Patent ID: 8159341

Claim:
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.