Ultra-Low-Power Architecture for the Detection and Notification of Wildfires Using the Internet of Things

Abstract

Wildfires kill and injure people, destroy residences, pollute the air, and cause economic loss. In this paper, a low-power Internet of Things (IoT)-based sensor network is developed, which automatically detects fires in forests and sends the location to a central monitoring station with smartphone notifications in a real-time setting. This action helps in the early detection of a fire and firefighters can be notified immediately—thus the spread of the fire and the harm caused by it can be reduced. The proposed system detects fires from the presence of smoke and a sudden increase in temperature. The system also logs the temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, rain, light, and wind speed in different areas of the forest. The sensor nodes transmit the data to a hub using a long-range wireless transmitter and the hub then sends the data to the central monitoring station using the cellular Internet. The sensor nodes and hub are designed with ultra-low-power hardware and software architecture, consuming current of only 0.37 and 1.4 mA, respectively, so that they can be powered by solar panels throughout the year. The central server and smartphone app contain maps, and the wildfire locations are marked in the case of a fire. In the present study, a prototype of the proposed system is successfully developed and tested.