Vision-based targeting system for automatic fire fighting: concept and evaluation

Today, the type admission tests of portable fire extinguishers largely depend on the abilities of the human firefighter. Hence, the automation of this suppression test is desirable to increase objectivity and repeatability due to independence of human factors. Because of the limited amount of suppression agent in a portable fire extinguisher, an efficient suppression technique is required. To enable the focused application of the suppression agent, an automated targeting system is introduced. In order to find the suppression targets, a multi-modal camera system consisting of a color and an infrared camera is employed. The hose which sprays the suppression agent is aligned by two actuated axes to set pitch and yaw. Additionally, a procedure is presented to approximate the required settings for this system to hit the detected targets. The targeting system has been tested, demonstrating its ability to hit the desired target points with sufficient accuracy over the entire range of interest.