NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration

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

doi:10.3390/s25072049

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NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration

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NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration

Chase A. Fuller, Steve Tammes, Philip Kaaret, Jun Wang, Carlton H. Richey, Marc Linderman, Emmett J. Ientilucci, Thomas Schnell, William Julstrom, Jarret McElrath, …

Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), Vol.25(7), 2049

03/25/2025

DOI: 10.3390/s25072049

PMCID: PMC11990934

PMID: 40218562

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Abstract

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 × 10−6 W m−2 sr−1 nm−1 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.

radiometric calibration

fire detection

wildfire

nighttime fire activity

flaming

nighttime lights

multiband imaging

aircraft remote sensing

Details

Title: Subtitle: NightHawk: A Low-Cost, Nighttime Light Wildfire Observation Platform and Its Radiometric Calibration
Creators: Chase A. Fuller - University of Iowa
Steve Tammes - University of Iowa
Philip Kaaret - University of Iowa
Jun Wang - University of Iowa
Carlton H. Richey
Marc Linderman - University of Iowa, Geographical and Sustainability Sciences
Emmett J. Ientilucci - Rochester Institute of Technology
Thomas Schnell
William Julstrom - University of Iowa
Jarret McElrath - University of Iowa
Will Meiners
Jack Kelley - University of Iowa
Francis Mawanda - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), Vol.25(7), 2049
DOI: 10.3390/s25072049
PMID: 40218562
PMCID: PMC11990934
NLM abbreviation: Sensors (Basel)
ISSN: 1424-8220
eISSN: 1424-8220
Publisher: MDPI
Grant note: University of IowaPublic-Private Partnership (P3) program of the University of IowaNASA's Terra, Aqua: 80NNSC21L1976 SNPP program: 80NSSC21K1494 NASA's Modeling and Analysis Program
This study was supported in part by Public-Private Partnership (P3) program of the University of Iowa, the NASA's Terra, Aqua, and SNPP program (grant 80NNSC21L1976), and by NASA's Modeling and Analysis Program (MAP, grant 80NSSC21K1494).
Language: English
Date published: 03/25/2025
Academic Unit: Neurology; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Civil and Environmental Engineering; Occupational and Environmental Health; Iowa Technology Institute; Physics and Astronomy; Industrial and Systems Engineering; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering; Geographical and Sustainability Sciences; Mechanical Engineering
Record Identifier: 9984802503402771

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