| Patent holder | Shanghai Medo Measurement and Control Science & Tech Co Ltd |
| Patent link | View patent |
| Category | Protection & compliance › Wildfire |
Array type fusion imaging monitoring system applied to forestry monitoring
A camera array system for early warning and monitoring in forestry is a network of strategically positioned optical cameras — which may include visible-spectrum, infrared, thermal, or multispectral sensors — deployed across a forest landscape to provide continuous or near-continuous surveillance for threats such as wildfire ignition, illegal logging, trespass, pest and disease outbreak, and wildlife activity. Unlike single-camera installations, an array approach provides overlapping fields of view, enabling stereoscopic depth estimation, cross-referenced anomaly detection, and resilience against individual sensor failure or obstruction. In wildfire early warning applications — the most mature and widely deployed use case in Australia — camera arrays are mounted on hilltops, fire towers, or communications infrastructure and connected via wireless networks to centralised monitoring stations where operators or AI-based image analysis systems scan feeds in real time for smoke signatures. ALERTWildfire, PanoramaWildfire, and the South Australian Country Fire Service's camera network represent examples of this approach in operation. Machine learning models, particularly convolutional neural networks trained on large datasets of smoke and fire imagery, are increasingly performing the initial screening task and alerting human operators only when a positive detection threshold is reached, dramatically extending the effective monitoring coverage per operator. Beyond fire detection, camera arrays are being trialled in Australian forestry for automated fauna monitoring to detect koalas, gliders, and other hollow-dependent species during pre-harvest surveys, and for monitoring coupe boundaries and haul road access points for biosecurity and compliance purposes. Integration with weather station data and satellite hotspot detection systems gives camera arrays a complementary role within multi-sensor forest monitoring frameworks, improving response times and reducing the area of forest that must be patrolled physically.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Shanghai Medo Measurement and Control Science & Tech Co Ltd |
| Type | Patent |
| Year | 28/7/23 |
| Status | active |
| FWPA RD&E | 7.3 |
| Inventors | Jiang Leizi, Ma Ke, Lyu Hui, Xia Xingbing, Wu Zhang, Yang Qifan |
| Patent No. | CN 219592477 U |