Wireless Sensor Networks in Forest Fire Detection

This paper presents the initial steps towards the development of a Forest Fire Detection system based on a wireless sensor network(WSN) where nodes sense the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and temperature. Measurements are used to estimate, at each node ,the likelihood of ignition of a fire as defined by the index. To extend the lifetime of the WSN three approaches have been used: (i)each sensor is equipped with batteries and solar cells; (ii) a centralized power management scheme has been introduced to adapt the duty cycle of each node according to a Fine Fuel Moisture Code(FFMC) and the historical data on the time occurrence of forest fires; and (iii) the sampling rate of the WSN has been bounded by the time taken by a forest fire to cover the maximum distance between sensing nodes, thereby ensuring that even if a sensor node consumed by the fire while in sleep mode, the next sensor node should be active by the time the fire reaches it. To prove concepts, the topology of the network has been designed considering communication and scalability issues, and a laboratory prototype has been implemented and nodes have been characterized under different scenarios.(Fig.1.)

Keywords:

distributed sensing , fire detection , forest fires , network system , wireless sensor network