The fire security industry has developed several techniques
for the detection of fires in their early stages. This
includes the monitoring of gases originating in combustion
processes, flame detectors, and even complex systems for
the detection of the pressure changes caused by flames. Still,
the most popular technique continues to be the detection of
aerosol particles, smoke. The modern smoke detectors include
the measurements of optical properties like light scattering
or extinction. For instance, light scattering detectors
(better known as photoelectric detectors) are good for detecting
the white smoke produced in smoldering combustion
processes but have a rather low sensitivity to the black
smoke of flaming combustion processes. Light extinction
has slightly better sensitivity to the later but is also much
better for the detection of smoldering combustion aerosols.
Up to now, the best option for the detection of the black
smoke produced in open fires is still the ionic or ionization
detector, which has a good sensitivity to the two different
combustion processes. Nevertheless, the fact that they use a
radioactive source as part of their working principle has pro-