Model for Advanced Sensor Placement in Wildfire Detection Systems

Wildfires are a common and dangerous natural phenomenon that harms more than just the natural vegetation. There have been many methods proposed to detect the occurrence of wildfires using randomly placed sensor nodes, yet the optimization of the placement of sensor nodes has not been discussed in studies. This study presents a wireless sensor network (WSN) model supported by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that focuses on determining optimal locations for sensor placement, optimal determination of cluster heads (CHs), and UAV trajectory to achieve maximum efficiency. The system further introduces the use of time-splitting based simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) to harvest energy for the CHs so as to improve energy efficiency and expand the concept of zero-energy devices within the WSN for wildfire detection.