Optical sensors may be used to monitor a wide range of activities. For example, optical sensors may be used in fire suppression systems to sense the presence of a flame or spark within a monitored area in order to trigger activation of a fire suppression system. In the aircraft industry, fire suppression systems may be used within enclosed areas of an aircraft, sometimes referred to as “dry bays” that may contain components such as, without limitation, hydraulic control lines, electrical equipment, etc. The fire suppression system may be controlled by optical sensors which monitor conditions within the dry bay. The components in the dry bay may form obstructions that may optically clutter the area being monitored by the sensors. Thus, in designing an optical sensor system for a dry bay, it may be important to place and orient the sensors so that they cover or “see” as much of the space within dry bay as possible, thereby optimizing sensor coverage.
Existing solutions for optimizing optical sensor coverage have been limited to techniques that may have limited effectiveness or which are time consuming and/or expensive. For example, hand drawings may be created which attempt to show optical sensor coverage. Also, CAD (computer aided design) models have been generated to aid a designer in visualizing sensor coverage within a dry bay. The results provided by both of these solutions maybe less than desirable when used in areas of dry bays containing clutter. Still another technique of determining sensor placement involves live fire testing which requires the construction of a test article simulator for the dry bay. Live fire testing may be time consuming and expensive. Moreover, the simulator may need repair after each test, and may allow only a limited area of the dry bay to be assessed.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of determining optical sensor coverage which provides a more accurate visual display of the coverage of multiple sensors in a cluttered environment, such as a dry bay of an aircraft.