A fuzzy logic approach to fire detection in aircraft dry bays and engine compartments

In this paper, a fuzzy logic approach is applied to detect hydrocarbon fires in aircraft dry bays and engine compartments. The inputs to the fuzzy system consist of a set of statistical measures derived from the histogram and image subtraction analyses of successive image frames. Specifically, fuzzy rules based on the median, standard deviation, and normalized first-order moment statistical measures of histogram data and the mean statistical measure of image subtraction data of successive frames are used to compute the probability of a fire event. This fuzzy logic approach is also tested for false alarms such as those due to flashlights and high-power halogen lights. It is shown that image subtraction analysis can be used to accurately distinguish fires from false alarms.