Sensing danger

Intelligent sensors can also be used to respond to emergency situations.

Cameron McKenna, Managing Director of Attentis, gave evidence of how the firm’s smart sensors can monitor fire, flood, noise, vibration, ground movement and air composition to enable rapid investigation, allowing for responses that take into account live conditions.

“Located on 8.5-metre-high poles throughout a region, the individual sensors operate autonomously, as well as forming an integrated real-time, high-speed data network to maintain continuous 24-hour situational awareness through the area,” McKenna explained to create.

He said that outside of both natural and man-made emergency management, the firm’s technology also has applications in powerline infrastructure, mining, demolition and environmental monitoring.

The Attenis dashboard.

“The networks are designed to be located in high-risk locations and service a complete range of emergency management, local industry and general public needs year-round, not only during fire and flood season,” he said.

“It reveals and notifies of fine scale changes and analysis to predict and detect an event, providing the key platform for the prevention and impact reduction of future events.”

The technology was recently put to the test across a 1470-square-kilometre area in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, where it combined bushfire ignition detection with river and stream level monitoring, air quality tracking and 24-hour microclimate weather conditions to provide early notification of fires, floods and air quality issues, such as storm asthma that could impact the lives of residents. 

McKenna said it cost $1.7 million to install the technology over a four month period involving 44 individual locations.

Smarter data

Managing Director of emergency and event management software company Red Helmet Technology Tarron Newman presented his firm’s range of tools for smarter emergency data to the Royal Commission.

“Our systems are built on cloud-based technology and our suite of products are an evolving suite of tools,” he told create

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