The FORFIRE project has been developing an outdoor fire detection system by using an innovative solar blind camera only sensitive to the VUV (140 to 240 nm) part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The advantage of this approach is that on Earth, only fire flames emit in this spectral range, avoiding potential cross interferences from other wave sources (including the sun).
This new camera will be based on the technology of the Micromegas detector coupled with a CsI photocathode and a CCD camera with or without appropriated filters.
Developing this new sensor together with a very effective algorithm for pattern recognition will provide to this fire detection system the capability of early fire detection with a very low rate of false alarm (0.1%) and accurate localization, considerably enhancing current state-of-the-art.