An Internet of Things Platform for Forest Monitoring

Abstract

Forests have a very important function in sustaining the natural life on our planet. However, wildfires, landslides, uncontrolled tree cutting, poaching, arson, and many other dangers threaten the forests and natural resources. Therefore, effective monitoring and observation of forests is crucial. This study explains the development and implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled forest monitoring system as an innovative solution that will contribute to the protection of forests. The presented system provides real-time climate data in forestlands by using microcontrollers, low-cost sensors, data communication, and cloud platforms. It collects important information such as temperature, humidity, air quality, and ecological activities. Fire detection is achieved by associating the increase in CO gas concentration with the increase in temperature. Landslides are detected by measuring the acceleration of soil movement in 3 axes. Additionally, the system includes advanced machine learning-based acoustic tracking techniques to detect chainsaws, motor vehicles, screams, shouts, and gunshots. The IoT platform provides a web-based user interface and other tools to system users such as forest managers and researchers. These tools detect early signs of threats such as wildfires, landslides and illegal activities in forests. Our tests demonstrate the system's effectiveness in providing information for protecting and managing forests.