Two Cal Poly professors have patented software that aims to detect wildfires early to stop the spread. The team created an algorithm that detects heat near power lines.
Majid Poshtan teaches electrical engineering at Cal Poly and helped design it.
“We didn't build any sensor. What we did was we made the existing sensor smarter,” Poshtan said.
Power lines have sensors that measure whether a line is sagging, which indicates if it’s been exposed to heat from the sun. The algorithm expands the sensor's capability to distinguish between types of heat and the direction and size.
It sends a report of the nearby conditions every 20 seconds to someone monitoring the system. If anything looks out of place, the operator can then alert authorities.
Computer Science Professor Joseph Callenes-Sloan is the other half of the team.
He said that they wanted to find a way to help after seeing devastating wildfires in California.
“We just felt like perhaps there was something that we could add to this from our technical backgrounds,” Callenes-Sloan said.
The professors hope utility companies will integrate their algorithm into existing technology.
