Tomsk State University: TSU patents a system for early detection of wildfires

Tomsk State University scientists have received a patent for a system of early detection of forest, steppe, and peat fires that minimizes the effort and resources needed to search for them.

In addition, the TSU technology will be able to detect other natural fires in conjunction with other systems, significantly improving the accuracy of fire detection by eliminating of false signals.

The early fire detection system developed at TSU and the Institute of Atmospheric Optics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences is a set of base stations that analyze the state of the atmosphere for the content of some gases and aerosols characteristic of natural fires. The system also contains a module for recording wind data. All this makes it possible to determine, with the help of a mathematical apparatus, the location of the fire source. Then the processed data is sent to the Ministry of Emergency Situations at the desk of the duty officer, who is responsible for monitoring fires.

– The proposed system can be supplemented with satellite data from other ground-based devices. The system is flexible enough, and the patent does not specify exactly which sensors of which manufacturer should be used. That is, it is a framework complex system. We have created a general idea, based on which the development of technical solutions is possible, – notes Yegor Loboda.
The system was tested on model fires in the area of the base experimental complex of the Institute of Atmospheric Optics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Studies on the content and distribution of gases in the air have been conducted there for many years, and in the spring of this year, scientists began using sensors that register aerosols to study the spread of aerosols formed during model fires. So far, all the results have confirmed that the idea of the system works.