Traditional Bushfire Monitoring Systems

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is one of the leading areas of research. From definition, a sensor is a gadget which detects and responds some type of input from both environmental conditions like heat, light, and pressure or to the physical environment. The output of WSN is usually an electrical signal which is transmitted to a certain controller for further processing. This research paper outlines Bushfire alert and monitoring type of wireless sensor network and the reason as to why it should be implemented. The system can be used to provide a warning message in case of a bushfire. A lot of research has been carried out on bushfire monitoring system but most of them have a complex structure (Hac?, 2003).

This project utilizes short message service via GSM communication. As discussed later in the chapter the project featured by humidity and temperature sensors which are connected to the micro-controller. At the same time the microcontroller interfaces with the GPS receiver and the GSM module so as to communicate gathered sensory information.  The first section of this paper, it highlights the background information of bush-fire monitoring system. The second part is to review some of the approaches that have been implemented as bush-fire systems. Based on the review, the third section will point the gap that is present in the current systems. Section four will outline the methodology used to come up the WSN-Bush fire monitoring systems. Section five will give some of the benefits of this project by pointing some of the advantages of WSN as compared with another monitoring system. The last part is the conclusion.

Keywords: GPS, micro-controller, bush-fire monitoring system, and GSM

Project goals

The overall objective for this project is to support a forest management via the prevention of bushfires. This is done by applying a set of measures by implementing efficient bushfire monitoring system. The strategic objective of this project is mitigation and prevention of natural risks with a special focus on the bushfires.

WSN-Bush fire monitoring system aims at using wireless sensors to monitor forest for the risk of fire and maybe extreme weather conditions. WSN is a type of network which is composed of a large number of sensors which are deployed to monitor the environment via wireless communication. The sensors nodes rely on a battery power supply and their communication (Akyildiz, 2011).

The current systems such as word-of-mouth, watch-towers, and aerial monitoring systems are not efficient and reliable. In addition, the satellite monitoring system is very complex and requires a very high cost to install.  

This proposed project aims at increasing efficiency and on time delivery of alarm message to the relevant fire authorities. The project also aims at reducing the current high cost of installing bush fire systems and the high cost of maintenance.  

Problem statement

As we all know bushfire is one of serious national disaster around the world. Effects of Bushfires have been reported by various organizations one of them being the United Nations; the organization has done several publications on bushfire effects. Bushfire as highlighted by the UN usually starts during summer seasons which results in a huge loss of life and destruction of property. It results in environmental damage and wildlife.  

Proposed WSN-Bush fire monitoring system

Target audience

This project target forest management in all the countries across the world.

There is a various system that has been developed across the world as bushfire monitoring system. One of the systems is the word-of-mouth fire monitoring system. This is a system that is commonly in most of the countries. The system is a human-based that utilizes inter-personal communication aiming to transmit information on a bushfire. One of the advantage of this system is that it is very easy to develop. Second, the system does not need any expertise; it doesn’t need maintenance. One of the major con of the system is that, the system can send an inaccurate alarm message. Second, the message might not be sent on time. Third, they are chances that the sent alarm message might be missing some bits of information (KHAN, 2016).

Another system is the fire watch-towers bushfire monitoring system. This is towers with a pyramid shape and are usually 10 to 20 meters. They are constructed on a flat-topped hill. Some equipment has been mounted in these towers to facilitate detection of any fire in the forest. If bushfire is detected the equipment points to the direction of the bushfire.  Features of this system are a human being who act as observers, radio, fax, and telephone which act as the communication technology, and the monitoring channel which is the bushfire watchtowers. Some of the advantages of these system is that there provide a better visibility compared to world-of-mouth systems. Second, the system provide an earlier detection of fire. Some of the cons related with watch-tower bushfire monitoring system is that it very costly to construct the towers. Second, is that the system provide a very limited range of operation (Kucuk, et al., 2011) 

Aerial and ground monitoring bushfire monitoring system is a type of system which utilizes temporary fireguards and ground patrolling for fire detection, control, and protection. The system also utilizes aircraft bushfire over the air and sends an alarm message if it’s observed. The system works by first observing a fire via air of through ground men. The report is the transmitted through the telephone to the relevant authorities. The system has three major features which are patrol craft and ground men who are the monitoring channel. The communication medium is the observers, and the communication channel is through the radio. One of the advantages of this system is that aerial patrolling can detect a wider range as compared to the previous two systems. Some of the disadvantages of the system is that it is very expensive as it utilizes aerial patrolling. Second, an alarm message to the relevant authorities might not be sent in time (Farrugia, 2011)    

The most recent system is the satellite-based bush fire system. This is a system that utilizes satellite which consists of a communication network and a satellite. The satellite component is used to monitor the forest from space via an embedded sensor network, in case of any fire, the satellite component activates sirens which sends a warning message which travels through the communication network component. Some of the features of this type of system are a satellite with a sensor network, sea receiver station, an aircraft receiver, and a satellite-commuter link. One of the major advantage with these type of system an improved reliability as compared with the previous three systems. The systems are able to send alarm message in time and it relies on accurate information related to bushfire. Some of the disadvantages are that it is complicated and it requires a high maintenance and establishment cost (Fujimoto, 2008).      

Benefits of WSN-Bush fire monitoring system

Novelty and methodology 

Wireless Sensor Network implementation is on the rise in the current 20^th century. One of the major reasons is the ease of implementation; with the wireless sensor network, there is no need for running long cables. In addition to this wireless sensor network have the ability to operate in a very harsh environment so long there a GSM network coverage. Second, it is very easy to repair and troubleshoot a wireless sensor network.

Various industries have applied wireless sensor network. One of them is the Robinson Brothers, these are specialists in chemical manufacturing. They have deployed wireless transmitter in the main supplying unit to remotely control the temperatures of the power plant  

Innovation and Originality

The Gap that exists with the four solutions with the wireless sensor network; bushfire monitoring system

From the literature review, it is evident that the four solutions describe each of them have an issue. The first system described; word-of-mouth system is not reliable. The second system, ground and aerial system is very costly to maintain and build due to the use of craft.  Beside cost, Satellite system is very complex and require highly skilled personnel to come up. With a bush-fire monitoring system, there is always the need for accuracy and efficiency and if one of these two features is missing then it becomes more difficult and complicated to implement the system. Also, if the cost of building a system is very high like that of a satellite system, then it becomes almost impossible to implement the system. This document proposes a wireless sensor network bushfire monitoring systems. This is a system which is featured by off-the-shelf components which require the minimal cost to maintain as compared to a satellite of aerial type of system. This means the WSN monitoring system addresses the need of efficiency and cost. Reliability is also one of the issues addressed by the system. The system can detect fire and send an alarm message on time.

The type of research that was conducted 

This is the scientific type of research which is a qualitative one. The project aims at gaining insights into the issues faced by the current monitoring system. The research outlines give a justification as to why organizations and countries need to adopt WSN systems in monitoring bushfires.  The research also uncovers some of the trends that are used in satellite monitoring systems. First, this project seeks to formulate a question that is there a need of new bush monitoring systems due to the destruction of the environment and the ineffectiveness of the current systems in play. The project proceeds to systematically use a set of procedures to answer the question by giving a solution of wireless sensor network systems. The project adopted this type of research due to the ability of qualitative research in providing textual descriptions of WSN-bush monitoring systems (Berg, 2015).

One of the advantages of this type of research is its opened nature. It allows the project to flexibility probe the current systems used monitoring bushfires. Second, the subject material which is bushfire monitoring is evaluated with an in-depth detail; since the goal of this project is to provide efficient, low cost, and reliable fire monitoring systems, qualitative type of research helps in creating measurable outcomes. Third, since it is not based on data, the qualitative research helps in creating industry-specific insights thus giving a chance to creativity and innovation (Lewis, 2015).         

Effects of Bushfire

Unique features with Wireless Sensor Network

Sensors are used to detect and monitor some physical parameters such as humidity, temperature, and water quality, object attributes such as size, position, direction, and speed. There are also used to detect pressure, soil composition, and sound.  As compared with traditional wireless communication network a wireless sensor network has various unique features. One of is that the device is self-configurable; usually, sensor nodes in a WSN device are deployed without any planning or engineering technique required. Once the sensor node is installed most of the WSN can be able to automatically configure themselves. Second, WSN device is application specific. Third, there is no global identification that is required as it is impossible to build a global addressing scheme for a WSN (Szabo? & Vida?cs, 2012).

There are various applications of WSN such as environmental monitoring such as habitat monitoring. These are systems used to monitor conditions for wild plants or animals in wild habitats. Another one is water quality monitoring systems which are used to monitor water or air quality. Hazard monitoring which are used to monitor chemical or biological hazards locations. Other sensor networks are disaster monitoring which is used to detect non-natural or natural disasters. Sensor networks have also been applied by the military. Example there have been used in object project example in protecting power plants and in battlefield monitoring. In here there are used to monitor the presence of vehicles and forces thus enabling close surveillance of the opposing forces. Others are remote sensing and intelligent guiding. In health care sensor network have been used for behavior monitoring and medical monitoring. In here they are used to monitor the behaviors of patients which then alerts doctors of medical attention that is required. Sensor networks are also used in monitoring vital body signs for a human being (Sohraby, et al., 2011).

Why sensor network for monitoring bushfire

First is the low power consumption; reducing power consumption is one of the objectives of any monitoring system. Sensor nodes require very low power to function. In fact, most of them use rechargeable batteries which takes a long period before they are replaced with others. Second, is the requirement of self-configurability; most of the monitoring systems especially fire systems are deployed without c careful planning or an engineering consideration. This means that once a monitoring system is deployed it should be able to configure itself automatically without the requirement of expertise. Sensor networks are scalable; they are scalable to the various network sizes that are available at that time. As compared to other fire monitoring system sensor networks are not prone to failures due to the physical environment. Most of the sensor network have the ability to self-recovering in times of failures. In addition, a sensor can detect an error in the device and alert the system administrator (Oteafy & Hassanein, 2014).

The requirement of WSN-Bush Fire monitoring system

One of the requirement when deploying any wireless sensor network is that the system must be able to provide an error control mechanism. This is because at times data is required to be delivered a harsh physical environment which may be noisy and time-varying channels. Second, most of the sensor networks are deployed in a hostile environment this means that effective security measures should be put in place to prevent data loss or malfunctioning of the sensor node. Third, the communication protocol which is designed for the sensor network ought to effectively make use of the available bandwidth. Lastly, the success of WSN relies on the current laid standardization effort. One of the standards is the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. This is a standard which specializes on the MAC and physical layers for low-rate WPANs. Other standards are the ZigBee standard and the IEEE 1451 standard which is a standard that defines and set of open and common network-independent communication interfaces (Polastre, 2004).

Conclusion

Considerations when developing this project

The major consideration for this project is the communication protocol. First, this project assumes that the areas that need deployment of WSN-bush fire systems have GSM network available. In addition to this, the project aims at implementing Zeegee standard this because other standards which are used by another Wireless sensor network such as WiMax, EDGE, and GPRS consume a significant amount of power making them unfit to be used as communication protocols even though they provide a significant range and throughput. The system can also utilize IEEE 802.11 and 1EEE 802.15.4 standards as it have the same features with ZigBee (Elahi & Gschwender, 2010)

WSN-Bush monitoring system architecture          

WSN-Bush fire monitoring system utilizes the existing technology. As shown in figure one, the system utilizes the micro-controller. This component is the control center which interfaces with the mobile phone module and the sensor module. Environment conditions such as temperature and humidity are detected by sensors are regularly collected by the micro-controller component. In case the input data surpasses the predefined threshold then the microcontroller then reads the location data and information of the global positioning system receiver and then controls the GSM modem. The collected data in terms of location, temperature and humidity are sent in a short message format to an SMS server or to a mobile phone.

Figure 1: System Block Diagram

The type of sensor that is used in this WSN system is a single chip multi-sensor or model SHT75. It can be able to measure relative temperature and humidity with very high accuracy. The sensor can also take a wide range of measurements. The mobile phone feature in this system to obtain the location information. On the other hand, the GSM modem is used to transfer humidity and temperature information to the SMS server (Fahmy, 2016).

WSN- bushfire monitoring system has four major parts which are the sensor routing, GPS routine, the main program, and the GSM routine. The sensor routine is used to control the required communication between the sensors and the micro-controller. The main program is the software part which is the backbone of the WSN system. Flowchart figure describe the operation of the system (Lewis, 2014)

 

Figure 2: The main program Flowchart

Main program is the backbone of the WSN-bush fire system. It determines what ought to be done in the systems. This means that it affects the system performance and it also decides whether the expected system functions can be achieved. As one can view from the flowchart diagram. The main program initializes the system first, where the system is instructed to collect the humidity and the temperature of the area which is then converted into binary temperature and the humidity is converted into decimal values. The system then compares the temperature against the laid threshold with the location data information. The system then turns on the GSM modem then send SMS and later turns off the GSM modem.

Sensors is another feature in Bushfire system controls the required communication between the temperature and humidity sensors and the micro-controller. The flowchart is shown by the Figure 2 below. The communication process is as follows where one issues the transmission start sequence, then sets measurement resolution as 12-bit, 14 bit or 8-bit. They then send measurement start command so as to measure relative humidity or temperature. One then waits 11 ms, 55 ms or 210 ms. The system the detects measurement completion signal which is from sensors to prepare to receive data. The system then issue communication completion signal which then terminates data transmission

Figure 3: Sensors Routing Flowchart

GSM routine component part, on the other hand, is responsible for controlling the GSM modem so as to send a short message. This is done by setting band rate to 9600bps and enabling GSM buffer. This is done aiming to obtain the location information from the GPS module (Verdone, 2008).   

Figure 4: GSM Routine Flowchart

Feasibility and prototype 

The proposed bushfire monitoring system is composed of five benefits which are low-cost, wide range, it can be built easy (has no complex structure), easy exchange of information, and have a high efficiency. In terms of cost, the device is less than five hundred US dollars. The only major cost in the device is the GSM and GPS module which are used to send the location and sensory information. Second, the proposed project can be implanted in any area in any country so long as they exist a coverage of GSM network (Cayirci, 2014). The alarm message is transmitted to the SMS server or to the mobile phone with no people as message carrier involved. This in turn makes the project reliable and at the same time increases efficiency. Lastly, the WSN system used of-the-shelf component like micro-controller which makes the system very to come up with. Table one below compares WSN-bush fire and monitoring system with other systems (Zhao, 2013).

Table 1: Comparison of Wireless Sensor network bushfire monitoring system with other systems

Monitoring channel	Word of mouth monitoring system	Watch-tower monitoring system	Ground and aerial monitoring systems	Satellite monitoring system	WSN- Bush fire monitoring system
Communication channel	Human being	Fire Watch observers	Patrol main craft	Satellite network	Sensors
Communication medium	Human being communication chain	Human being observers	Telephone, Radio, and Fax	Communication network	GPRS communication network
Communication technology	Telephone, Fax, telegraph, FAX, and Radio	Telephone, Fax, telegraph, FAX, and Radio	Telephone, Fax, telegraph, FAX, and Radio	Satellite computer linkages	Module phone GPRS modem
	Pro: Early detection Does not require maintenance Easy to develop	Pro: Good visibility Early detection	Pro: Ground patrolling is more efficient Aerial patrolling can detect a wider range	Pro: Improved reliability Improved Efficiency Accurate information sent to the relevant authority	Pro: Low cost High efficiency Higher reliability Easy to maintain The technology used is not complex The alarm message is sent on time to the relevant authorities Fully automated and does not require human intervention as with other systems (Yang, 2014) Low power description required
	Con: Can result to inaccurate alarm message Alarm message might not be sent on time The chances of missing the alarm message is very high Location temperature might be announced precisely and on time	Con: High cost Limited coverage Can result to inaccurate alarm message An alarm message might reach to the desired destination on time Lacks efficiency Lacks reliability	Con: High cost Limited coverage Can result in the inaccurate alarm message An alarm message might reach to the desired destination on time Lacks efficiency Lacks reliability  (Krishnamachari, 2002)	Con: Requires a lot of monetary value to develop Requires skilled man-power Complex structure meaning that it is very hard for a common to understand Limited to only a few countries	Con: Limited to those areas with low coverage of GSM network.

Conclusion 

This paper presented a wireless sensor network bushfire monitoring system which is very reliable, efficient and requires a less monetary value to develop. As highlighted in the methodology section, the project requires sensors to detect the physical temperature of the area such as temperature and humidity, a micro-controller is also required which is used to send information from the sensor to the SMS server or to a mobile phone. In addition, this project can be integrated with another monitoring system if the need arises. The presented project requires low consumption of power and GSM network coverage. One of the limitations with this project is that it cannot function in those areas where there is no GSM network coverage. Lastly, as compared to the current fire monitoring systems, this system has a higher efficiency, requires low cost to come up, it is not complex hence it is very easy to maintain, and it provides on time delivery of alarm message to the required destination.      

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