Video Smoke Detection

Video smoke detection (VSD) has been around for several years now however it has yet to take off in the markets that 3S is involved in.  This could soon change as the price of the product is coming down while its ability to be integrated increases. 

The VSD system uses standard CCTV cameras (back and white, color, infrared, existing or new) linked to a self contained processing system which is capable of recognizing small amounts of smoke and flame patterns within the video image and alerting the system operator both at the processor and by a variety of remote outputs. The VSD system executes highly complex algorithms to process video information from up to eight cameras simultaneously. Under normal conditions with all eight cameras connected, the system achieves a 5Hz-frame rate for each channel.

The VSD system detects smoke and flame rapidly by looking for small areas of change within the image at the digitization stage and only passing these pixel changes to the main processor for further filtering. The video information is passed through a series of filters that seek particular characteristics associated with smoke and flame behavior. Further analysis is then carried out on the relationships between the filtered characteristics to determine whether all the conditions have been met for the system to accurately predict the presence of smoke and/or flame. The video hardware is designed to allow simultaneous real time digitizing of all eight images, which means that the system does not multiplex images and therefore no information is lost or delayed. All alarm condition images are log time and date stamped, and stored within the system’s memory. The system installer has the ability to vary the amount of smoke signal, and the length of time that the smoke exists before an alarm condition is raised to allow for situations where there may be background smoke present. The installer may also divide the video image into  zones and program the system to alarm only if smoke and/or flame are present in two or more zones.

For even greater system performance, two camera images can be associated together so smoke and/or flame in one image is to be treated as a pre-alarm and smoke and/or flame in the second camera image triggers a full alarm. To compensate for areas of the image that could prove troublesome such as reflective surfaces or smoke producing processes, the installer or system user has the ability to eliminate or mask parts of the image from detection on an individual pixel-by-pixel basis. We can then take these alarms conditions into a standard industrial fire alarm panel and create the necessary outputs for shutdown and notification. 

If you would like to know more about how 3S can integrate VSD into your fire protection systems please contact our office.  812-656-8045