AI Camera Bushfire Detection Funding From Cisco.
AI camera bushfire detection – Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute has been awarded Cisco funding to develop AI software for early bushfire detection.
The initial stage of the project will involve collecting data during prescribed burns to visually train the AI to detect the composition of different fires.
The overall solution can incorporate relevant adjacent data including local temperature, soil moisture, air quality, weather sensors and low resolution images.
Once the software is developed, the research team, including Harry Butler Institute’s director of operations Andre deSouza, Dr David Murray and Professor Kevin Wong, hopes the AI model will be deployed within cameras Australia-wide and even globally.
AI Camera Bushfire Detection
Central to the solution is communications. The monitoring technique provides a wireless solution to observe environmental conditions in areas that lack reliable networks and could pave the way for remote detection of bushfires and other potentially damaging scenarios.
Andre deSouza said many remote locations in Western Australia and beyond lacked 3G and 4G internet coverage, posing a challenge for suitable communication solutions.
“We’ve been investigating a cost-effective wireless IoT solution known as LoRaWAN, that offers low power, long range, wide area network data sensor technology,” he said.
“The network also succeeds alternatives such as WiFi and Bluetooth, as it doesn’t require cellular network coverage, making it ideal to reach remote areas including national parks.”
According to deSouza, the project would help to facilitate rapid detection and response to bushfires particularly in regional and remote areas.
“Each year we see the devastating impact of bushfires or wildfires around the world, and we hope to reduce some of the impact through our solutions,” he said.
“We’re hoping to collect data that will allow us to build an AI model that can easily be deployed in cameras to detect smoke and fire at the edge.”
According to deSouza said edge detection was a key feature regionally, where data is costly and difficult to move.
“We’re really hoping that our solutions will be embedded amongst organisations responsible for fire management across WA, and, with investment and interest from a global player like Cisco, the world,” he said.
AI Camera Bushfire Detection
Dr Murray specialises in computer networks and systems, while Professor Wong works with both AI and virtual reality, making the team well-versed in the programs necessary to develop the software.
“Bushfires have had a massive impact on Australia, particularly wildife and our non-urban communities,” Dr Murray said.
“The ability to have year-round, all-hours automated systems to detect and trigger human responses to bushfires is of great importance.”
Meanwhile, Professor Wong said it was important to collect images for different stages of fire behaviour, as well as varying environmental conditions for both day and night in order for the AI model to be most effective.
“We are developing AI techniques to better learn and extract information from the digital images collected, so that effective alerts can be generated for the relevant department to respond promptly,” he said.
In 2023 the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) generated alerts to 137,159 fires across Australia. You can find out more about VIIRS here or read more SEN news here.
“AI Camera Bushfire Detection Funding From Cisco.”
