Lockheed Martin Aerial Wildfire Containment Software

Objective: With wildfires a more frequent and deadly occurrence - both in the US and globally - the development of aerial firefighting assets and tactics has become more pressing. Working with Lockheed Martin, we developed a software framework to allow for the modeling of a wildfire, and the subsequent tactical response involving the deployment and operation of aerial tankers. Through modeling, simulation, and analysis, the project demonstrated the benefit of the LM-100J FireHerc aerial tanker and its unique operational capabilities. This was modeled and validated across a range of real-world scenarios, including mixtures of different aerial assets, geographical location, terrain type, wind, and tanker mission parameters. This was validated against historical wildfires recreated using satellite imagery and flight data.

Contribution: I was brought onto the team specifically to leverage the ATLAS modeling platform previously developed with colleagues for the modeling & simulation of humanitarian aid logistical missions; this underlying agent-based modeling framework provided an excellent basis for an aerial firefighting simulation. I successfully adapted and integrated the models, and led junior graduate students in further development of the platform. In specific, I:

• Led development of the logistics simulation and associated software environment; integrated both aerial asset modeling and wildfire simulations

• Individually developed a graphical user interface to allow user interaction with the integrated software platform

• Worked closely with the sponsor to provide analysis and validation of the FireHerc performance with respect to industry competitors

• Worked with subject matter experts across a range of agencies to obtain key stakeholder insight, and provided recommendations for potential market expansion

• Utilized flight data and satellite imagery to recreate historical scenarios for simulation and analysis

• Delivered to the sponsor a comprehensive software package simulating user-configured scenarios, and providing graphical tools for analysis and live wildfire simulation display

Skills:

• Python software development

• Modeling & simulation of real-world phenomena

• Software platform integration

• GUI development

• Github management

• Leadership 

Takeaways: This project was an opportunity to take the skills and expertise I had developed over existing projects and apply them in a different context, with differing project requirements and stakeholders. By integrating a software platform I had previously developed with the Flammap wildfire modeling tool, I gained key experience in interfacing software platforms to provide a new capability to an industry sponsor.