2023-11-05 05:15:00
The progressive arrival of broadband to the rural world can not only bring opportunities for economic development and repopulation – for example, with the recruitment of teleworkers or with the modernization of agricultural and livestock systems – but the technology associated with these improvements in connectivity They also offer the possibility of fighting the great enemy of those territories: fire. A natural or intentional calamity that, unfortunately, Asturias suffers with periodic virulence. Precisely, the Asturian operator Telecable – integrated into the MásMóvil Group and dedicated to internet, telephone, mobile and television services – is testing a system based on artificial intelligence to detect as quickly as possible any sign of fire and quickly send the information to the emergency services.
The project, carried out in cooperation with the technology company Vision Analytics, consists of placing video cameras on telecommunications towers erected at the top of a mountain, normally in areas with a high risk of suffering fires. These cameras are rotating and have a field of view of several kilometers around. The system has an artificial intelligence program (technically called “inference engine”) that tracks images of fire and smoke and, if a focus is detected, calibrates its danger. The information travels ipsofacto to a company data processing center, where the program analyzes the situation which, in turn, is automatically forwarded to the local authorities competent in fire prevention.
It would be an autonomous tool, without human supervision. But can this artificial intelligence system discern when a column of smoke comes from a fire or the chimney of a house? “That’s where the training of the program comes into play, which is exactly what we are working on right now,” explains José Jiménez Mateos, director of innovation at MásMóvil. “The engine does not limit itself to collecting images, but crosses them with the meteorological data of that time and place. In this way, if it is an area where it is raining and there is 5 degrees of temperature, it is quite likely that it is a chimney. On the other hand, if it is summer and it is 35 degrees, there is wind and the humidity is very low, everything indicates that it could be a fire,” explains Jiménez.
The goal is to get as close as possible to the reality of what is happening on the ground. It would not be about the authorities acting solely based on the data sent by the program, but rather it would be “a support tool,” says Jiménez. In fact, the municipalities responsible for the affected areas would have direct access to the information captured by the cameras.
At the moment, the project is in the testing phase, with controlled fire tests being carried out in Peguerinos (Ávila) and Graus (Huesca), in cooperation with Firefighters and Civil Protection. During this year the company tried to secure agreements with other municipalities, but the electoral calendar made it difficult. In any case, the forecast is that the system will be ready for the months of May or June and, from there, begin conversations with regional or local administrations to propose its incorporation.
“One of the advantages is the low cost of the devices. In the past, the cameras used to make these detections were infrared, that is, they located heat sources. And they were more expensive. The current ones work with natural vision, which It greatly reduces the cost and allows more sensors to be placed,” says the expert.
Isn’t it somewhat shocking that an internet and telephone company is working to fight the fire? “No, there is no need to be surprised,” responds the head of innovation. “As an operator that is investing in 5G, we are also looking at how to monetize that technology. For example, we are also working on telecare and vehicle emissions control projects,” he adds.
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