Preventing forest fires using a wireless sensor network

Abstract

Forest fire is a natural phenomenon in many ecosystems across the world. The forecasting of fire danger conditions resembles one of the most important parts in forest fire management. A ZigBee-based wireless sensor network was proposed for monitoring fire danger and predicting the behaviour of fire after occurrence. This technique is intended for real-time operation, given the urgent need for forest protection against fires. The architecture of a wireless sensor network for forest fire detection is described. From the information collected by the system, decisions on firefighting or fire prevention can be made more quickly by the relevant government departments. We believe that by making the sensor network able to reconfigure rapidly in response to changes in the local conditions upon which the network is dependent, we will generate an adaptable weather monitoring and fire detection system.