Features & Benefits
| Response Time Fires don't grow in an orderly linear fashion, but exponentially, like a virus. Minutes matter. The time taken to locate a forest fire can mean the difference between being able to fight it successfully and it raging out of control. The ForestWatch system gives firefighting crews those vital few minutes head start. |
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| Accuracy ForestWatch can pinpoint a fire to within an area of a few dozen square metres and map that position onto a 3D grid with GPS co-ordinates. The number of false alarms is reduced by taking into account pre-existing sources such as dust clouds from dirt roads or licensed fires. In other words the software can be programmed to "learn" from experience. In addition, overlaying a landscape map can quickly determine the landowner(s) involved and establish responsibility for a fire event. The system is also a crucial tool for firefighters battling a forest fire since it allows them to dynamically track the progress of the blaze night or day, thus enabling them to adjust their tactics. ForestWatch software not only locates a fire quickly and accurately, but also gives firefighters a chance to control and extinguish it. Cost Savings Cameras are cheaper to install than new lookout towers - they can either be installed on existing infrastructure (eg. telecommunications towers) or mounted on a simple low-cost rising above the forest canopy. Since they only need to support a few kilos of weight as opposed to hundreds of kilos required for watch towers, these masts are significantly cheaper to build and maintain. In the control centre, a single operator can monitor up to 8 cameras simultaneously - the equivalent 8 lookout towers operating 24 hours a day would require a team of 24 fire detection staff (3 per lookout on 8 hour shifts). Our systems will save you money while increasing the efficiency of your operation. Night Detection ForestWatch continues to work through the night by detecting new light sources and analysing images in the near infra red spectrum. Areas of interest are superimposed onto a daylight image and a 3D positioning map assists the operator's situational awareness so that he locates any detected events. Coverage Automated cameras can be installed in locations where, owing to difficult terrain or dangerous access, a human lookout tower cannot be erected. The system can detect fires up to a maximum of 50km away. Usually the range enabled though is 20km. ForestWatch protects areas other systems can't reach. Dynamic Firefighting Live images generated by the system can greatly assist the fire authorities in "dynamic firefighting", ie. adjusting control and containment tactics in real time. This confers immense benefits on the command and control aspects of the firefighting operation. The software monitors the development of fires, giving crucial information as to where the flames are heading. The system also gathers vital weather information (temperature, wind direction and speed, etc) that helps to predict the direction of the fire. Real-time images from ForestWatch can be used to fight fires on the spot. Other Uses Video images of incidents are stored for use as evidence in litigation or in criminal proceedings against arsonists, as well as being primary data for authorities analysing the causes of the fire. Data gathered by our system can be used to prosecute arsonists. |
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