On the latest edition of the Talking With the Experts podcast, host Mike Nichols and special co-host Keith Lombard of AEM welcome Deborah Deininger, Chief Revenue Officer at N5 Sensors. Deborah brings more than 30 years of environmental sensing experience to the table, and recently, she and N5 have been focused on wildfire smoke detection. She and Keith explore how innovative air quality, weather, and fuel monitoring are coming together with other new tools like visual AI to improve fire detection and risk awareness.
You can watch their conversation below to get the full story:
Here’s a timestamped breakdown of the topics Mike, Deborah, and Keith covered throughout their conversation:
- 2:39 - Keith explores various AI wildfire detection tools that are currently available or in development, including cameras that use visual AI to "see" smoke and thermal sensors that detect heat. Deborah explains the limitations of that technology, specifically the fact that fog or low clouds can cause false alarms.
- 4:18 - Deborah describes how N5 developed N5SHIELD™, an AI-powered sensor to "smell" smoke and why it was inspired by a dog's nose.
- 5:57- Mike and Keith break down the concept of Multi-Source Ignition Detection (MSID), explaining why more data sources translate to better leadership around potential ignitions and how it works in AEM Elements® 360.
- 8:00 - Deborah defines "AI fusion" and explores how N5 combines data from their own sensors and AEM networks to create a fused dataset, building the most accurate possible picture of a potential wildfire for AI to assess.
- 9:49 - Keith explains the importance that fuel availability and conditions play in a wildfire and describes how the AEM team provides fire leaders with new fuel data every 10 days to keep their models as accurate as possible.
- 11:15 - Mike asks Keith and Deborah to provide their final thoughts on where they see AI-powered wildfire detection and response going in the near future. Keith talks about how fire teams will be able to move from a reactive approach towards a proactive one, and Deborah expresses gratitude that these evolving tools should make life easier and safer for fire professionals.
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