A survey on technologies for automatic forest fire monitoring, detection, and fighting using unmanned aerial vehicles and remote sensing techniques

TLDR

UAVs offer rapid maneuverability, extended range, and improved safety, making them promising for monitoring, detecting, and fighting forest fires—a capability that has grown over the past decade. This paper systematically reviews the current state of UAV‑based forest fire monitoring, detection, and suppression technologies. The authors survey UAV system architecture, key technologies such as fire detection, diagnosis, prognosis, image vibration suppression, and cooperative control, and discuss existing challenges and potential solutions.

Abstract

Because of their rapid maneuverability, extended operational range, and improved personnel safety, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with vision-based systems have great potential for monitoring, detecting, and fighting forest fires. Over the last decade, UAV-based forest fire fighting technology has shown increasing promise. This paper presents a systematic overview of current progress in this field. First, a brief review of the development and system architecture of UAV systems for forest fire monitoring, detection, and fighting is provided. Next, technologies related to UAV forest fire monitoring, detection, and fighting are briefly reviewed, including those associated with fire detection, diagnosis, and prognosis, image vibration elimination, and cooperative control of UAVs. The final section outlines existing challenges and potential solutions in the application of UAVs to forest firefighting.