Heat detectors

United Kingdom – Video smoke detection (VSD) is expected to achieve higher growth rates in the coming years as it gains the support of the firefighting sector. IMS Research predicts that the global VSD market will be worth $36 million by 2011, enjoying a CAGR of 38.8 percent.

VSD is an emerging technology that uses video surveillance to detect very early signs of fire before it causes major damage. Unlike traditional point-based detectors, VSD does not rely on the proximity of smoke to the detector. Using advanced image recognition and processing software, VSD identifies distinctive characteristics of smoke and flame patterns, and differentiates between smoke, dust and haze.

Until recently, the largely conservative fire sector has been lukewarm to VSD. Previously, VSD technologies were mostly server-based. Today, however, fire detection software is embedded into front-end devices such as network cameras, while newer systems integrate flame detection.