The aim of the FIRESENSE project is to develop and demonstrate an innovative and integrated early warning platform to remotely monitor areas of cultural interest from the risk of fire and extreme weather conditions.

The main objectives of the FIRESENSE project are summarized below:

• To identify user requirements for early warning services in case of fire or extreme weather conditions. This will be achieved through

• Analysis of state-of-the-art in providing innovative and integrated solutions for early warning services
  
• Survey among user organisations
• Promoting the participation of local authorities i.e., Municipalities, Forest Fire Suppression Services and citizens (i.e., groups of citizens, non-profit organisations / associations) in providing contributions to the identifications of requirements
• Identifying requirements for an early warning system to remotely monitor areas of archaeological interest from the risk of fire or extreme weather conditions

• To develop novel algorithms for detecting smoke and fire using different kinds of sensors

• Video-based smoke and fire detection using CCTV and PTZ cameras
• Infrared-based fire detection using IR cameras

• To design and assemble prototype meteorological stations

• Multisensor platform for collecting various meteorological data including air temperature, relevant humidity, barometric pressure, wind velocity, direction and rain gauge
• Special design that will ensure good operation under hard climate and environmental conditions
• Energy efficiency based on photovoltaic panels and long lasting batteries
• Transmission of meteorological data to a central database through GPRS

• To design novel Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) for detecting and monitoring forest fires near archaeological sites

• Provision of real time data from temperature and humidity sensors about the evolution of the fire and early detection of flood
• Design of cooperative wireless sensor networks taking  into consideration the limited computational capacity of the transmitters, the necessity of low transmission power, and the need for robustness against noise and interference
• Provision of guidelines on the deployment of the wireless sensor network
• Provision of the maintenance principles and test procedures for the network, communication protocols, routing algorithms, and network topology that maximizes the lifetime of the sensor nodes

• To develop a decision system for fire or flood events based on collection, correlation and fusion of data collected from multiple sensors

• Data fusion algorithms taking as input the results of fire/smoke detection and thermal data processing as well as  temperature, humidity and weather data
• Provision of different alarm levels for cases of rising temperature, detection of smoke or fire, prediction of extreme weather conditions, etc

• To develop a fire propagation estimation system

• Creation of fuel models based on detemining the fuel characteristics of vegetations types covering the regions of interest
• Creation of fire propagation models  integrating Digital Terrain Models (TDM), fuel models,  real-time weather data and information about the fire's ignition point
• Visualization of fire propagation data in a 3D GIS system

• To create  a user-friendly interface in the control centre that will provide various functionalities such as

• Video on demand from CCTV cameras
• Weather condition information
• Local maps of the supervised area along with the sensors’ locations
• Different levels of alarm
• Real-time data from the fire’s front
• 3D visualization of the fire’s propagation estimation

• To integrate and demonstrate the developed system at the following archaeological sites

• Thebes, Boeotia, Greece
• Dodge Hall, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
• Antalya, Turkey
• Temple of Water, Djebel Zaghouan, Tunisia
• Monteferrato Park, Prato, Italy

• To evaluate the developed system

• Assessment of the system's performance in terms of covering user requirements and expectations
• Laboratory testing of system functionalities in terms of technical and operational feasibility
• Evaluation of the proposed system in terms of technical performance, user acceptance and cost-effectiveness

• To disseminate and exploit the project results

• Contribute to the education of inhabitants in areas near the test sites with regards to the preservation of cultural site
• Effective dissemination of project information and results through the Internet, printed matter and dedicated workshops
• Develop a strategy for exploiting the FIRESENSE results beyond the life of the Project