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Forests and plantations, watched for fire and change.

A forest estate is managed over decades and can be lost in an afternoon. Cameras on towers, forest weather stations, acoustic sensors and growth plots report with satellite change maps to one record, so foresters, fire crews and buyers see the same evidence of what the forest is doing.

Industry

Agriculture

Measurements

5

Sources cited

6

1. Agriculture · Forestry and plantations

   Decades of growth, one afternoon of fire

   A forest estate grows over decades and its value sits in stands far from roads. A fire that starts on a hot, windy afternoon must be seen in minutes. Illegal logging, pests and buyers asking where the wood came from all need the same thing: evidence of what is happening in the forest.

2. What is measured

   Smoke, weather, sound, plots and canopy

   Cameras on towers watch for smoke across the estate. Forest weather stations give the fire danger, acoustic sensors listen for chainsaws and engines along access routes, and permanent plots measure growth and carbon. Satellite imagery maps canopy change and locates every plot.

   Instruments

   Tower cameras · Forest weather · Acoustic sensors · Sample plots · Satellite imagery

3. The base node

   Detection at the top of the tower

   The tower’s edge node runs smoke detection on the camera feed, signs each detection with its bearing and image, and sends only what matters over the link. Acoustic points do the same with machine sounds, so the network carries events, not hours of audio.

4. Radio and links

   Tower to tower, and up to the satellite

   Camera towers pass video and detections to the operations room over microwave, tower to tower. Weather and acoustic points in the stands reach a gateway on the tower over LoRaWAN. Blocks beyond microwave reach send alerts and stills through a satellite terminal.

   Links

   Microwave · LoRaWAN · Satellite

5. How it works

   From a wisp of smoke to a crew

   A tower camera sees a wisp of smoke; the edge node confirms it, signs the detection with its bearing and sends it over microwave. A second tower gives a cross bearing, the operator confirms the location, and the fire agency receives the alert with images and the fire danger.

6. From order to operation · Order

   Scope the estate and the risks

   The scope reads the estate map, the fire plan, the access network, the inventory plots and the supply-chain claims the estate must prove. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the tower and point plan, the radio design, the integration with fire agencies and certifiers, and a price per tower and per service.

   Plan a deployment

7. From order to operation · Survey

   Find the towers that see the forest

   Crews compute viewsheds from candidate hills and existing towers, then climb to confirm what each camera would see. They check microwave paths between towers, LoRaWAN coverage into the stands and sky view for satellite, and record access by road, track and helicopter landing site.

8. From order to operation · Permits

   Towers, agencies and rights

   New towers follow planning and aviation rules, and existing towers are shared by agreement. Detection sharing with the fire agency is written down, so the agency that fights the fire decides. Acoustic sensors are placed with the estate’s security and legal advice.

9. From order to operation · Build

   Build for the fire season

   Cameras, edge nodes, weather stations, acoustic sensors, gateways and radios are built and tested together, enrolled with their identities and configured with each tower’s views and detection zones. Every part is labelled for replacement at the top of a tower.

   Open the Station Builder

10. From order to operation · Install

    Install before the season

    Climbing crews mount cameras, gateways and dishes on towers before the fire season. Weather stations go into representative openings, acoustic points along access routes, and soil probes in the plots. Every point is located and photographed for the record. Access tracks and landing sites are noted for later visits.

11. From order to operation · Commission

    Test detection and alarms

    Each device proves its identity. Camera views are checked against the viewshed, smoke detection is tested with a controlled source where allowed, weather against a reference, microwave links aligned. Alerts are tested end to end to the operations room and the fire agency.

12. From order to operation · Operate

    Watch, confirm and dispatch

    Operators see detections with images, bearings and the fire danger, confirm them from a second tower and pass them to the fire agency. Acoustic events go to security, change maps to foresters, and plot records to the inventory and the supply-chain file, all from one record.

13. From order to operation · Maintain

    Climb, clean and check

    Before each season crews climb every tower to clean lenses and check mounts, weather sensors are checked against a reference, batteries tested and acoustic points serviced. After storms, access is cleared and towers checked first. Every change is recorded against the asset.

    Book field services

14. Data products

    For fire crews, foresters and buyers

    Fire operations rooms receive detections with images and bearings; foresters receive fire danger, growth and canopy change; security receives acoustic events; certifiers and carbon buyers receive plot records; supply-chain teams receive geolocation and change evidence for due diligence. Each carries its source.

    See the data products

15. Evidence

    Evidence a buyer can trace

    Every detection, alarm, plot measurement and change map is signed and kept with its time and place. Fire practice follows FAO voluntary guidelines, carbon follows IPCC methods, and plot geolocation and change evidence meet the information that deforestation-free supply rules ask for.

    Drawn against

    FAO fire management guidelines · IPCC 2019 AFOLU · Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 · Copernicus Sentinel-2

16. What you get

    Wildfire camera and fire-weather networks

    Camera towers with edge inference and co-located fire-weather stations; detections go to the agency that decides and dispatches. Delivered as hardware + software and managed service, for forestry and emergency agencies, utilities. Scale: Regional networks across fire seasons. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard.

    Talk to sales

17. Next step

    Plan forestry and plantations with us

    Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for forestry and plantations. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.

    Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio

01The place and its hazards

Where it runs, and what can go wrong.

Operating contextPlantation and natural forests are managed for timber, fibre, carbon and conservation over long rotations. Fire is the largest single risk, illegal logging and encroachment take value and certification, and buyers in many markets must now prove where wood came from. Estates are large, roadless in places and beyond public networks.

Hazards

• Wildfire starting far from roads
• Illegal logging and encroachment
• Pests and drought dieback spreading unseen
• Storm damage and access cut by fallen trees
• Supply-chain claims that cannot be proven

02What must be measured

What, where, how often, and under which rules.

Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.

03The observation stack

From one base unit to a network.

The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.

1. 01

   Base unit

   A forest point: a weather station or acoustic sensor on a LoRaWAN endpoint, or a camera on a tower with its edge node.

   Build a station →
2. 02

   Site

   A compartment block: points in the stands, a camera tower with a gateway and a microwave or satellite link.

   Plan a site →
3. 03

   Fleet

   Every block of the estate run as one fleet, with one fire watch and one record.

   Managed offers →
4. 04

   Network

   Estates, fire agencies, certifiers and buyers exchange detections, change maps and plot records through open standards.

   The open protocol →

• 01PTZ camera
• 02Compact weather station
• 03Acoustic sensor
• 04Soil probe
• 05LPWAN endpoint
• 06LoRaWAN gateway
• 07Edge node (Wedge)
• 08Point-to-point microwave
• 09LEO flat-panel terminal
• 10Solar array
• 11Lattice tower

Radio and links

Point-to-point microwave

Camera towers carry video to the operations room over microwave, tower to tower.

Radio and links

LoRaWAN

Weather and acoustic points in the stands reach a gateway on the tower at very low power.

Radio and links

Satellite

Towers and blocks beyond microwave reach use a satellite terminal for alerts and stills.

Edge computeThe tower’s edge node runs smoke detection on the camera feed and sends a confirmed detection with its bearing; acoustic points flag chainsaw and engine sounds locally and send only events.

PowerTowers run on solar panels with batteries sized for the fire season’s long days and smoke-dimmed light; stand points run on batteries for a year or more.

04How it works

From the instrument to the product.

One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.

05From order to operation

Every step, from the first call to a running site.

The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.

1. 01 Order

   Scope the estate and the risks

   The scope reads the estate map, the fire plan, the access network, the inventory plots and the supply-chain claims the estate must prove. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the tower and point plan, the radio design, the integration with fire agencies and certifiers, and a price per tower and per service. 13

2. 02 Survey

   Find the towers that see the forest

   Crews compute viewsheds from candidate hills and existing towers, then climb to confirm what each camera would see. They check microwave paths between towers, LoRaWAN coverage into the stands and sky view for satellite, and record access by road, track and helicopter landing site.

3. 03 Permits

   Towers, agencies and rights

   New towers follow planning and aviation rules, and existing towers are shared by agreement. Detection sharing with the fire agency is written down, so the agency that fights the fire decides. Acoustic sensors are placed with the estate’s security and legal advice.

4. 04 Build

   Build for the fire season

   Cameras, edge nodes, weather stations, acoustic sensors, gateways and radios are built and tested together, enrolled with their identities and configured with each tower’s views and detection zones. Every part is labelled for replacement at the top of a tower.

5. 05 Install

   Install before the season

   Climbing crews mount cameras, gateways and dishes on towers before the fire season. Weather stations go into representative openings, acoustic points along access routes, and soil probes in the plots. Every point is located and photographed for the record. Access tracks and landing sites are noted for later visits.

6. 06 Commission

   Test detection and alarms

   Each device proves its identity. Camera views are checked against the viewshed, smoke detection is tested with a controlled source where allowed, weather against a reference, microwave links aligned. Alerts are tested end to end to the operations room and the fire agency.

7. 07 Operate

   Watch, confirm and dispatch

   Operators see detections with images, bearings and the fire danger, confirm them from a second tower and pass them to the fire agency. Acoustic events go to security, change maps to foresters, and plot records to the inventory and the supply-chain file, all from one record. 13

8. 08 Maintain

   Climb, clean and check

   Before each season crews climb every tower to clean lenses and check mounts, weather sensors are checked against a reference, batteries tested and acoustic points serviced. After storms, access is cleared and towers checked first. Every change is recorded against the asset.

06Data products and integration

What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.

Data products

• Smoke detections with bearings and imagesFire operations rooms and agencies
• Fire danger by blockForesters and fire managers
• Acoustic intrusion eventsEstate security
• Growth, carbon and canopy changeForesters, certifiers and carbon buyers
• Plot geolocation and change evidenceBuyers and supply-chain teams

Integration

• Fire agency dispatchConfirmed detections are sent with location and images in the Common Alerting Protocol or the agency’s own format.
• Forest inventoryPlot and growth records join the inventory system with their coordinates.
• Supply-chain due diligencePlot geolocation and canopy change evidence are exported for due diligence statements.

Exchanged through Common Alerting Protocol, OGC SensorThings API, ISO 19115.

07Questions buyers ask

Before you scope it.

Who decides to fight a fire?

The fire agency. The network detects, confirms and passes on; the agency decides and dispatches.

Does it record people talking?

Acoustic points detect machine sounds and send events, not conversations.

Does this help with deforestation rules?

It keeps the geolocation of plots and the evidence of canopy change that due diligence needs.

What if a tower loses power in smoke?

Batteries are sized for smoke-dimmed days, and a second tower covers most views.

08Resources

The sources behind this page.

Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.

1. 1Fire management: voluntary guidelinesFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations · 2006
2. 2Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation (WMO-No. 8)World Meteorological Organization
3. 3Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free productsEuropean Union · 2023
4. 42019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Volume 4: Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land UseIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change · 2019
5. 5Global Forest Resources AssessmentFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
6. 6Copernicus Sentinel-2 missionEuropean Space Agency

09Related

Use cases and solutions.

10Agriculture: specialized fields

Other fields of this industry.

Bring us the site.

Plan a deployment, configure a station, model it in the Studio or talk to sales. The form names who receives your details.