Forest Fire Detection Technology Breakthrough Announced By Intellirf Blue And Sensible Solutions

Intellirf Blue and its European Partner, Sensible Solutions of Sweden announce a breakthrough technology for forest fire alerts. The SenseHeat 2.0 system is ten to thirty times more powerful than Senseheat 1.0. It has a ten to thirty times improved return on investment.

Intellirf Blue, Washington, D.C., and its European partner, Sensible Solutions, Sweden, announce a breakthrough in forest fire detection technology for the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), areas of homebuilding in or near land prone to wildland fire. The new product, SenseHeat 2.0, realizes an estimated 95 percent reduction in equipment requirements and costs compared to SenseHeat 1.0, bringing total costs down from $20,000 to $1,000 per square mile. This significant achievement makes fire detection technology more affordable to government and large, private landowners. SenseHeat 2.0 has significantly greater range and ten to thirty times more power, depending on topography and vegetation, than what’s currently available to targeted users.

SenseHeat 2.0 is an integrated network of radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors, gateways and database servers. RFID sensors placed in a redundant configuration detect a nearby fire and transmit alarm messages to a gateway downrange.

Sensors and gateways have a maximum reading range exceeding three miles in open terrain. Gateways deliver the data to Internet servers where the data is displayed graphically by map-based software. The system is virtually self-perpetuating — battery life of SenseHeat 2.0 sensors is 10 years before replacement; gateway battery life is five years.

At $1,000 per square mile, hardware costs for the SenseHeat 2.0 sensor system are appreciably less than the market average for satellite technology of $1,500 to $5,000 per square mile.

Advanced warning systems for forest fires have been mostly limited to satellite technology. However, for most users and in most locations, satellite technology is neither an efficient nor affordable option. Some satellites produce sufficient resolutions to detect forest fires in tropical regions because at the equator the imaging angle is ideal and appears to be stationary over a specified area. However, satellites over areas north and south of the equator don’t have that advantage. Despite modern sensors and algorithms, today’s commercial satellite technology isn’t fast enough to capture sufficient high-resolution images over large areas to provide advance warning of a forest fire. Satellite systems also suffer from loss of sensitivity due to thick clouds and sometimes smoke from the fire itself.

“This is a revolutionary use of RFID technology as applied to forest fire detection warning systems,” said Eugene Costabile, president of Awarewolf Protection, and RFID Certified, the highest credential in the RFID industry.

“RFID is likely to become the preferred technology for Wildfire Urban Interface. I was greatly impressed with a demonstration for the Tasmania Farmers and Graziers Association, Australia,” he said. “SenseHeat 2.0 is the cutting edge of forest fire detection.”

Installation sites include but aren’t limited to national, state and private forests; health care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes near forests or woodlands; wildlife preserves; cattle and other grazing lands; and any homeowner properties residing in the Wildland Urban Interface.

About Intellirf Blue
Intellirf Blue is an innovative real time systems developer that delivers end-to-end RFID and Real Time Location Systems solutions through strategic partnerships with industry leaders. Intellirf participated with the U.S. Forest Service and the Los Angeles County Fire Department in a successful test burn (fire alert was issued in four seconds) using SenseHeat 1.0 in Castaic, a community in California’s Los Angeles County.

Sensible Solutions provides new products and concepts for large area environmental sensing based on wireless, RFID and printed sensors. Its sensors and systems are designed for detection of forest wildfires, water leakages, and humidity detection in building construction.