Design and implementation of a Wireless Sensor Network to detect forest fires

In this paper, an innovative design and development process is presented for a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) prototype aimed at detecting and monitoring forest fires at the Guanguiltagua Park located in the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ), capital of Ecuador. Every year the city of Quito is affected by recurrent forest fires, especially in summer time where high temperatures and soil dryness contribute to the propagation of fire in areas with vast vegetation. As a result to this problem, a WSN technological solution was created to address this problem which can detect forest fires in real-time sending alerts immediately to the end user. This prompt response helps to attenuate the impact of forest fires such as loss of human lives, loss of large areas of vegetation, economic loss and environmental contamination. The WSN prototype described in this document uses hardware, software, communication protocols, topology and functionality focused on optimizing its end results. The system is based on measuring continuously three types of gases, which are present in a combustion process such as CO2, CO and CH4. In addition to these sensors, environment temperature and humidity, as well as GPS location data is provided; this data is transmitted via wireless communications toward a graphical interface where the sensors data will be interpreted and statistical information can be generated. Finally, through a WSN prototype validation process, it is demonstrated that such prototype provides an efficient and reliable method to detect and monitor forest fires in a short amount of time.