# A Novel Drone Design Based on a Reconfigurable Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Wildfire Management
## 6 PULSAR Applications in Forest and Wildfire Management
### System Requirements and Technical Specifications
Depending on the environment and use case, flying at lower altitudes may be important to capture detailed imagery of the forest floor and understory vegetation. As a result, the larger size of the ocotcopter configuration could be prohibitive in such scenarios. The co-axial configuration allows flexibility in flying the UAV with the joints facing outward, enhancing flight control, or with the joints inward, yielding a smaller drone profile. In tasks such as detection and tracking of elements, the quadcopter configuration excels as the selected choice. Equipped with RGB and thermal sensors, along with onboard processing capabilities, the quadcopter boasts a smaller footprint, facilitating navigation through challenging environments with greater ease than the other two configurations. Although all configurations are relatively easy to deploy, the design of the quadcopter, which necessitates fewer motors attached to the UAV, enables swifter deployment--a critical aspect when the detection of people, animals, vehicles, and hotspots is imperative. Furthermore, the extended flight time afforded by this configuration in respect to the co-axial configuration is vital for the detection and tracking of elements, thereby ensuring robust surveillance and monitoring capabilities. PULSAR can accommodate all selected payloads in all three configurations. However, the choice of configuration must also consider the environment's mission, as the UAV's \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c} \hline \hline
**Requirements** & **Description** \\ \hline Mission & Edge computing and cartographic product \\  & generation on the fly \\ Max diameter (joints facing outward) & 3 m \\ Max diameter (joints facing inward) & 2.35 m \\ Weight (no payload) & 23 kg \\ Maximum payload weight & 26 kg \\ Expected flight time & 24 min \\ Total motor thrust (100\%) & 98 kg \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 8: Co-axial quadcopter configuration—Technical specifications. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c} \hline \hline
**Requirements** & **Description** \\ \hline Mission & Detection and tracking of elements \\ Max diameter & 2.35 m \\ Weight (no payload) & 20 kg \\ Maximum payload weight & 12.5 kg \\ Expected flight time & 27.4 min \\ Total motor thrust (100\%) & 65 kg \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 9: Quadcopter Configuration—Technical specifications. versatility is rooted in its adaptability to various scenarios. For instance, with the same sensor attached, it can operate as a quadcopter in confined spaces or as an octocopter in windy conditions, providing redundancy for continued safety even in the event of motor failure. This adaptability is facilitated by all components being permanently mounted on the UAV, which, despite the configurations' similar weights, maximizes user-friendliness and allows users without technical expertise in UAVs to deploy any configuration easily. As the DJI M600 is a prevalent model in drone applications, its comparison with the PULSAR prototype is inevitable. The DJI M600 has a MTOW of 15.1 kg and can carry a maximum payload of 6 kg, featuring retractable gear for unobstructed camera movement. In contrast, the PULSAR prototype exhibits a larger MTOW, enabling it to carry payloads up to nearly 13 kg in the quadcopter configuration. Additionally, it has been designed for ease of use with a plug-and-play approach for payload integration and landing gear capable of accommodating substantial payloads for future applications, such as firefighting solutions, for example, through incorporating a water tank to address small outbreaks of fires. As described in Section 4.4, configuration firmware is automatically updated on the UAV without human intervention, aiming to minimize human error via the developed circuit board.