A vision-based monitoring system for very early automatic detection of forest fires

Abstract

This paper describes a system capable of detecting smoke at the very beginning of a forest fire with a precise spatial resolution. The system is based on a wireless vision sensor network. Each sensor monitors a small area of vegetation by running on-site a tailored vision algorithm to detect the presence of smoke. This algorithm examines chromaticity changes and spatio-temporal patterns in the scene that are characteristic of the smoke dynamics at early stages of propagation. Processing takes place at the sensor nodes and, if that is the case, an alarm signal is transmitted through the network along with a reference to the location of the triggered zone -without requiring complex GIS systems. This method improves the spatial resolution on the surveilled area and reduces the rate of false alarms. An energy efficient implementation of the sensor/processor devices is crucial as it determines the autonomy of the network nodes. At this point, we have developed an ad hoc vision algorithm, adapted to the nature of the problem, to be integrated into a single-chip sensor/processor. As a first step to validate the feasibility of the system, we applied the algorithm to smoke sequences recorded with commercial cameras at real-world scenarios that simulate the working conditions of the network nodes. The results obtained point to a very high reliability and robustness in the detection process.

SIRIO: an integrated forest fire monitoring, detection and decision support system - performance and results of the installation in Sanremo (Italy)

“…SIRIO optimizes technological, logistic and human resources in wildfires fight assuring high performances and maximum flexibility thanks to its modular architecture based on independent operative modules and on an embedded vegetation and using different sensors to reduce or Berni et al [5] proposed, tailored for our case study in large scale monitoring of SIRIO system architecture.…”

Wi-FLIP: A wireless smart camera based on a focal-plane low-power image processor

“…Finally, we have implemented in Wi-FLIP a vision algorithm intended to detect smoke in early stages of a forest fire [14], [15]. This algorithm tries to segment candidate regions to contain smoke which are subsequently analyzed in terms of their propagation speed, clustering ratio and growth rate.…”

SIRIO high performance decision support system for wildfire fighting in alpine regions: an integrated system for risk forecasting and monitoring

“…In order to detect the sudden irruption of smoke in the images, the system performs a two-step analysis on images. According to [9], the Blue (B) component of the RGB matrix has greater sensitivity to the changes generated by smoke in areas in which vegetation is predominant. The static block detects sudden increases in the B component with respect to a reference image.…”