Eye-safe lidar measurements for detection and investigation of forest-fire smoke

Andrei B. Utkin; Armando Fernandes; Alexander Lavrov; Rui Vilar

doi:10.1071/WF04009

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Previous Next Contents Vol 13(4)

Eye-safe lidar measurements for detection and investigation of forest-fire smoke

Andrei B. Utkin ^A ^B , Armando Fernandes ^C , Alexander Lavrov ^A ^D and Rui Vilar ^C ^E

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A INOV–Inesc Inovação, Rua Alves Redol 9, Lisbon 1000-029, Portugal.

^B Telephone: +351 213 100 426; fax: +351 213 100 401; email: andrei.utkin@inov.pt

^C Departamento de Engenharia de Materiais, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, Lisbon 1049-001, Portugal.

^D On leave from: Russian Science Center ‘Applied Chemistry’, pr. Dobrolubova 14, St Petersburg 197 198, Russia.

^E Corresponding author. Telephone: +351 218 418 120; fax: +351 218 418 121; email: rui.vilar@ist.utl.pt

International Journal of Wildland Fire 13(4) 401-412 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF04009
Submitted: 9 February 2004 Accepted: 21 September 2004 Published: 15 December 2004

Abstract

The problem of eye safety in lidar-assisted wildland fire detection and investigation is considered as a problem of reduction of the hazard range within which the laser beam is dangerous for direct eye exposure. The dependence of this hazard range on the lidar characteristics is examined and possible eye-safety measures discussed. The potential of one of the cheapest ways of providing eye safety, which is based on placing the lidar in an elevated position and using a 1064-nm laser beam with increased divergence, is also investigated experimentally. It is demonstrated that a lidar system operating with wider beams maintains its ability to detect smoke plumes efficiently. Providing eye-safe conditions allows scanning of the internal 3D structure of smoke plumes in the vicinity of fire plots. Examples are given as layer-by-layer smoke concentration plots on the topographic map.

Additional keywords: Gestosa; remote sensing.

References

Andreucci F , Arbolino MV (1993) A study on forest fire automatic detection systems. 2. Smoke plume detection performance. Nuovo Cimento 16C, 51–65.
ANSI (1993) ‘American National Standard for the Safe Use of Lasers: ANSI Z-136.1.’ Table 5, Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) for Ocular Exposure. (American National Standards Institute, Laser Institute of America: Orlando)

Barducci A, Guzzi D, Marcoionni P , Pippi I (2002) Infrared detection of active fires and burnt areas: theory and observations. Infrared Physics and Technology 43, 119–125.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Brown de Colstoun F, Chambaret JP, Chambaret Y, Saige VAG, Moscovici J-CM (1990) Station for detecting and locating through laser beams an object or a substance likely to diffuse back at least one part of the incident laser ray and system for sensing a substance such as smoke in particular of a fire such as a forest fire. United States Patent n. US4893026 of 9 January 1990.

Carnuth W , Reiter R (1986) Cloud extinction profile measurements by lidar using Klett’s inversion method. Applied Optics 25, 2899–2907.
Duck TJ, Sipler DP, Salah JE, Meriwether JW (2001) Monostatic lidar at f/200: a new instrument at Millstone Hill/MIT Haystack Observatory. In ‘Advances in laser remote sensing’. (Eds A Dabas, C Loth, J Pelon) pp. 73–76. (Ecole Polytechnique: Palaiseau Cedex, France). [A schematic depicting the layout of lidar’s optical and electronic components is available at http://aolab.phys.dal.ca/~tomduck/mitlidar] [Verified 23 November 2004]

Eberhard WL (1983) Eye-safe tracking of oil fog plumes by UV lidar. Applied Optics 22, 2282–2285.
Eloranta EW, Ponsardin P (2001) ‘A high spectral resolution lidar designed for unattended operation in the Arctic.’ Abstracts of Optical Society of America topical meeting on Optical Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere, 5–8 February 2001, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Available at http://lidar.ssec.wisc.edu/papers/conferences/osa_arctic_2001.pdf [Verified 23 November 2004]

Ezcurra E, Bénech B, Dinh PV , Lesne JL (1985) Investigation of a 1000 MW smoke plume by means of a 1.064 mm lidar. I. Lidar calibration procedure from in situ aerosol measurements and vertical laser shorts. Atmospheric Environment 19, 1125–1133.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Laseroptronix (2003) ‘LaserAce 1000.’ (Laseroptronix: Valentuna, Sweden). Available at http://www.laseroptronix.com/dispu/LaserAce10001.pdf [Verified 23 November 2004]

Lavrov A , Vilar R (1999) Application of lidar at 1.54 micron for forest fire detection. Proceedings of SPIE 3868, 473–477.

| Crossref | Measures MR (1984) ‘Laser remote sensing.’ (Wiley: New York)

Moorgawa A, Michaelis MM, Diab RD, Anderson J , Kuppen M. (2000) The Durban atmospheric LIDAR program. Proceedings of SPIE 4065, 324–337.

| Crossref | Patten M (1995) ‘More than meets the eye: Problems with laser light shows.’ ASRS Directline 7, 1. Available at http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/directline_issues/dl7_laser.htm [Verified 23 November 2004]

Patterson EM, Roberts DW , Gimmestad GG (1989) Initial measurements using a 1.54-mm eyesafe Raman shifter lidar. Applied Optics 28, 4978–4981.
Q-Peak (1998) ‘High-energy, eyesafe lidar for long-range, high-resolution aerosol detection.’ Final report on NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, Contract NAS1–20476 (Q-Peak Inc.: Bedford, MA). Available at http://www.qpeak.com/Compsbir/B1897elid.htm [Verified 23 November 2004]

Rauste Y, Herland E, Frelander H, Soini K, Kuoremaki T , Ruokari R (1997) Satellite-based forest fire detection for fire control in boreal forests. International Journal of Remote Sensing 18, 2641–2656.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Ready JF (1997) Properties of laser light. In ‘Industrial applications of lasers’. 2nd edn. pp. 31–63. (Academic Press: San Diego)

Riaño D, Meier E, Allgöwer B, Chuvieco E (2002) Generation of vegetation height, vegetation cover and crown bulk density from airborne laser scanning data. In ‘Forest fire research & wildland fire safety: Proceedings of the IV International Conference on Forest Fire Research, Luso, Portugal’. (Ed. DX Viegas) p. 122. (Millpress: Rotterdam)

Saito Y, Saito R, Kawahara TD, Nomura A , Takeda S (2000) Development and performance characteristics of laser-induced fluorescence imaging lidar for forestry applications. Forest Ecology and Management 128, 129–137.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Spinhirne JD (1993) Micro pulse laser radar. United States Patent n. US5241315 of 31 August 1993.

Stith LS, Radke LF , Hobbs PV (1981) Particle emission and the production of ozone and nitrogen oxides from the burning of forest slash. Atmospheric Environment 15, 73–82.
Toposys (2003) ‘TopoSys GmbH – Used lidar sensor system Falcon I and Falcon II.’ (Toposys–Topographische Systemdaten GmbH: Ravensburg, Germany). Available at http://www.toposys.de/topsys-de/unternehmen/images/aktuellespdf/PressReleaseUsedFalcon-EN.pdf [Verified 23 November 2004]

Utkin AB, Lavrov AV, Costa L, Simões F , Vilar R (2002a) Detection of small forest fires by lidar. Applied Physics. B, Lasers and Optics 74, 77–83.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Utkin AB, Fernandes A, Simões F, Vilar R, Lavrov A (2002b) Forest-fire detection by means of lidar. In ‘Forest fire research and wildland fire safety: Proceedings of the IV International Conference on Forest Fire Research, Luso, Portugal’. (Ed. DX Viegas) p. 58. (Millpress: Rotterdam)

Utkin AB, Fernandes A, Simões F, Lavrov A , Vilar R (2003) Feasibility of forest-fire smoke detection using lidar. International Journal of Wildland Fire 12, 159–166.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Viegas DX, Cruz MG, Ribeiro LM, Silva AJ, Ollero A, et al. (2002) Gestosa fire spread experiments. In ‘Forest fire research and wildland fire safety: Proceedings of the IV International Conference on Forest Fire Research, Luso, Portugal’. (Ed. DX Viegas) p. 121. (Millpress: Rotterdam)

Vilar R , Lavrov A (2000) Estimation of required parameters for detection of small smoke plumes by lidar at 1.54 mm. Applied Physics. B, Lasers and Optics 71, 225–228.
Watanabe W, Kuroda D, Itoh K, Nishii J (2003) Fabrication of Fresnel zone plate embedded in silica glass by femtosecond laser pulses. Optics Express 10, 978–983. Available at http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-10-19-978 [Verified 23 November 2004]

Wei H, Koga R, Iokibe K, Wada O , Toyota Y (2001) Stable inversion method for a polarized-lidar: analysis and simulation. Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and Image Science 18, 392–398.

Wiscombe WJ (1980) Improved Mie scattering algorithms. Applied Optics 19, 1505–1509.

Eye-safe lidar measurements for detection and investigation of forest-fire smoke

Abstract

Subscriber Login