Design and Implementation of A Wireless Sensor Network To Detect Forest Fires
Design and Implementation of A Wireless Sensor Network To Detect Forest Fires
Design and Implementation of A Wireless Sensor Network To Detect Forest Fires
Abstract—In this paper, an innovative design and development direction and wind speed. August, 2015 represents a critical
process is presented for a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) case with 1361 forest fires, and September 2015 represents
prototype aimed at detecting and monitoring forest fires at the the worst case in terms of the extension of acres of forest
Guanguiltagua Park located in the Metropolitan District of Quito
(DMQ), capital of Ecuador. Every year the city of Quito is destroyed by fire [3].
affected by recurrent forest fires, especially in summer time Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a state of the art
where high temperatures and soil dryness contribute to the technology that is currently being applied in a wide variety of
propagation of fire in areas with vast vegetation. As a result to this fields including, but not limited to environmental [4], natural
problem, a WSN technological solution was created to address disasters [5], health [6], [7], public safety [8], e-government [9]
this problem which can detect forest fires in real-time sending
alerts immediately to the end user. This prompt response helps and national defense [10]. Environmental applications include
to attenuate the impact of forest fires such as loss of human lives, fire detection [11], flood detection [12], agriculture [13], and
loss of large areas of vegetation, economic loss and environmental many others. A sensor network has a specific set of sensor
contamination. The WSN prototype described in this document nodes and a gateway, which allows all internal sensor data
uses hardware, software, communication protocols, topology and and GPS information to reach an external communications
functionality focused on optimizing its end results. The system is
based on measuring continuously three types of gases, which are network such as a cellular communications network or public
present in a combustion process such as CO2, CO and CH4. In safety infrastructure if required.
addition to these sensors, environment temperature and humidity, Some technical solutions based on WSN have been pro-
as well as GPS location data is provided; this data is transmitted posed to prevent wild fires. In [14], a WSN was deployed
via wireless communications toward a graphical interface where for Rural and Forest Fire Detection and Verification, based
the sensors data will be interpreted and statistical information
can be generated. Finally, through a WSN prototype validation on a Linksys WRT54GL router that was able to sense fire
process, it is demonstrated that such prototype provides an by infrared radiation and smoke. In [15], authors presented a
efficient and reliable method to detect and monitor forest fires framework to detect a fire threat as soon as possible with a
in a short amount of time. simulator implementation and with low energy consumption.
Keywords—Wireless Sensor Network, Forest Fire Detection, In [16], the methodology used is to sense gas temperature and
Real-Time, Communication Protocol, Database, eGovernment.
air moisture content, to detect fire and to track the fire spread
I. I NTRODUCTION during its spatial and temporal evolution. In [17], the solution
was proposed with a BTBee module and with artificial neural
Every year wild fires across the world destroy millions networks approach for data classification and collection.
of acres of land, provoke loss of human lives, environment eGovernment services represent a critical driving force in
contamination and have a significant economic impact on the successful development and wellbeing of society; this
government’s budget [1]. can be accomplished by integrating advanced information and
Only in the year 2015 exactly on 16 September, the DMQ communications technologies (ICT) with the services provided
was declared in a state of emergency since it dealt with a by government agencies [18].
wave of fires that resulted in the death of three firefighters, 22 The WSN design and implementation results presented in
injured people and 960 acres of forest in ashes [2]. this document integrates software and hardware components
Statistical data on forest fire frequency and acres burnt used for forest fire detection and monitoring activities in
were obtained from the Ecuadorian National Meteorology the Guanguiltagua Metropolitan Park, located in the DMQ,
and Hydrology Institute for 2014, 2015, and 2016. The data Ecuador. Wildfires can propagate at a speed up to 24 kilome-
demonstrates that during summer time the percentage of forest ters per hour as specified in [19].The WSN design consists
fires increases, but it also depends on a combination of differ- of an advanced network of Wireless sensors using advanced
ent parameters such as: temperature, humidity precipitation, algorithms to detect and generate an alert when a forest fire is
978-1-5090-4830-4/17/$31.00 c 2017 IEEE started with its precise location. With this innovative design, a
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Fig. 1. Hadware Network Diagram
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Fig. 3. Secondary Node Diagram
‚ ATmega328P Arduino
This microcontroller is based on the ATmega28, which
has 14 digital pins, 6 analog pins and a restart button.
Its reduced size makes it suitable for this project. This
microcontroller was programmed in C# with the Arduino
software.
‚ Xbee S2B Pro
This module establishes wireless communication between
devices. Its features make it easy to use and can create
point to point networks. The model S2B Pro is well
known for its low power consumption and a line of sight
of approximately 1.5 kilometers. It uses a ZigBee mesh
communication protocol and operated in the 2.4 GHz
frequency range.
B. Secondary Node
For the secondary node, it consists of the following ele- Fig. 4. Algorithm Diagram
ments, as shown in Fig.3:
‚ Temperature and humidity Sensor DHTT11
‚ Nano Atmega328P Arduino adapted and applied to this case in order to define techni-
‚ Xbee S2B Pro cal operational requirements for the WSN prototype, design
‚ Lipo Battery alternatives were also considered, design review meetings
were continuously coordinated to analyze the conceptual WSN
C. Methodology design and development, validation test planning, test data
analysis procedures, end user feedback and finally, a report
The objective is to detect fires through measurements of
summarizing results, recommendations and conclusions. Fig.
humidity, temperature and smoke levels which are continually
4 represents the algorithm of the fire detection. This algorithm
detected by the sensor node in order to monitor the forest,
was programmed in Arduino.
reducing detection time and determining the precise location
information of a forest fire scenario using WSN technology; all
D. WSN Network Configuration
this data is transmitted in real-time, applying a network star
topology. Some other real-time communication applications The WSN Network was configured with XCTU software,
such as SPEED, MM-SPEED, and RPAR have been developed which is an open source application and is compatible with all
[22], but are not suitable for routing information in critical operating systems including Microsoft Windows and Linux. To
situations such as forest fires. WSN scalability projection is configure the sensor nodes in XCTU, the firmware is updated
also considered in the design, since the number of sensor nodes from the beginning by selecting XBP24BZ7 as the product
can increase to a large scale [23] due to the flexibility of the family and firmware version 2OAO. Then some specific fields
hardware components, topology, communication protocols and that are configured are ID PAN which can have values between
mathematical algorithms to process the sensor data. Systems 0 and FFFE, SC Scan Channels which can have values
engineering design and implementation methodologies were between 0 and FFFF and is set to D in this case, Ni Node
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Fig. 5. Principal Window (Without University logo)
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IV. I MPLEMENTATION
A. Sensor calibration
The sensors used have one analog and one digital output.
Digital output sends a 0 if there isn’t gas present and 1 if there
is. It is easy to work with this type of outputs, some sensors
require calibration, especially if data for CO gas quantity levels
are required in particles per million (ppm).
Analog output sends values between 0 and 1023, depending
on the concentration of existing gas; each MQ sensor has its
own rank of detection and sensibility.
In order to explain sensor calibration, the example of the
MQ7 sensor, which measure carbon monoxide, is presented.
To calculate voltage output, the next equation is used, where
RS and RL form a voltage divider.
RL Fig. 9. Application demonstration
V 0 “ VC . (1)
RS ` R L
where: RS is the sensor surface resistance on various V. R ESULTS
concentrations of gases A. Data Validation
RL is the load resistance
In order to validate prototype data, it was compared to
V0 is the output voltage
IBRID Mx6 data. This device is a high technology gas
VC is the input voltage in 5V
detection that uses a pump to analyze the air quality. For this
Replacing, the next equation is used.
first experimental test, sheets of paper were burned and the
pVC ´ V0 q.RL sensor nodes were exposed to gases derived from the smoke.
RS “ (2) Results are presented in Table 1.
V0
By other side, we have: Gas MQ Sensors IBRID Mx6
CO2 350 ppm 350 ppm
RS CO 200 ppm 180 ppm
R0 “ (3) CH4 10 ppm Don’t have
RCAF TABLE I
C OMPARISON BETWEEN MQ S ENSORS AND IBRID M X 6
Where:
R0 : sensor resistance at 100ppm CO in clean air
RCAF : resistance for clean air factor The MX6’s advantage is that it saves a little proportion of
Finally we have: air sample and examines it, by other side MQ sensors, and
measure the quantity that arrives in real time. Nevertheless,
pVC ´ V0 q.RL
R0 “ (4) results show that the measurements are quite close, so that the
V0 .RCAF
MQ sensors are suitable for this application.
Note that the sensor datasheet explain that if the concentra-
tion is below 100 ppm, the relation R B. Operation test
R0 =1 in 200 C and 65%
S
relative humidity. If the relation is slow, the values correspond The WSN prototype has been tested and demonstrated its
of bigger concentrations of CO in ppm. functionality in a real scenario, meaning that the equipment
With the calibration of R0 , it is possible to measure the was installed and tested in the Guanguiltagua Metropolitan
air values, calculating RS value in relation with the output Park located in Quito, Ecuador to monitor and detect a forest
voltage and comparing the relation R R0 from the datasheet in
S fire scenario. In order to validate the operation, a test was
order to obtain the CO concentration in ppm. planned and executed; the device was operating and a fire
From the datasheet sensor, the next equation is obtained: was simulated burning Eucalyptus leaves, which represents the
typical vegetation of Quito. The Fig. 9 shows the green light
RS turn to red indicating that limits went over the recommended
“ 22, 07.rCOs´ 3 q
2
(5)
R0 values. The alarm was also activated. The GPS indicates
In order to obtain CO concentration, we have: quickly the location of the fire in order to intervene as soon
as possible.
RS In order to determine the wireless communication propaga-
q´ 2
3
rCOs “ p (6)
22, 07.R0 tion loss it is recommended to use the appropriate propagation
model based on the forest features including tree density,
terrain details, topography maps, and existing obstacles which
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