FIRE-FIGHTING ROBOT

by

TEH NAM KHOON

DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Electrical & Electronics Engineering Programme

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree
Bachelor of Engineering (Hons)
(Electrical & Electronics Engineering)

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS

Bandar Seri Iskandar
31750 Tronoh
Perak Darul Ridzuan.

© Copyright 2012
by
TEH NAM KHOON, 2012
 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL

FIRE-FIGHTING ROBOT

by

TEH NAM KHOON

A project dissertation submitted to the

Electrical and Electronics Engineering Programme

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS

in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the

BACHELOR of ENGINEERING (Hons)

(ELECTRICAL and ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING)

Approved by:

_____________________
(Mr Patrick Sebastian)
Final Year Project’s Supervisor

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS

TRONOH, PERAK DARUL RIDZUAN.
SEPTEMBER 2012

iii
 CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that I am responsible for the work submitted in this report whereby
the original work belongs to me except as specified in the references and
acknowledgements, and that the original work contained herein have not been
undertaken or done by unspecified sources or persons.

_________________
(TEH NAM KHOON )

iv
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost gratitude and special
thanks to Mr Patrick Sebastian, my Final Year Project‟s supervisor, for guiding me
through the process in completing my final year project. He has given me lots of
guidance and constructive advice on how to resolve all the problems, conundrum, and
issues arise along the way in completing this project during the 8 months FYP period.
Also, he has shared his precious knowledge and experience accumulated along the
years in guiding through and supervising his students in all kind of projects that are
related to the Robotic‟s field, ranging from circuit constructions, microcontroller C
programming technique, and documentation work such as the technical paper and the
final report. He is dedicated and committed towards his supervised students. He
prefers to know my overall progress done on a weekly basis so that he can provide me
some necessary and essential technical solutions, advice and guidance to aid me to
overcome the issues faced.

Besides that, I would like to thank to all of my coursemates and friends, who
have directly or indirectly contributed to my project. Their contributions really aid me
a lot in order to complete the prototype as perfect as possible.

Additionally, I would like to extend my gratitude to FYP coordinators, Dr

Zuhairi Baharudin, Dr Wong Peng Wen, Dr Nasreen, and Mr Abu Bakar Sayuti Saman
for their effort in coordinating FYP proceedings. Last but not least, I would like to
take this opportunity to thank to my family members, friends and lecturers for their
continuous supports and encouragements given to me along the way in completing
this project.

v
 ABSTRACT

Along the way with the evolvement and advancement of science and
technology, human beings tend to use robot to perform their daily routine works or
some dangerous tasks such as rescuing victims from hazardous sites, whereby the
rescuing tasks might pose certain level of risks to human beings. In conjunction of
that reason, the ultimate goal, aim and objective of this project is to develop and
implement an Autonomous Fire-Fighting Mobile Platform (AFFMP) that is equipped
with the basic fire-fighting knowledge that can patrol through the hazardous sites with
the aim of early detection for fire and extinguish it using the built-in fire
extinguishing system on the platform itself. The AFFMP is capable to patrol the
building continuously via the guiding track while at the same time, it attempts to
locate for fire source by using the Flame Sensors as the primary detection. The
detection for the occurrence of fire source in AFFMP is also assisted by the secondary
detection sensors, which are the Heat/Temperature Sensor and the Smoke Sensor as
well. Once the fire source is being identified, it will move directly towards the fire
source and extinguish it in the shortest time by using the fire extinguisher that is
attached to its platform. In short, the project can be considered as successful as it has
achieved the expected goals and objectives.

vi
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... ix

LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... x
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 11
1.1 Background of Study ...................................................................... 11
1.2 Problem Statement ......................................................................... 12
1.3 Objectives and Scope of Study....................................................... 13
1.4 Feasibility, Relevancy, and Significant of Project ......................... 13
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 16
2.1 Overview of an Autonomous Mobile Platform .............................. 16
2.2 Line Following ............................................................................... 18
2.3 Flame Detection ............................................................................. 19
2.4 Obstacle Avoidance........................................................................ 20
2.5 Fire Extinguishing .......................................................................... 21
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................... 23
3.1 Research Methodology ................................................................... 23
3.2 Project Activities ............................................................................ 33
3.3 Key Milestone ................................................................................ 33
3.4 Gantt Chart ..................................................................................... 35
3.5 Tools and Hardware Required ........................................................ 37
CHAPTER 4 RESULT & DISCUSSION ................................................................... 38
4.1 Results & Measurements ................................................................ 38
4.1.1 Speed Control of DC Motors using PWM technique ............ 38
4.1.2 Flame Sensor ......................................................................... 39
4.1.3 Smoke Sensor ........................................................................ 41
4.1.4 Heat/Temperature Sensor ...................................................... 42
4.1.5 LDR Sensor ........................................................................... 42
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................. 45
5.1 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 45
5.2 Recommendations .......................................................................... 46
REFERENCES............................................................................................................ 47
Appendix A Parallax robot body chassis platform ............................... 49

vii
Appendix B AFFMP with Motor Driver Circuitry ........................... 50
Appendix C AFFMP with LEDs & LDRs Sensors System ................. 51
Appendix D AFFMP with Flame Sensors. ......................................... 52
Appendix E Completed AFFMP ...................................................... 53
Appendix F Schematic for SK40c board ............................................. 58
Appendix G Pin Configurations for pic16f877A microcontroller ..... 59
Appendix H Schematic for motor driver circuitry ............................ 60
Appendix I Schematic for ldr sensors circuitry .................................... 61
Appendix J Schematic for Fan/fire extinguisher activation ............... 62
Appendix K Datasheet for flame sensor ............................................ 63
Appendix L Datasheet for Smoke sensor ........................................... 65
Appendix M Datasheet for Heat/Temperature sensor ...................... 66
Appendix N Electrex poster ............................................................... 68
Appendix O Notification of paper acceptance by IRIS 2012 conference
.............................................................................................................. 69
Appendix P Sourcecode ...................................................................... 71
Appendix Q Survey Conducted at www.surveymonkey.com ............ 76

viii
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Comparison of features among all the previous projects. .............................. 17

Table 2 The conditions/states of both IR Sensors [13]. .............................................. 19
Table 3 Class of Fires [12]. ......................................................................................... 21
Table 4 Types of Fire Extinguishers [12]. .................................................................. 22
Table 5 The main components / elements in AFFMP. ............................................... 29
Table 6 Case by case implementation for line following feature. .............................. 30
Table 7 Key Milestone. ............................................................................................... 34
Table 8 Configurations to produce different types of movements to the AFFMP...... 38
Table 9 PWM value & Duty Cycle used in AFFMP. ................................................. 39
Table 10 Initial raw data for Flame Sensor during FYP I. .......................................... 40
Table 11 Initial raw data for Smoke Sensor during FYP I. ......................................... 41
Table 12 Initial raw data for Heat/Temperature Sensor during FYP I. ....................... 42
Table 13 Characteristics of IR sensor and LDR sensor. ............................................. 43
Table 14 Comparison of voltage levels for LDR sensors with super bright white and
yellow LEDs. ....................................................................................................... 44

ix
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 A survey to collect the respondent‟s responses on the need of having

Autonomous Fire-Fighting Mobile Platform. ...................................................... 14
Figure 2 A survey to collect the respondent‟s responses on the Direct Emergency
Number for Fire Brigade...................................................................................... 15
Figure 3 The flows of the project. ............................................................................... 23
Figure 4 The working principle of AFFMP. ............................................................... 24
Figure 5 The block diagram for the complete AFFMP. .............................................. 25
Figure 6 Implementation of the Line following feature by using LDR sensors to the
AFFMP. ............................................................................................................... 30
Figure 7 The overall flowchart for algorithm implementation. .................................. 32
Figure 8 Gantt Chart for FYP I. .................................................................................. 35
Figure 9 Gantt Chart for FYP II. ................................................................................. 36
Figure 10 Tools & Equipment required to develop the AFFMP. ............................... 37
Figure 11 Characteristic of flame sensor. ................................................................... 41
Figure 12 Voltage levels for LDR sensors on black surface and white surface. ........ 43

x
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Fire detection and extinguishment are the hazardous job that invariably put the
life of a fire fighter in danger. By putting a mobile robot to perform this task in a fire-
prone area, it can aid to avoid untoward incidents or the loss of lives. This project is
about the development of an Autonomous Fire Fighting Mobile Platform (AFFMP)
that is equipped with the basic fire-fighting equipment that can patrol through the
hazardous sites via a guiding track with the aim of early detection for fire. When the
fire source is being identified, the flame will be promptly extinguished using the fire
extinguishing system that is mounted on its platform. The patrolling movement is
guided by a set of line with the use of a conventional line following algorithm but
with the addition of a homing algorithm. The tasks for the AFFMP once it navigates
out of the patrolling route include the obstacle avoidance, locating for more precise
location of fire source using front flame sensor and extinguish the fire flame. To
detect for fire source, the input from flame sensors were finely-tuned in relation to the
surrounding area, external interference and the mobility of the AFFMP prior the
deployment of the platform. The development work done to date on the platform has
shown its feasibility of being an autonomous unit to monitor a prescribed area, detect
for fire and extinguish the flame.

1.1 Background of Study

Fire-Fighting is an extremely dangerous task but still often being carried out
by human operators, thus putting human life, invaluable as it is, in a very precarious
situation. Therefore, it is highly desirable that the execution of routine and basic fire-
fighting tasks to be replaced or at least partially assisted by AFFMP. There are several
ways of implementation for AFFMP; however, most of them are being deployed
based on the need-to-use basis. This project is quite unique in terms of its way of
implementation wise, whereby the guiding track will be used to guide the AFFMP to

11
navigate through an area for patrolling purposes and locate for fire source with its
continuous monitoring feature for 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
This report describes the work done to develop an AFFMP that monitors for
occurrence of fire in a prescribed area and safely extinguish it promptly. Monitoring
is done by patrolling within a guiding track while constantly scanning for fire via the
flame sensors. If fire is detected, AFFMP will then attempt to locate for more precise
position of the fire source. Once the location is determined, it will move out of its
guiding track, approach the fire source and extinguish the flame by using the built-in
fire extinguishing sub-system. When the flame is extinguished completely, it then
returns to the guiding track to continue the patrolling task. All of the processes occur
autonomously without any need of human controls since all processes are fully
automated by using a microcontroller system, executing the fire-detection algorithm,
the autonomous navigation algorithm, the line tracking algorithm and the fire
extinguishing sub-system.
It is undeniably that through the utilization of robot in assisting human beings
to carry out their daily routine and dangerous tasks can aid to minimize the level of
risks. In another word, robot can be used as the human replacement for whatever
hazardous jobs or tasks that require repetition, endurance, high efficiency and
accuracy. Robot can be used in almost all fields or areas, ranging from manufacturing
industry, assembly line for components and parts, agriculture, healthcare, doing
house-chores to ease human lives or even entertainment as well. Time has proven the
capabilities, performance, contributions and the role of robots to the people in the
society.

1.2 Problem Statement

Fire-fighting task is one of the extreme and dangerous tasks to be carried out
by human beings generally or specifically the firefighters. Theoretically, the
execution of the routine and basic fire-fighting tasks can be assisted or partially
replaced by robots. Hence, this embedded project owns the practicality of
implementation in the real industry based. This project requires me to design and
implement an Autonomous Fire-Fighting Mobile Platform that has the practicality of
implementation in the real hazardous sites, attract my field of interests and attentions.
Upon the completion of this project, the AFFMP, which is equipped with the basic

12
fire-fighting knowledge is hoped to share out the burden of fire-fighters and reduce
the risks associated with the fire-fighting tasks encountered by the fire-fighters
tremendously.

1.3 Objectives and Scope of Study

The main objective of this project is to design and implement an Autonomous

Fire Fighting Mobile Platform that is able to patrol and monitor a prescribed area,
detect for the occurrence of fire, locate for exact location of fire source, extinguish the
flame and safely return to continue with the patrolling of the area once the
extinguishing task is completed. By employing the patrolling feature, flame detection
feature and self fire extinguishing feature in the AFFMP, the burden of fire-fighters
on fire-fighting tasks can be at least shared and assisted by AFFMP. The priority of
this project is the fire detection capabilities and its accuracy. Overall, at the end of
this project, it is aimed that the prototype is able to function accordingly to its initial
design with minimum level of error.

1.4 Feasibility, Relevancy, and Significant of Project

According to a simple survey that has been conducted from 10/1/2012 to

23/2/2012 period by using the SurveyMonkey.com, it has proven that the
Autonomous Fire-Fighting Mobile Platform is quite practical and possible to be
implemented. The survey has shown that out of the total of 41 respondents, there are
30 respondents felt that the Autonomous Fire-Fighting Mobile Platform is essential
and necessary in our daily lives to execute the dangerous fire-fighting tasks. For more
details, please refer to Figure 1.

13
 Figure 1 A survey to collect the respondent‟s responses on the need of
having Autonomous Fire-Fighting Mobile Platform.

Also, according to the responses collected from the survey, it has proven that
only 50% of the respondents know the most direct emergency number for Fire
Brigade in Malaysia, which is 994. For further information, please refer to Figure 2. It
is undeniably that the victims can call to 999 or 991 first and request for the operator
to divert the call to fire brigade department. However, the timing does play a vital and
crucial role in such an emergency situation. If the victims wish to request for help but
do not channel it to the proper and correct department directly, then for sure there will
be some delays in the rescuing process. During emergency cases, every single second
counts since the timing becomes the key factor of success for rescuing work to be
carried out immediately. Hence, it is quite obvious that it is necessary and essential of
having the Autonomous Fire-Fighting Mobile Platform.

14
 Figure 2 A survey to collect the respondent‟s responses on the Direct
Emergency Number for Fire Brigade.

Based on the study and research that have been conducted so far, it has shown
that the scope of study and objectives of AFFMP are clear and concise. This project is
quite feasible and able to be completed within the allocated time frame for FYP. The
outcome of this project will be based on the objectives set during the initial planning
stage.

*** Note: For more details about this survey, please refer to Appendix Q.

15
 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview of an Autonomous Mobile Platform

Basically, there are a variety of ideas and implementations of mobile robots

that can operate in hazardous situations, which are introduced, enhanced and
upgraded from time to time. An example is a mobile robot that can be used to rescue
and evacuate people in disasters, such as from the on fire building, earthquake sites
and others. Some of the works are described in the following sections.
Fire Searcher is a robot designed for usage in the extreme conditions such as
high temperatures or poisonous gases. It monitors the internal situation of a fire site
and victims and sends back crucial information to its operator at a remote site [1].
Meanwhile, Jet Fighter is a type of Autonomous Fire Fighting Mobile Platform that is
introduced by Tokyo Fire Department. It can be operated and controlled by remote
user and has the ability to extingusih flame after locating the source of fire. It is
equipped with a monitoring system and operates through a wireless communication
system. It is equipped with an obstacles avoidance system embedded into its
autonomous navigation system [2].
Furthermore, there is another type of portable Autonomous Fire Fighting
Mobile Platform that is specifically designed to be thrown into the fire site to collect
data and information, search for victims and evacuate them from the fire site [3]. It
can be controlled by the operator and the victims are able to communicate with the
operator by using the built-in microphone and speaker system during emergency
cases [3]. Also, this system contains the camera to capture the scene of fire site,
sensors for temperature measurement, CO2 and O2 concentration measurement [3].
Since it is specially designed to be thrown into the fire site, it can withstand with high
temperature, over 15000C, waterproofed and has impact resistance feature [3].

A mobile platform can also be built around a wireless sensor network for its
intra-system communication, for example using zigbee wireless communication

16
modules. It allows for relatively huge data transfer such as video and audio from the
robot to a remote control centre. It also allows for tracking the robot‟s position
through the signal strength of the wireless sensor network [4].
BEAR (Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot) by Vecnarobotics is a type of
rescuing robot built in form of a humanoid that can lift and carry victims for casualty
extraction, unsafe building evacuation, and also searching and rescuing work.
However, its cost is prohibitive [5]. Tehzeeb is another type of rescuing robot that
uses laser scanner module, a manipulator and map generation algorithms for
localisation and navigation in visually poor situation such as in dense smoke
surrounding [3]. Table 1 summarizes all the key features for each of the previous
related projects.

Table 1 Comparison of features among all the previous projects.

17
 Overall, the main approach used to develop the AFFMP was quite
conventional and straight forward. Fundamentally, it was designed to detect for
obstacles, the existence of walls and flames [2,4]. Thus, it must possesses a good
wall-following algorithm, for instance, it depends on the brightness level of the colors
on the wall, either black or white [8]. In order to improve the accuracy of the flame
detection system, the AFFMP may need to move closer to the fire source (around
30cm from the fire source) and even closer to extinguish it [2, 4]. The AFFMP was
designed to navigate through a specific designed maze that consists of many rooms
and connecting paths, search for fire (usually simulated by a candle flame), extinguish
the fire in the shortest time period and return back to the original position [2]. Some
of the key features for AFFMP are summarized in the following section:

2.2 Line Following

4 sets of infrared (IR) sensors were used to implement the line following
feature on the AFFMP. Each set of IR sensors were arranged side by side for both IR
emitter and IR receiver [9]. The different level of IR reflection created by the black
lines and white lines become the principle of working for the line detector [9].
Different voltage levels will be generated depending on the output from the IR
receiver, whether there is any reflected light from the reflective lines [9]. Once the IR
sensor detects the line, it will give logic „1‟ and vice versa [7]. The outputs from IR
sensors are fed into the interrupt pin of the microcontroller so that the AFFMP can
adjust itself to keep its body always within the line track automatically [11].

An IR sensor usually has an angle of 450 from the x-axis of the infrared
radiation beam [7]. Normally, the IR Sensors is having the viewing angle of ±15º [6].
If the AFFMP is using 5 IR sensors, then the total coverage of IR Sensors are 150º
±75º [6]. Alternatively, IR phototransistors can also be used for flame detection
purposes [6, 8, 9]. For optimum performance, stability and reliability of the line
tracking system, the IR sensors should be placed on the centerline of the AFFMP‟s
body chassis symmetrically [9].

There is another approach of utilizing 2 IR sensors to implement the line

following feature as well [13]. Logic „0‟ is used to indicate that the AFFMP is out of
the line while logic „1‟ signifies that the AFFMP is within the line, as summarized in
Table 2 [13].

18
 Left Right Conditions
Sensor Sensor

0 0 Whole robot is outside the line track.

0 1 Left side of the robot is outside of the line

track.

1 0 Right side of the robot is outside of the line

track.

1 1 Whole robot is within the line track.

Table 2 The conditions/states of both IR Sensors [13].

2.3 Flame Detection

The flame detection module was built around flame sensors. The analog
output from the flame sensors were fed into the analog to digital signal converter
(ADC) input pin of the microcontroller. When the output from the flame sensor is
greater than the minimum preset threshold value, it signifies that there is a fire source
in front of the AFFMP. The minimum threshold was set based on the desired
sensitivity, overall performance, reduced-interference and the mobility of the
AFFMP.

If the minimum threshold value is set to high, then the sensitivity of the
sensing mode will be reduced. Also, the stability and accuracy of the sensing mode
will be compromised and traded off as well. The output value of the Flame Sensors
will increase gradually when the AFFMP is moving closer to the fire source. By
having a single flame sensor on the mobile platform, the region covered by the
AFFMP might be quite limited. However, if the AFFMP is made to turn around for
360 degrees, the coverage of the AFFMP increases tremendously [6, 9].

The AFFMP was also designed to adapt to various kind of environments with
different levels of light intensity by using the Dynamic Method to set the minimum
threshold value as described below [9]:

1) The AFFMP will capture the intensity of any given environment for 10 times
via the Flame Sensor‟s readings without any fire source.

19
 2) The data is then processed using the Median Average Filtering Method. The
maximum and minimum data are eliminated as they are the outliers that will
affect the accuracy for flame detection.
3) The remaining 8 values are used to calculate for the average value.
4) The average value is then added with an offset value, delta T = 4 so that the
random interference is taken into account and considerations.

2.4 Obstacle Avoidance

Obstacle avoidance is the additional feature that can be embedded into the
robotics system so that it will not collide or hit with any obstacles during the
navigation process [2]. This measure is taken so that the AFFMP can move freely
without any collisions with any obstacles [6]. It can be implemented by using
ultrasonic sensors. Basically, there are two terms defined in the obstacles avoidance
module, which are the “free space” and “obstacle” [7]. The safe distance between the
AFFMP and the obstacle, Ds is updated from time to time while the AFFMP is
navigating, which will keep the AFFMP not too close to any obstacles [7]. The
relationship of the ultrasonic sensor and its distance is given by [7]:

1, Ds  Dsafe
Dultrasonic  { Dsafe (Eqn. 1)
, Ds  Dsafe
Ds

where Dsafe is the preset threshold value (constant) for the distance between the
Mobile Platform and the obstacle while Ds is the value that changes continuously
when the Mobile Platform navigates around. If the Mobile Platform is not
approaching to any obstacles, then its Dultrasonic value will be always equal to 1. When
the Mobile Platform gets too closed with any obstacles, the Ds value will be greater
than the Dsafe value and thus yields a Dultrasonic value which is less than 1.

The obstacle avoidance module is implemented by converting the analog

output from the ultrasonic sensor into digital form by using the 8 bits A/D converter
inside the microcontroller and performs a comparison with the previously set
threshold value to see whether the AFFMP is too closed with any obstacles [6, 10].
The obstacle bits will be set in another register if any obstacles are detected [6].
Alternatively, instead of using the ultrasonic sensor, the ranging sensor (Sharp
GP2D120) can also be used for obstacle detection and avoidance purpose as well [6,

20
8, 10]. It has the detection range of 9cm to 80cm, whereby the voltage is inversely
proportional to the distance of the AFFMP from the wall [10].

2.5 Fire Extinguishing

The fire extinguishing system is activated once the Flame Sensors detects that
there is a fire source and the distance between the Autonomous Fire Fighting Mobile
Platform and the fire source is closed enough [6]. The fire extinguishing system that
is commonly used in the Autonomous Fire Fighting Mobile Platform is the DC Fan in
order to blow off the candle flame [8, 11]. There are some other alternatives of fire
extinguisher tools, for example, the robotic snuffers or computer controlled CO2
streams that can be used as the fire extinguishing system [8]. Table 3 shows the
different classes of fires caused by various materials while Table 4 shows the various
types of fire extinguishers that can used to put off each class of fires.

Class of Materials
Fires

A Solids (Paper, Wood, Plastic).

B Liquids (Paraffin, Petrol, Oil).

C Gases (Propane, Butane, Methane).

D Metals (Sodium, Lithium, Manganese, Aluminium, Magnesium,

Titanium in the form of swarf).

E Electrical Apparatus.

F Cooking oil & fat.

Table 3 Class of Fires [12].

21
 Types of Characteristics
Fire Extinguisher

Water -Cheapest and commonly used to put off Class A fire.

-Not suitable for Class B fire.

Foam -Slightly expensive than water type.

-Used to put off Class A and B fires.

-Not suitable for fire involves electricity.

Dry Powder -Multipurpose Extinguisher.

-Used for Class A, B, and C fires.

-Best for running liquid fires (Class B).

-Effectively extinguishes Class C Gas fire.

Carbon dioxide -Ideal for fires involves electrical apparatus.

-Disadvantages: Fire might re-ignite for Class B liquid fire.

Wet chemical -Used to put off Class F fire.

Metal -Used to put off Class D fire.

Table 4 Types of Fire Extinguishers [12].

22
 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Methodology

The implementation of this project involves the construction of the

Autonomous Fire Fighting Mobile Platform (AFFMP), interfacing of hardware such
as the motor driver circuitry, LDR sensors circuitry, Flame Sensors,
Heat/Temperature Sensor, Smoke Sensor and the developed algorithm for the
microcontroller to provide artificial intelligence to the Mobile Platform itself. The
priority of this project is the fire detection capabilities and its accuracy for flame
detection though the developed algorithm, preferably at the minimum level of error as
possible. The overall flow of the whole project is shown in Figure 3.

Problem Identification

Propose a solution

Research

System Design

Fabrication

Verification & Testing

of the complete system

Enhancements to the
whole system

Completion of the
project

Figure 3 The flows of the project.

23
 Figure 4 The working principle of AFFMP.

Figure 4 visually illustrates how the AFFMP works. The PIC16F877A

microcontroller chip is plugged into the SK40C board. The MPLAB Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) is the interface used to develop the C algorithm to
provide the intelligence to the AFFMP. Each functional module will be developed in
separate sub-functions and it will be called from the main module of the C algorithm.
For verification purposes on the developed algorithm, the PIC16F Simulator
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is used to simulate the overall
functionality of the coding to ensure its functionality is correct and accurate. Once the
coding is verified to be working correctly, the algorithm will be compiled and loaded
into the PIC microcontroller chip on SK40C board by using the JTAG Programmer
Cable

24
 Figure 5 The block diagram for the complete AFFMP.

Figure 5 shows the block diagram of the developed AFFMP, which is capable
to patrol the hazardous sites via the guiding track and perform real-time checking for
fire source. The lightest 1kg powder type fire extinguisher can be used in the fire
extinguishing system since it can put off almost all classes of fires. However, due to
budget constraint and no collaboration with the fire extinguisher distributors for
project development, the fire extinguishing system is being replaced with the 6V DC
fan to blow off the candle flame. AFFMP has 5 different power supplies with
common ground, each of them is used to power up motor driver circuitry (9V
Alkaline battery), SK40C main board (9V Zinc Chloride battery via 7805 voltage
regulator), LDR sensors circuitry (9V Alkaline battery via 7805 voltage regulator),
Flame Sensors, Heat/Temperature Sensor, Smoke Sensor circuitry and DC fan (9V
Alkaline battery via 7805 voltage regulator).
Four pairs of super bright white LEDs (Emitter) and LDRs sensors (Receiver),
as shown in Appendix I, are being utilized for line following feature to ensure the
AFFMP always aligns itself within the guiding track if no fire source is detected. The
arrangement of the LDR Sensors are put side by side between the LED (Emitter) and
LDR (Receiver), installed on the front part the AFFMP body chassis symmetrically,
namely as left sensor, middle left sensor, middle right sensor, and right sensor. The
analog outputs from LDR sensors are fed into a comparator and later on to the digital

25
pins of the microcontroller.
Table 5 summarizes all the components and sub-modules that are integrated in
the AFFMP.

No. Hardware Illustrations

Motor Driver
1 Circuitry

Function: To drive the DC motors on the AFFMP.

Please refer to Appendix H for schematic.

LEDs(Emitter) & LDRs(Receiver) Circuitry.

LEDs & LDRs

2 Sensors
Circuitry

Comparator Circuitry to adjust the sensitivity of LDR

sensors.

26
 Function: To implement the line following feature to keep the
AFFMP always aligns within the black color guiding track.
Please refer to Appendix I for schematic.

Fire
3 Extinguishing
System
(6V DC Fan)

Function: To extinguish the fire source (Candle flame).

(Act as temporary Fire Extinguishing System).
Please refer to Appendix J for schematic.

4
Flame Sensor

Function: To detect for flame / fire source.

Please refer to Appendix K for datasheet.

Heat /
Temperature
5 Sensor &
Smoke Sensor

Function : Smoke Sensor to detect for smoke. (Leftmost)

Heat Sensor to measure for heat/temperature. (Middle)
Please refer to Appendix L & Appendix M for datasheet.

27
 Guiding Track
6 (Black Insulation
Tape)

Function: Serves as the guiding track to the AFFMP.

Plywood
7 Gamefield
( 4 inch X
8 inch )

Function: Acts as a game field to the AFFMP. Black

insulation tape will be pasted on it to define the track.

8 PIC16F877A
Microcontroller

Function: To provide intelligence to the AFFMP.

9 SK40C Board

Function: To program the PIC chip and provide input pins

and output pins interface to the AFFMP.
Please refer to Appendix F for schematic.

28
10 JTAG CABLE

Function: To load the C coding inside MPLAB interface into

the PIC chip.

Power Supply to
SK40C Board
(9V)
11 Normal Current
(~19.46mA) Function: To provide Vcc (5V) and GND (0V) to the
SK40C Board.

Power Supply to
Motor Driver
Circuitry

12 (9V)
Higher Current
Function: To provide Vss (9V) and 0V (GND) to the
(~20.00mA)
Motor Driver Circuitry.

13 Fire Source
Indicator –
Candle Flame

Table 5 The main components / elements in AFFMP.

Figure 6 shows the implementation of the line following feature by using 4

LDR sensors while Table 6 provides the detailed descriptions of necessary
movements to the AFFMP, depending on the states of each LDR sensors. By default,
LDR sensors will yield logic „1‟ since white background reflects back all the emitted

29
 lights and the sensor‟s output will be logic „0‟ if black strip line is detected as black
line absorbs all the emitted lights.

Figure 6 Implementation of the Line following feature by using LDR

sensors to the AFFMP.

Case Left Middle Middle Right Necessary

Sensor Left Right Sensor Movements
Sensor Sensor
1 1 0 0 1 Forward
2 1 1 0 0 Right (1 unit), Forward
3 1 1 1 0 Right (2 units), Forward
4 1 1 1 1 Based on most recently memory position, Right (3 units), Forward
5 0 0 1 1 Left (1 unit), Forward
6 0 1 1 1 Left (2 units), Forward
7 1 1 1 1 Based on most recently memory position, Right (3 units), Forward
Table 6 Case by case implementation for line following feature.

Since the light intensity in every environment is slightly different, during the
initial startup of the platform, the Dynamic Method will be adapted to set the
minimum threshold value for the side Flame Sensor in order to avoid for false
positive detection of fire flame by tuning the adjustable resistor [2]. The false positive
detection of flame can be avoided through pre-calibration or fined-tuned before
AFFMP is set to execute the fire-fighting tasks. For instance, during the pre-
deployment of AFFMP, the ambience of environment such as the light intensity will
be collected by adapting the Dynamic Method, analyzed and filtered in order to
increase the accuracy of the flame detection on AFFMP.
The flame sensor used in this project is capable to detect for flame‟s
wavelength ranging from 760nm to 1100nm whereby it covers for visible spectrum
and partially of the infrared spectrum, as shown in Appendix K [14, 15]. The primary
inspection of fire source is done by Flame Sensor by feeding its analog output into a
comparator to be compared with the preset threshold value and later on to digital pin
of the microcontroller. Other than the primary inspection, the AFFMP is also
equipped with secondary inspection for fire source, which are the Smoke Sensor and

30
the Heat/Temperature Sensor. If any fire source is being detected, the AFFMP will
stop from moving forward and turns perpendicular 900 out of the guiding track and
heads towards the fire source.
Once the AFFMP exits from the guiding track, the mounted fire extinguishing
system will start to extinguish the fire automatically. Once the fire is being
extinguished, the AFFMP will reverse back the route and return back into the guiding
track to continue the patrolling task.
Also, the obstacle avoidance feature can be implemented into the system as
well to prevent the AFFMP from hitting or colliding with any objects-like obstacles
by using the Ultrasonic Sensor if the timeframe for FYP permits. The distance
between the AFFMP and the obstacle can be tuned or adjusted accordingly through
experiments.
Appendix A, B, C, D, and Appendix E show the progress of constructing the
AFFMP. For the interfacing of hardware and software, please refer to Appendix F, G,
H, I, and Appendix J. For complete sourcecode of AFFMP, please refer to Appendix
P. The flowchart in Figure 7 describes the overall implementation of algorithm for the
Autonomous Fire Fighting Mobile Platform.

31
 Figure 7 The overall flowchart for algorithm implementation.

For the software section, the development of the algorithm involves the stages
of
i. Basic movements coding (Forward, Backward, Left, Right, and Stop) with
speed control using PWM technique.
ii. Line following algorithm.
iii. Flame detection algorithm.
iv. Fire extinguishing system activation algorithm.
v. Return back to the guiding track algorithm once the flame is put off.

32
3.2 Project Activities

This project involves the following tasks:

i. Builds up the AFFMP‟s body, wheels and motors.

ii. Integrates all sorts of sub-systems, ranging from LDR Sensors Circuitry,
Motor Driver Circuitry, Flame Sensors, Heat/Temperature Sensor, Smoke
Sensor Circuitry and the SK40C Microcontroller Circuitry.
iii. Develops the C coding to provide intelligence to the AFFMP by using PIC
16F877A microcontroller.
iv. Performs full test run of the AFFMP and ensure for its stable performance.

3.3 Key Milestone

First Stage :

1) Builds the AFFMP‟s body, wheels and motors. Done

2) Purchasing of all components: Sensors, Rechargeable Done

Battery& Charger, LDR Sensors, and etc.
Second Stage :

Hardware Section:

1) Designs and constructs the Motor Driver Circuitry to drive Done

the DC Motors.
2) Designs and constructs the LDR Sensors Circuitry for line Done
tracking purpose.
3) Designs and constructs the Fire Extinguishing System with Done
its holder.
4) Integrates all working parts of circuitry including sensors to Done
the AFFMP.
Software Section:

1) Develops the basic movements coding: Left, Right, Forward, Done

Backward, and Stop.
-Controls the speed of the AFFMP by using Pulse Width
Modulation (PWM) technique inside the coding.
2) Develops line following algorithm for the AFFMP to run on Done
track.

33
 3) Develops flame detection algorithm and respond towards the Done
flame. Once extinguished the flame, return back to the
guiding track and continue the patrolling feature.
4) Combines all the modules / codes as a complete system. Full Done
test run of the AFFMP.
Third Stage:

1. Troubleshooting and fine tuning to ensure the AFFMP Done

functions properly.
-Measurements for each subsystem module as results.
-Video recording session as backup.

Table 7 Key Milestone.

34
3.4 Gantt Chart

Figure 8 Gantt Chart for FYP I.

35
Figure 9 Gantt Chart for FYP II.

36
3.5 Tools and Hardware Required

Software Hardware

PIC Simulator IDE Parallax Robot Body Chassis

MPLAB IDE Motor Driver Circuitry

PICkit2 v2.61 LEDs & LDRs Sensors Circuitry

Fire Extinguishing System

SK40C Start-up Kit

PIC16F877A Microcontroller

JTAG Programmer Cable

Batteries / Power Supplies

Flame Sensor

Smoke Sensor

Heat Sensor

Figure 10 Tools & Equipment required to develop the AFFMP.

37
 CHAPTER 4
RESULT & DISCUSSION

4.1 Results & Measurements

This chapter discusses about the measurements and data gatherings for various
type of sensors and circuitry used in the AFFMP. It is important to know the range of
outputs so that it can be used as the reference data during the troubleshooting stages
to determine whether there is any hardware failure or sensors failure when the
integrated system does not work as designed.

4.1.1 Speed Control of DC Motors by using PWM technique

By assigning either clockwise or anti-clockwise rotations to both DC motors,

it will produce different types of movements to the AFFMP, as summarized in
Table 8.

Left Motor Right Motor Movements

Forward Forward Forward
Backward Backward Backward
Forward Stop Turn Right
Forward Backward Sharp Right Turning
Stop Forward Turn Left
Backward Forward Sharp Left Turning
Table 8 Configurations to produce different types of movements to
the AFFMP.

Based on the configuration of this AFFMP prototype, the range of Pulse Width
Modulation (PWM) value that can be used to control the speed of AFFMP falls
within 160 to 255. By adjusting the duty cycle of the motor from minimum 62.75% to
maximum 100%, we can set the desired speed to the AFFMP for its movements.
Table 9 illustrates the duty cycle set to the AFFMP for speed control during its
navigation process.

38
 Duty Cycle in Percentage
PWM value
175 68.63%
180 70.59%
185 72.55%
220 86.27%
Table 9 PWM value & Duty Cycle used in AFFMP.

The motor driver circuitry requires 2 inputs for each motor from the user,
whereby A1 or B1 is the Most Significant Bit (MSB) while A0 or B0 is the Least
Significant Bit (LSB). If we apply the same inputs for both inputs to the motor driver
circuitry, no output will be produced by the motor driver circuitry. If MSB is applied
to 1 and LSB is applied to 0, then the motor driver circuitry will yield clockwise
rotation to the motor and vice-versa, which is the LSB is applied to 1 and MSB is
applied to 0, then the motor driver circuitry will produce anti-clockwise rotation to
the motor respectively.
If we wish to produce forward movements to the AFFMP, we apply forward
movements to both motors and backward movements to both motors if we want to
produce reverse movements to the AFFMP. When the left motor is applied backward
movements and right motor is applied forward movements, the AFFMP will turn left.
In order to produce right turning movements to the AFFMP, we need to apply
forward movements to left motor and backward movements to right motor.

4.1.2 Flame Sensor

The approach used to measure the analog output values from sensor is by
using a SK40C board. The DC input of 12V 1A is fed into the SK40C board and the
7805 voltage regulator steps the voltage down into 5V. The sensors have 3 wires,
which are known as the Vcc terminal, Ground terminal and analog output terminal.
The Vcc and GND are connected to the Vcc pin and GND pin of the SK40C board
respectively. For the analog output terminal of the sensors, it is connected to a Digital
Multimeter for voltage measurement. The Digital Multimeter‟s positive terminal is
connected to the analog output while the negative terminal of the Digital Multimeter
is connected to the GND of the SK40C board.

39
 Table 10 shows the experiment conducted to determine the most suitable
indicator as fire source by using the Flame Sensor. The candle is the most suitable
indicator for fire source as the Flame Sensor reacts positively towards it.

No. Type of Sensors Illustrations& Range of values when approaching fire source

Detection Range :
20cm (4.8V) – 100cm (1V)
Wavelength:
760nm to 1100nm, Angle : 600

Using Candle:
Approx. 15cm distance : 3.6V to 4.1V (CHOSEN)
Using RED LED:
Touched surface between flame sensor &LED:
2.2V ~ 3.4V
Approx. 20cm distance : 0.04V (FAILED)

1 Flame Sensor Using YELLOW LED:

Touched surface : 0.14V
Approx. 20cm distance : 0.00V (FAILED)
Using ORANGE LED:
Touched surface : 0.63V
Approx. 20cm distance : 0.01V (FAILED)

Using GREEN LED:

Touched Surface between Flame Sensors & LED:

0.01V ~ 0.02V
Approx. 20cm distance : 0.00V ~ 0.01V (FAILED)
Table 10 Initial raw data for Flame Sensor during FYP I.

40
 Figure 11 Characteristic of flame sensor.

As we can observe from Figure 11, the maximum detection range of flame
sensor used is 26cm. The flame sensor can detects the wavelength of the flame that
falls in between 760nm to 1100nm.

4.1.3 Smoke Sensor

Table 11 shows the experiment conducted to determine the response of the
Smoke Sensor with thick smoke from joss sticks.

No. Type of Sensors Illustrations& Range of values when approaching fire source

1 Smoke Sensor

Surrounding without Smoke : 0.6V ~ 0.7V

Surrounding with thick Smoke : 2.4V ~ 3.8V

Table 11 Initial raw data for Smoke Sensor during FYP I.

41
4.1.4 Heat/Temperature Sensor
Table 12 shows the experiment to determine the response of heat /temperature
sensor in room temperature.

No. Type of Sensors Illustrations& Range of values when approaching fire source

LM35 LINER
1 TEMPERATURE
SENSOR

Digital Outputs: Logic „1‟ for room temperature,

Logic „0‟ for temperature exceeds the default preset threshold
value.

Table 12 Initial raw data for Heat/Temperature Sensor during FYP I.

4.1.5 LDR Sensor

Through experiment, it has been identified that the super bright white LEDs
and LDR sensors are more suitable to be used to implement the line following feature
due to its higher sensitivity and stable performance as compared to the IR sensor, as
shown in Table 13.

42
 Bright White LED
Infrared (IR) Sensor (Emitter) & Light
(Emitter & Receiver) Dependent Resistors (LDR)
(Receiver)
Colour of Emitter Transparent White
Colour of Receiver Black Light brown
Colour of Black White
Background Surface
Colour of Line / Track White Black
Logic „1‟ to detect for track. Logic „0‟ to detect for track.
Detection strategies Logic „0‟ to detect for Logic „1‟ to detect for
background surface. background surface.
White colour reflects back all Black colour absorbs all the
Theories / Concepts behind the light and produce logic lights from emitter and
the detection strategies „1‟. produce logic „0‟.
By default: Logic „0‟ By default: Logic „1‟
Detection Range <1cm <2cm
Sensitivity Low & not consistent High & quite consistent
performance for detection. performance for detection.
Table 13 Characteristics of IR sensor and LDR sensor.

Figure 12 shows the readings for each of the LDR sensors during white
surface and black surface while Table 14 illustrates that by using the super bright
white LEDs and yellow LEDs as the emitter will slightly influence the overall reading
of voltage from the LDR sensors as well.

Figure 12 Voltage levels for LDR sensors on black surface and white
surface.

43
 Types of Detection Range
Sensors
At a height of about 1.2cm between LDR sensors and the
surface, when the line track is not detected, the voltage level are
Right : 3.41V
LDR Sensors Middle Right : 3.39 V
(With
super Middle Left : 3.37V
bright Left : 3.36V
white
(With slight variations from time to time)
LEDs)
(More stable) When black line track is detected, the voltage level will be
ZERO.
At a height of about 1.2cm between LDR sensors and the
surface, when the line track is not detected, the voltage level are
LDR Sensors Right : 3.08V
(With yellow Middle Right : 3.09V
LEDs)
Middle Left : 3.06V
(Unstable)
Left : 3.08V
(With slight variations from time to time)
When black line track is detected, the voltage level will be
ZERO.
Table 14 Comparison of voltage levels for LDR sensors with super
bright white and yellow LEDs.

As shown in Table 14, the LDR sensors (receiver) can operate more reliably and
stable if super bright white LEDs (emitter) are being used to implement the line
following feature to AFFMP as compared to Yellow LEDs (emitter).

44
 CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusion

The developed Autonomous Fire Fighting Mobile Platform has shown to be a

feasible project. Based on the findings, after integrating all the hardware such as
flame sensors, motor driver circuitry, LDR sensors, the expected patrolling and fire
extinguishing tasks are possible to be carried out and executed with minimum level of
error. By deploying the AFFMP to monitor for hazardous site via patrolling process,
it aids to share out the burden of fire-fighters in fire fighting tasks as the fire-fighters
can safely delegate the fire fighting tasks to AFFMP.

Throughout the implementation of AFFMP, there are several huge issues

being encountered. One of the most notably issue is the power supplies for the whole
system. Due to the insufficiency level of voltage in shared power supply, it causes the
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) failed to work for speed control of AFFMP. In order
to overcome this issue, there are 5 separate power supplies been used to power up
separate circuitry by common ground all the power supplies.

Other than that, the failure / inconsistency performance of the yellow LEDs
(Emitter) and LDR sensors circuitry become another challenges in this project.
During the design testing on the breadboard, the combination of yellow LEDs and
LDR sensors works well but once the design has been transferred and soldered on top
of verobod, the circuitry failed to work. The solution to overcome this problem is by
changing the yellow LEDs (Emitter) to super bright white LEDs and fine tune the
comparator with respect to white surface and black surface for line following
purposes.

45
5.2 Recommendations

For future enhancements to the current project, additional features can be

integrated onto the system, namely the wireless communication module, so that it can
communicate between the operator and the victims within the fire site; image
processing technique to analyze for fire source instead of using the flame sensors;
utilization of renewable source of energy such as solar power to drive the main
circuitry on the AFFMP‟s platform; ability to navigate on uneven surfaces; and ability
to climb staircases.

46
 REFERENCES
[1] P.H. Chang and Y.H. Kang, et al., “Control Architecture Design for Fire
Searching Robot using Task Oriented Design Methodology”, SICE-ICASE 2006,
Oct. 2006.
[2] Daniel J. Pack; Robert Avanzato; David J. Ahlgren; Igor M. Verner; “Fire-
Fighting Mobile Robotics and Interdisciplinary Design-Comparative
Perspectives”, IEEE Transactions on Education, 3 August, 2004, Volume 47, No.
3.
[3] Young-Duk Kim; Yoon-Gu Kim; Seung-Hyun Lee;Jeong-Ho Kang; Jinung
An; “Portable Fire Evacuation Guide Robot System”, Intelligent Robots and
Systems, IEEE/RSJ International Conference, 11-15 October 2009. Pages:2789-
2794.
[4] Kuo L. Su; “Automatic Fire Detection System Using Adaptive Fusion
Algorithm for Fire Fighting Robot”, Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, IEEE
International Conference, 8-11 October 2006, Pages:966-971.
[5] Vecna Robotics Co.; “Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR)”,
Available:http://www.vecnarobotics.com/robotics/product-services/bear-robot/
[Accessed : June 27, 2012]
[6] Jared Harwayne-Gidansky; Michael Sudano; “A Low-Complexity Navigation
Algorithm for a Scalable Autonomous Firefighting Vehicle”, Research and
Development, the 5th Student Conference-SCOReD 2007, 11-12 December 2007.
[7] Ting L. Chien; Jr H. Guo; Kuo L. Su; Sheng V. Shiau; “Develop a Multiple
Interface Based Fire Fighting Robot”, Proceedings of International Conference on
Mechatronics on 8-10 May2007, Pages:1-6.
[8] Igor M. Verner; David J. Ahlgren; “Education Design Experiments in
Robotics”, World Automation Congress (WAC), 24-26 July 2006.
[9] Hongke Xu; Hao Chen; Chao Cai; Xunzhao Guo; Jianwu Fang; Zhu Sun;
“Design and Implementation of Mobile Robot Remote Fire Alarm System”,
Intelligence Science and Information Engineering, 2011 International Conference,
Pages:43-47.
[10] Scott Dearie; Kevin Fisher; Brian Rajala; Steven Wasson; “Design and
Construction of a Fully Autonomous Fire Fighting Robot”, 2004 IEEE,
Pages:303-310.

47
[11] Kashif Altaf; Aisha Akbar; Bilal Ijaz; “Design and Construction of an
Autonomous Fire Fighting Robot”, 2007 IEEE.
[12] "Fire Extinguishers: The Different Types"[Online].
Available:http://www.mfs-fire-extinguishers.co.uk/types [Accessed : May 20,
2012]
[13] Shuying Zhao; Wenjun Tan; Shiguang Wen; Chongshuang Guo; “Research on
Robotic Education Based on LEGO Bricks”, Computer Science and Software
Engineering, 2008 International Conference, Pages:733-847.
[14] DFRobot Co. ; “Flame Sensor”,
Available:http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name
=flame&product_id=195 [Accessed : June 27, 2012]
[15] DFRobot Co. ; DFRobot Flame Sensor Technical Datasheet. [Accessed : June
27, 2012]

48
 APPENDIX A
PARALLAX ROBOT BODY CHASSIS PLATFORM

49
 APPENDIX B
AFFMP WITH MOTOR DRIVER CIRCUITRY

50
 APPENDIX C
AFFMP WITH LEDS & LDRS SENSORS SYSTEM

51
 APPENDIX D
AFFMP WITH FLAME SENSORS.

52
 APPENDIX E
COMPLETED AFFMP

53
54
55
56
57
 APPENDIX F
SCHEMATIC FOR SK40C BOARD

58
 APPENDIX G
PIN CONFIGURATIONS FOR PIC16F877A MICROCONTROLLER

59
 APPENDIX H
SCHEMATIC FOR MOTOR DRIVER CIRCUITRY

60
 APPENDIX I
SCHEMATIC FOR LDR SENSORS CIRCUITRY

61
 APPENDIX J
SCHEMATIC FOR FAN/FIRE EXTINGUISHER ACTIVATION

62
 APPENDIX K
DATASHEET FOR FLAME SENSOR

63
64
 APPENDIX L
DATASHEET FOR SMOKE SENSOR

65
 APPENDIX M
DATASHEET FOR HEAT/TEMPERATURE SENSOR

66
67
 APPENDIX N
ELECTREX POSTER

68
 APPENDIX O
NOTIFICATION OF PAPER ACCEPTANCE BY IRIS 2012
CONFERENCE

69
70
APPENDIX P
SOURCECODE

71
72
73
74
75
 APPENDIX Q
SURVEY CONDUCTED AT WWW.SURVEYMONKEY.COM

76
77