intensity modulation and direct-detection (IM/DD) following an on–off-keying (OOK) scheme. In this study, the performance metrics of the proposed MIMO link that enables unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are analytically derived. The end-to-end (E2E) performance metrics and the novel closed-form expressions for the average BER (ABER) and outage probability (Pout) are investigated for the proposed system models. Furthermore, the simulation results are obtained based on the real experimental data. The obtained results in this study are improved spatial resolution and accuracy, enabling the detection by communication of even small-scale wildfires at their inception stages. In the further perspective of this research, the development of the proposed system holds the potential to revolutionize wildfire prevention and control efforts, making a substantial impact on safeguarding ecosystems, communities, and economies from the devastating effects of fires.