Hazard detection and mitigation system and method

1. A method for providing monitoring of hazardous materials, the method comprising:

collecting environmental data via one or more sensors directed at the hazardous materials source, the environmental data including one or more environmentally detectable reference points including:

collecting environmental data via the one or more sensors in a thermal sensor for sensing temperatures in the hazardous materials source, wherein the thermal sensor is configured to collect a frame of video and determine one or more temperatures of the one or more environmentally detectable reference points in a multiple-iteration tour of the hazardous materials source; and

applying a mask to enable the thermal sensor to collect thermal measurements of a predetermined area to enable each frame of video to detect a plurality of locations external to the hazardous materials source; and

comparing the environmental data to a set of current ambient conditions, the environmental data detectable in a reference frame by the one or more sensors directed at the hazardous materials source, the reference frame including at least one of the one or more environmentally detectable reference points;

performing an alert determination according to the comparison of the environmental data to the set of ambient conditions; and

transmitting the alert determination to an existing fault detection system for the hazardous material source to enable the existing fault detection system to override a status rating of the hazardous materials source.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of environmental data includes:

one or more of thermal metrics, optical metrics and radioactive metrics appropriate for the one or more environmentally detectable reference points.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein collecting environmental data via an image sensor directed at the hazardous materials source, the environmental data including one or more environmentally detectable reference points includes:

collecting environmental data via the one or more sensors for sensing temperatures in the hazardous materials source, including one or more of an operating refinery or chemical plant.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the comparing the environmental data to a set of current ambient conditions, the environmental data detectable in a reference frame by the one or more sensors directed at the hazardous materials source, the reference frame including at least one of the one or more environmentally detectable reference points includes:

processing incoming thermal and optical information from the one or more sensors in real time to detect thermal and/or flow anomalies in the hazardous materials source.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the collecting environmental data via the one or more sensors in a thermal sensor for sensing temperatures in the hazardous materials source, wherein the thermal sensor is configured to collect a frame of video and determine one or more temperatures of the one or more environmentally detectable reference points in a multiple-iteration tour of the hazardous materials source includes:

applying a mask to limit the collecting of video data for measurement to avoid background and noise temperature interference.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the applying a mask to limit the collecting of video data for measurement to avoid background and noise temperature interference includes:

selecting one or more of a most stable set of nine pixels of video data for measurement.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein collecting environmental data via one or more sensors directed at the hazardous materials source, the environmental data including one or more environmentally detectable reference points includes:

collecting a plurality of temperature measurements in a series of video frames in an image tour; and

building a model representative of a process associated with the hazardous materials source to enable a process control logic path unique to the hazardous materials source.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the comparing the environmental data to a set of ambient conditions detectable in a reference frame by the one or more sensors directed at the hazardous materials source, the reference frame including at least one of the one or more environmentally detectable reference points includes:

comparing the environmental data readings via a thermal imaging sensor to the set of ambient conditions by comparing a current thermal determination to a previous thermal determination to establish a ambient “rate-of-rise” or “rate-of-decrease” unique to the hazardous materials source.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the performing an alert determination according to the comparison of the environmental data to the set of ambient conditions includes:

providing an alert when rate-of-rise and/or “rate-of-decrease” thermal data determined by the sensor exceeds one or more archived “rate-of-rise”and/or “rate -of-decrease” limits.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing one or more alerts to the existing fault detection system as one of voting or non-voting inputs to the existing fault detection system, wherein the voting inputs enable an override of the existing fault detection system.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a hierarchical alarm condition alert to the existing fault detection system to enable an operator to determine a hazard status.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a hierarchical alarm condition alert when the existing fault detection system enables voting inputs and non-voting inputs of the existing fault detection system to be activated as a function of a hazard status.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing one or more alarm outputs to an external network to enable a determination by governmental authorities of an impending hazardous situation.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the environmental data is n-dimensional data to enable a plurality of metric calculations to be performed thereon including real-time determinations of ambient conditions to avoid false alarm conditions.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the data is image data collected from one or more of a Bayer pattern sensor array, CMOS sensor array and a thermal image data array.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the hazardous material source includes one or more of a radioactive plant, an oil refinery, a chemical plant, a natural gas plant, a fuel mine, a coal mine, a uranium mine, an ordinance explosive device, a potentially hazardous process and/or an artillery source.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed in one or more of a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and/or a processor.

18. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium configured to perform one or more acts for monitoring a hazardous material source the one or more acts comprising:

one or more instructions for collecting environmental data via one or more sensors directed at the hazardous materials source, the environmental data including one or more environmentally detectable reference points, including:

one or more instructions for collecting environmental data via the one or more sensors in a thermal sensor for sensing temperatures in the hazardous materials source, wherein the thermal sensor is configured to collect a frame of video and determine one or more temperatures of the one or more environmentally detectable reference points in a multiple-iteration tour of the hazardous materials source; and

one or more instructions for applying a mask to enable the thermal sensor to collect thermal measurements of a predetermined area to enable each frame of video to detect a plurality of locations external to the hazardous materials source; and

one or more instructions for performing noise analysis to determine an average noise amplitude and noise distribution for each image plane via a gradient calculation;

one or more instructions for comparing the environmental data to a set of current ambient conditions, the environmental data detectable in a reference frame by the one or more sensors directed at the hazardous materials source, the reference frame including at least one of the one or more environmentally detectable reference points;

one or more instructions for performing an alert determination according to the comparison of the environmental data to the set of ambient conditions; and

one or more instructions for transmitting the alert determination to an existing fault detection system for the hazardous material source to enable the existing fault detection system to override a status rating of the hazardous materials source.

19. A sensing system comprising:

one or more sensors configured to collect one or more of environmental data including image data, thermal image data and radiation data and/or ambient condition data including wind speed data, precipitation data , the one or more sensors configured to sense temperatures in a hazardous materials source, wherein a thermal sensor of the one or more sensors is configured to collect a frame of video and determine one or more temperatures of one or more environmentally detectable reference points in a multiple-iteration tour of the hazardous materials source; and

one or more instructions for applying a mask to;

a mask filter coupled to the one or more sensors to limit the processing of thermal image data and enable the thermal sensor to collect thermal measurements of a predetermined area to enable each frame of video to detect a plurality of locations external to the hazardous materials source;

a processor coupled to the sensor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

a processing module coupled to the memory, the processing module configured to detect a hazard associated with a hazardous material, module including:

a comparator configured to compare received environmentally detectable reference points from the one or more sensors with the current ambient condition data environmental data detectable in a reference frame by the one or more sensors directed at the hazardous materials source, the environmentally detectable reference points located in a reference frame; and

an alert determination module configured to perform an alert determination according to the comparator of the environmental data to the set of ambient conditions; and

a transceiver configured to transmit the alert determination to an existing fault detection system for the hazardous material source to enable the existing fault detection system to override a status rating of the hazardous materials source.

20. The sensing system of claim 19 wherein the existing fault detection system includes a plurality of voting and/or non-voting inputs that can receive the alert determination as a function of importance of the alert.

21. The sensing system of claim 19 wherein the sensing system is disposed within one or more of a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and/or a processor located external to the hazardous materials source.