A burning issue for cultural heritage
Funded under the Environment theme of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, the FIRESENSE project concentrated on the benefits of advanced multi-sensor surveillance technologies for monitoring sites of interest. Tasked with realising an extensive list of scientific and technical objectives, partners worked to produce a system integrating various sensors and cameras. Signals and measurements collected from the sensors are transmitted to a control centre. With other technological support, this centre analyzes and combines incoming information. The control centre allows for site inspection and the provision of statistical data on user demand. It is also capable of generating automatic warning signals for smoke/flame detection, abrupt rises in temperature and extreme weather conditions. Furthermore, it estimates the propagation of the fire, local weather conditions and ground morphology. The estimated fire propagation can be visualised on a Google Earth–based 3D interface. Project work included identifying requirements and system specification, carrying out field tests, and collecting data relevant to fire/smoke detection and weather. Partners were involved in the development of software platforms for fire/smoke detection and for a wireless sensor network (WSN). This WSN is used to monitor environmental parameters, and together with a wireless data network (WDN) for video surveillance, can be used for detecting fire. The effectiveness and performance of the WSN and the WDN were tested through extensive laboratory and field tests with real experimental fires. FIRESENSE installed their system and demonstrated it at five cultural heritage sites in Greece, Italy, Tunisia and Turkey (Antalya and Istanbul). Assessment was first carried out by partners in laboratory and field tests, and then by system users who subsequently provided feedback. Partners also studied a system user group, in order to test user-friendliness and the control centre user interface. Positive feedback highlighted ease of use, clear functionalities and a satisfactory interface. Project results were presented at international conferences and have been published in scientific journals. FIRESENSE outcomes and technological innovations not only demonstrate strong potential for the proposed system; they also represent a cost-efficient approach boasting high reliability and the effective protection of valuable cultural heritage sites.
