The summer is near and, every year, there is a concern, that we have in Spain: forest fires. However, a team, from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, has designed a wireless sensor network, for preventing and extinguishing forest fires.The initiative is part of a project, that is developing a multidisciplinary system, which will integrate data collected by different sources, such as satellites, aerial means and ground sensors, in order to improve the management of these claims.
The “B105 Electronic Systems Lab group”, from this University of Madrid, participated in a research project, aimed at improving the conservation of forests, through technologies to minimize the risk of forest fires and mitigate environmental damage, in case of occurring.
Forest fires are one of the main environmental problems in Spain. In 2015 there were almost 12,000 fires that, burned more than 100,000 hectares, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
Now the team from the UPM has developed a network, capable of measuring environmental variables and provide data, in real-time, wireless sensors, so it can be very useful to the agencies, responsible for fighting fires. The results of the work have been published in the “Journal of Sensors”.
The initiative is part of the “PROMETHEUS” project, whose aim has been to develop a multidisciplinary system, that integrates data, collected by different sources --satellites, air assets and terrestrial sensors--, to optimize the work of preventing and extinguishing forest fires.
Once deployed in the field, the nodes automatically form a network that routes the measures and messages wirelessly to a central node. This central node, after adding the information from all the sensors, sends it to the control centre. In the control centre, terrain information is added to that from other sources, such as satellite images, historical climatological data, terrain models and fire behavior, etc.
This aggregate information can be used, in two different stages, by the agencies responsible for fighting fires. First, in the prevention phase, it allows to know which spots are more likely to fire.
With these data, can be taken steps, to prevent its occurrence, in addition to repower the terrain models with updated data. If, despite these actions, a fire occurs, the information, provided by the system, is a great help, in the extinction phase, as it provides data, on the spread of fire, in real-time. This makes the work of extinguishing more efficient and, at the same time, safer for the brigades, deployed in the field.
In Prometheus, driven by the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), has engaged a consortium of fifteen companies, from different disciplines and many other public research organizations, in several Spanish Universities. The B105 Electronic Systems Lab group, telecommunication ETSI of the UPM, together with the GIICA group of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the company ISDEFE, which has been entrusted with the task of developing a ground sensor network.
This network consists of sensor nodes, with very low consumption and size, capable of measuring environmental variables, such as temperature, soil moisture and direction and speed of wind. In turn, they are equipped with a small processor and a wireless interface, which transmit their measurements.
Well, I hope that all these researches can continue with this great project, in order to improve the fight against fires.
Until my next post, kind regards,
Luis.
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