Web Sightings – SigniFire sees flames, prompts immediate action

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Baltimore-based Axonx has introduced a new security technology that recognizes flames and immediately notifies authorities of a potential disaster.

SigniFire utilizes existing Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) that many organizations already possess to spot and identify small flames.The recent wildfires in the Western United States may have been identified earlier, if ranger stations with high-powered cameras had been surveying the wilderness.The U.S. Navy recently tested the SigniFire system and judged it to be the best available flame recognition system in the world.The Navy tested the application for use on ships, but applications could be as varying as factories, high-rise buildings, forests and other areas where video cameras could be employed to identify flames earlier than human surveillance would allow.‘Machine vision’The ability for computers to spot objects is generally referred to as “machine vision.”Machine vision has been a viable technology for identifying objects that have fixed boundaries, such as a car, a coffee cup or even a human face.Flames have traditionally presented problems for machine vision due to their constantly changing boundaries and shapes.Other flame recognition solutions exist, but frequently trigger false alarms by identifying sunlight or fans as flames.SigniFire’s artificial intelligence can actually determine these differences by using a patented method for digitally processing video images.The result of this processing is a transformed image with only two colors: red and blue.The flames produce well-defined patterns on a video image.Then, standard pattern recognition techniques are applied to these images to make final identification and assessment, thereby eliminating many “false positives.”Applications limitlessCommercial and governmental applications for SigniFire are virtually limitless.But, as is generally the case with new technologies, they become part of our personal lives.In the future, SigniFire’s technology could also be incorporated into a home’s surveillance and alarm system for protection of our homes.For more information on SigniFire, please visit www.axonx.com.

Larry Fiorino is founder and chief executive of G1440, a Baltimore-based e-solutions firm. His column, Web Sightings, appears in this space every week. He can be reached at 410-843-3800.