NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration
We present a low-cost prototype of a visible and near-infrared (VIS-NIR) remote sensing platform, optimized to detect and characterize natural flaming fire fronts from airborne nighttime light (NTL) observations, and its radiometric calibration. It uses commercially available CMOS sensor cameras and...
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/7/2049 |
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| author | Chase A. Fuller Steve Tammes Philip Kaaret Jun Wang Carlton H. Richey Marc Linderman Emmett J. Ientilucci Thomas Schnell William Julstrom Jarret McElrath Will Meiners Jack Kelley Francis Mawanda |
| author_facet | Chase A. Fuller Steve Tammes Philip Kaaret Jun Wang Carlton H. Richey Marc Linderman Emmett J. Ientilucci Thomas Schnell William Julstrom Jarret McElrath Will Meiners Jack Kelley Francis Mawanda |
| author_sort | Chase A. Fuller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We present a low-cost prototype of a visible and near-infrared (VIS-NIR) remote sensing platform, optimized to detect and characterize natural flaming fire fronts from airborne nighttime light (NTL) observations, and its radiometric calibration. It uses commercially available CMOS sensor cameras and filters with roughly 100 nm bandwidths to effectively discriminate burning biomass from other sources of NTL, a critical ability for wildfire monitoring near populated areas. Our filter choice takes advantage of the strong potassium line emission near 770 nm present in natural flaming. The calibrated cameras operate at 20 ms of exposure time and boast radiance measurements with a sensitivity floor, depending on the filter, in the range 3–5 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>×</mo><mtext> </mtext><msup><mn>10</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>6</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> W m<sup>−2</sup> sr<sup>−1</sup> nm<sup>−1</sup> with uncertainties lower than 5% and dynamic ranges near 3000–4000. An additional exposure time with a tenth of the duration is calibrated and extends the dynamic range by a factor of 10. We show images of a spatially resolved fire front from an airborne observation of flaming biomass within this radiance range. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-05a1eb6a005f4e83b257468c40b5ac38 |
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| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj-art-05a1eb6a005f4e83b257468c40b5ac382025-08-20T02:15:42ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202025-03-01257204910.3390/s25072049NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric CalibrationChase A. Fuller0Steve Tammes1Philip Kaaret2Jun Wang3Carlton H. Richey4Marc Linderman5Emmett J. Ientilucci6Thomas Schnell7William Julstrom8Jarret McElrath9Will Meiners10Jack Kelley11Francis Mawanda12Department of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USADepartment of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USAOperator Performance Laboratory, Iowa City, IA 52246, USADepartment of Geographical & Sustainability Sciences, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USAChester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USAOperator Performance Laboratory, Iowa City, IA 52246, USADepartment of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USAWe present a low-cost prototype of a visible and near-infrared (VIS-NIR) remote sensing platform, optimized to detect and characterize natural flaming fire fronts from airborne nighttime light (NTL) observations, and its radiometric calibration. It uses commercially available CMOS sensor cameras and filters with roughly 100 nm bandwidths to effectively discriminate burning biomass from other sources of NTL, a critical ability for wildfire monitoring near populated areas. Our filter choice takes advantage of the strong potassium line emission near 770 nm present in natural flaming. The calibrated cameras operate at 20 ms of exposure time and boast radiance measurements with a sensitivity floor, depending on the filter, in the range 3–5 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>×</mo><mtext> </mtext><msup><mn>10</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>6</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> W m<sup>−2</sup> sr<sup>−1</sup> nm<sup>−1</sup> with uncertainties lower than 5% and dynamic ranges near 3000–4000. An additional exposure time with a tenth of the duration is calibrated and extends the dynamic range by a factor of 10. We show images of a spatially resolved fire front from an airborne observation of flaming biomass within this radiance range.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/7/2049radiometric calibrationfire detectionwildfirenighttime fire activityflamingnighttime lights |
| spellingShingle | Chase A. Fuller Steve Tammes Philip Kaaret Jun Wang Carlton H. Richey Marc Linderman Emmett J. Ientilucci Thomas Schnell William Julstrom Jarret McElrath Will Meiners Jack Kelley Francis Mawanda NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration Sensors radiometric calibration fire detection wildfire nighttime fire activity flaming nighttime lights |
| title | NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration |
| title_full | NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration |
| title_fullStr | NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration |
| title_full_unstemmed | NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration |
| title_short | NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration |
| title_sort | nighthawk a low cost nighttime light wildfire observation platform and its radiometric calibration |
| topic | radiometric calibration fire detection wildfire nighttime fire activity flaming nighttime lights |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/7/2049 |
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