From Pillars to AI Technology-Based Forest Fire Protection Systems

The importance of forest environment in the perspective of the biodiversity as well as from the economic resources which forests enclose, is more than evident. Any threat posed to this critical component of the environment should be identified and attacked through the use of the most efficient available technological means. Early warning and immediate response to a fire event are critical in avoiding great environmental damages. Fire risk assessment, reliable detection and localization of fire as well as motion planning, constitute the most vital ingredients of a fire protection system. In this chapter, we review the evolution of the forest fire protection systems and emphasize on open issues and the improvements that can be achieved using artificial intelligence technology. We start our tour from the pillars which were for a long time period, the only possible method to oversee the forest fires. Then, we will proceed to the exploration of early AI systems and will end-up with nowadays systems that might receive multimodal data from satellites, optical and thermal sensors, smart phones and UAVs and use techniques that cover the spectrum from early signal processing algorithms to latest deep learning-based ones to achieving the ultimate goal

A comparative study of the effect of varied reaction environments on a swirl stabilized flame geometry via optical measurements

The present work is a part of a larger experimental campaign which examines the behaviour of various fuels on a swirl stabilized flame burner configuration. Overall, detailed speciation measurements and temperature measurements were combined with optical measurements. The work presented here concerns the part of the experimental campaign which deals with the optical characteristics of the examined flames. The work adds to the growing database of experimental measurements assessing engine-relevant reaction environments which shift from traditional ones in order to meet pollutant emission regulations and efficiency standards. Here, the oxidation of several commonly used fuel and fuel surrogates that are subjected to the addition of a bio-derived fuel additive (dimethyl ether) and emulated exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is studied in a laboratory-scale swirl stabilized burner. The natural flame chemiluminescence has been exploited to selectively measure line of sight CH* and OH* profiles for combinations of these fuels and reaction environments. As a result, the geometry and intensity of the reaction and oxidation zones have been parametrically evaluated for a sizable number of initial conditions. From an analysis of the collected data, a chemical uniqueness in methane and propane flames has been found along with a change in flame topology as a function reactant temperature and dilution with inert gases, while the flames were virtually unaffected by all other variations in reaction conditions. This insensitivity provides confidence in the use of tailored in-cylinder fluid dynamic/chemical interactions to extend engine operating conditions to otherwise difficult regimes.The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement no 607214. All authors are additionally grateful to the SMARTCATS action.peer-reviewed2020-01-0

A comparative study of the effect of varied reaction environments on a swirl stabilized flame geometry via optical measurements

The present work is a part of a larger experimental campaign which examines the behaviour of various fuels on a swirl stabilized flame burner configuration. Overall, detailed speciation measurements and temperature measurements were combined with optical measurements. The work presented here concerns the part of the experimental campaign which deals with the optical characteristics of the examined flames. The work adds to the growing database of experimental measurements assessing engine-relevant reaction environments which shift from traditional ones in order to meet pollutant emission regulations and efficiency standards. Here, the oxidation of several commonly used fuel and fuel surrogates that are subjected to the addition of a bio-derived fuel additive (dimethyl ether) and emulated exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is studied in a laboratory-scale swirl stabilized burner. The natural flame chemiluminescence has been exploited to selectively measure line of sight CH* and OH* profiles for combinations of these fuels and reaction environments. As a result, the geometry and intensity of the reaction and oxidation zones have been parametrically evaluated for a sizable number of initial conditions. From an analysis of the collected data, a chemical uniqueness in methane and propane flames has been found along with a change in flame topology as a function reactant temperature and dilution with inert gases, while the flames were virtually unaffected by all other variations in reaction conditions. This insensitivity provides confidence in the use of tailored in-cylinder fluid dynamic/chemical interactions to extend engine operating conditions to otherwise difficult regimes.The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement no 607214. All authors are additionally grateful to the SMARTCATS action.2020-01-0