Thermal fire early-warning camera for recycling and waste sites
Software: $39–$59 per month per camera
Concept, not for sale yet. Tell us if you want it; that decides what we build.
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How it fits together
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01
The whole EmberWatch AI
Thermal heads watch waste piles overnight. A hub finds growing hot spots, texts the on-call person and can close a contact to the fire panel.
02Brain
Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO (head)
The brain: it runs the emberwatch-head program
03
HDPE film window
Cheap replaceable window that keeps dust off the lens
Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO (head) · Infrared light path · Heat radiation
04
Thermal camera
Measures the temperature of every pixel, 160 by 120
Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO (head) · SPI video (VoSPI) · Radiometric thermal frames
05
Temperature and humidity
Warns when the head gets too hot or damp inside
Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO (head) · I²C (STEMMA QT) · Inside temperature, humidity
06
Tilt sensor
Flags a head that was bumped or moved
Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO (head) · I²C (STEMMA QT) · Tilt angle
07
PoE Ethernet cable
Powers the head and carries its data to the hub
Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO (head) · PoE Ethernet (Cat6) · Power, thermal frames
08
Relay node
Closes dry contacts for alert and trouble into the fire panel
Olimex ESP32-POE-ISO (relay) · PoE Ethernet · local MQTT · Hub heartbeat, alert state
09
All connected
7 key parts, one program, and your phone
What it is
A thermal and colour box camera that watches waste piles and tipping floors for early signs of fire.
What it does
Who it's for
Recycling sites, transfer stations, scrap yards and waste operators.
How the parts connect
Every part, what links it to the brain, and how the data reaches your phone. A solid line is a cable; a dashed line is a radio link.
The program
for (;;) {
if (lepton_read_frame(spi, raw) != OK) { // VoSPI, 20 MHz
if (++bad > 5) lepton_power_cycle(); // RESYNC
continue;
}
avg_add(&acc, raw); // 8.7 Hz -> 1 Hz
if (avg_ready(&acc)) {
deflate(&acc, out); // zlib, uint16 cK
mqtt_publish("local/ember/h2/frame", out);
}
if (every_ms(10000)) { // stats: SHT40 and LIS2DH12
mqtt_publish("local/ember/h2/stat", stat_json(sht40_temp(), lis2dh12_tilt()));
}
}To your phone
On-call phone or laptop browser
One screen for each job EmberWatch AI does.
Hot spotAt 2 am a hidden battery starts to heat inside the bale aisle. The phone shows the growing hot spot and a colour still of the same place.
Pile trendOvernight the hub logs the hottest point of each pile every minute. A steady climb raises a warning long before any smoke.
Fire panel linkWhen a hot spot keeps growing, the on-call person gets a text and the hub closes a contact into the site's fire panel.
Camera healthDust settles on a head over the tipping floor. The hub sees the picture lose contrast and asks for the film window to be wiped.
App screens with sample data. The interface is in development.
| Zone level | bale-aisle: WARN | On change |
|---|---|---|
| Hottest point | 44.9 °C, +10.6 °C | Every 60 s |
| Rate of rise | 0.8 °C/min | Every 60 s |
| Alert clip | 60 s thermal + colour | Each alert |
| Window contrast | 0.82 | Every 10 s |
Video stays on site. Only events and small stills go to the cloud; the camera network has no internet route.
CAD design · Design complete (stages 1–6), not built
| AI processor | Hailo-8L (13 TOPS) + ARM host |
|---|---|
| Camera | Radiometric thermal core (FLIR Lepton 3.5 class, 160×120; Pro uses a higher-resolution 320-class radiometric core) + 4K colour camera |
| Sensors | Ambient temperature and humidity sensor · Tilt sensor for bracket movement detection |
| Connectivity | PoE+ Ethernet (primary) · LTE-M fallback for alerts · Dry-contact relay outputs to alarm or suppression panels · Modbus TCP · ONVIF video export (planned) |
| Power | PoE+ (802.3at) or 24 V DC, ~15 W (target) |
| Enclosure | Rectangular box camera in graphite grey with a safety-orange sun hood overhanging ~4 cm, two front windows (thermal above, colour below), heat-sink fins on top and a ball-joint wall/pole bracket |
| Dimensions | 24 × 12 × 12 cm (sun hood overhangs ~4 cm) |
| Weight | ~2.2 kg with bracket (est.) |
| Ingress rating | IP67 (target) |
| Thermal core | 160×120 radiometric (Pro: 320-class) |
|---|---|
| Colour camera | 4K, for smoke detection and clips |
| Mounting height | 6–12 m |
| Alert logic | Temperature + rise rate + AI false-alarm filter |
| Relay | Dry-contact outputs, configurable per zone |
|---|---|
| Modbus TCP | Hot-spot status and temperatures per zone |
| Notifications | Dashboard, SMS, email and app push |
| Clips | Thermal + colour clip per alert |
| Supply | PoE+ or 24 V DC, ~15 W |
|---|---|
| Size | 24 × 12 × 12 cm |
| Ingress | IP67 (target) |
| Operating temp. | −20 °C to 55 °C |
Targets for production units; they may change during development.
Hardware: $3,490–$6,490 per camera
Software: $39–$59 per month per camera
Target pricing. Installation, commissioning and any link to suppression systems are quoted by your fire-protection integrator.
$3,490 + $39/mo per camera
160×120 radiometric thermal + 4K colour for smaller floors and stores.
$6,490 + $59/mo per camera
Higher-resolution 320-class thermal core for larger floors and higher mounts.
Custom
For multi-camera sites and fire-protection integrators.
Indicative launch pricing in USD, excluding taxes and shipping. Final pricing is confirmed before any balance is charged.
Community
EmberWatch AI is in development. Rate the idea, tell us what to change about the features, specs or price, and we'll build it with your feedback.
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Questions
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A member of the IEMI Labs team will reply within two business days.
From the product lab · ideation phase
No. EmberWatch is supplementary early warning. It is not a listed fire alarm initiating device, and we do not claim UL 268, FM 3260, EN 54-10, LPCB or VdS approval. It is sold alongside your existing fire detection and suppression system, ideally through your fire-protection integrator, and does not replace it.
It is designed to help you evidence early detection and pile temperature monitoring, for example with daily temperature reports. It does not by itself make a site compliant. In the UK, Environment Agency guidance expects third-party certified design and installation, so we plan to work through certified installers.
Public buyers do tender for it. Tender listings we have seen include a remote fire-detection system for a transfer-station tipping floor in New Jersey and thermal and visual cameras with hot-spot analytics for a California county landfill. We are confirming the details on the buyers’ own portals. Most buyers want detection and suppression together, which is why we work with fire-protection integrators.
The colour camera can capture people on site, so clips are only saved around alerts and are kept for a set period you control. Hot-spot analysis runs on the camera. EmberWatch does not identify people.
The camera mounts on a wall, pole or roof beam 6–12 m high with a ball-joint bracket and connects by one PoE+ cable or 24 V supply. Linking the relay or Modbus output to a fire panel or suppression system should be done by your fire-protection integrator.
PoE+ Ethernet is the main connection. Alerts can fall back to the built-in LTE-M modem if the network is down. Relay outputs work locally with no internet.
No. It is a new concept in development. Specifications are target specifications. It is a concept: we are not taking orders, reservations or deposits, and it has no ship date yet.
We are planning a 2-year limited hardware warranty covering manufacturing defects. Final terms will be published before shipping begins.
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