Automating the Wildfire Detection and Scheduling Pipeline with Maneuverable Earth Observation Satellites

What is it about?

Earth observation satellites in low Earth orbit are crucial for detecting and monitoring wildfires. Over time, developments have been made to improve detection methods and satellite scheduling problems, thereby more effectively locating active wildfires and obtaining data on scheduled targets. However, these developments are fragmented efforts that neglect the integration of detection and scheduling within the Earth observation pipeline. This paper bridges the gap between these efforts by developing a framework that autonomously detects wildfires in satellite imagery and subsequently schedules a constellation of maneuverable satellites. Computational experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework when applied to real-world wildfire data, including various modular implementations within the developed framework.

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