Axis Communications and software engineers, EYEFi, have collaborated on a solution to protect Melbourne Water from bushfires and lightning strikes.
Axis Communications provided the project with thermal sensors and high-precision visual spectrum cameras, enabling the geo-targeting of smoke plumes and lightning activity using EYEfi’s SPARC technology. This allows the solution to accurately detect lightning strikes as well as pinpointing geographic location of a fire to within 75 metres of the incident and over long distances.
The solution allows firefighting personnel to maintain 24/7 surveillance on a determined area without the need for staff to constantly man watch towers, and provides continuous reports and updates in real-time. EYEfi also plans to release a fully autonomous software update later in 2021 that will provide real-time AI capabilities, negating the need for firefighters to maintain live 24/7 surveillance positions and at times of high fire danger, instead providing updates and reporting digitally.
The AXIS Q8742-LE bi-spectral visual/thermal camera provides high-resolution imagery in all lighting conditions, from darkness to bright sunlight. With PTZ functionality, users at Melbourne Water are able to hone-in on areas of interest, detecting and geo-targeting potential trouble spots before they get out of control.
“This is a very smart deployment, and one which demonstrates the many and varied uses of video technology in the wider community,” said Wai King Wong, of Axis Communications. “There is so much scope these days for connected video and audio to be integrated with features such as geo-mapping and analytics, and people are only limited by their imagination or knowledge of what is possible. A system like this for example can save lives and critical infrastructure, while making life easier and more efficient for those involved.
“The EYEFi Spatial Video Platform, coupled with SPARC technology, is capable of geo-pointing and reverse geo-pointing, allowing users to pinpoint a specific area and geo-coordinates on a virtual map, and have the Axis cameras provide clear images in real time. The high specification visual spectrum cameras and thermal sensors with lightning detection enable bushfire teams to quickly locate a fire or thermal heat anomaly over a wide area without the need for other frames of reference or triangulation.
EYEfi’s Simon Langdon said the team had been working closely with Axis for several years.
“The combination of Axis camera technology with EYEfi’s spatial video smarts and cloud software, provides our customers with entirely new situational awareness and intelligence gathering capabilities,” Langdon said.
Melbourne Water Corporation are a statutory authority responsible for the management of Victoria’s largest and most critical water catchment and is responsibe for bushfire planning, management and the identification of bushfires in and around the water catchment area. This is performed by staffing a network of bushfire towers, an operation which has now been successfully trialled using the EYEFi SPARC solution and Axis cameras.
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