Systems and methods for data collection for an industrial heating process are disclosed. The system according to one embodiment can include a plurality of data collectors, including a swarm of self-organized data collector members, wherein the swarm of self-organized data collector members organize to enhance data collection based on at least one of capabilities and conditions of the data collector members of the swarm, and wherein the plurality of data collectors is coupled to a plurality of input channels for acquiring collected data relating to the industrial heating process, and a data acquisition and analysis circuit for receiving the collected data via the plurality of input channels and structured to analyze the received collected data using a neural network to monitor a plurality of conditions relating to the industrial heating process.