Systems and methods having a local processor at the extreme edge of an environmental monitoring/control system are disclosed. A sensor is provided in close proximity to the processing module. The processing module is a relatively simple processor capable of detecting the occurrence of one particular event, or a limited number of particular events. The processing is done with a relatively simple neural network. Processing module outputs indicate that a particular event has occurred. The processing module includes a memory into which values can be loaded that are determined by “pre-training” for use with the processing module. The downloading and use of such pre-trained values allows the processing module to efficiently detect particular events for which the values were pre-trained.