IoT Sensor System for Wildfire Detection

The recent phenomenon known as the Internet of Things (IoT) shows us a glimpse into a future where people rely on smart connected devices to solve various problems. However, people have used IoT devices primarily in dense, urban areas, and homes because they rely on existing electronic network technologies such as Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth. These technologies depend on devices’ proximities to each other to transmit data reliably. With the emergence and ubiquity of novel wireless networking technologies such as Zigbee and LoRa (with the proper antennas) and ultra-low-power hardware, it is now possible to use IoT devices remotely in rural areas to gather data from a broader geographical surface area. Doing so enables more excellent coverage and data acquisition from locations that were previously difficult to monitor. The emergence of these new technologies enables engineers to solve an even greater host of problems based on wireless technologies’ increased capabilities and reliability. The sensor system that we aim to design is a distributed IoT network that can detect and monitor hazardous conditions, such as wildfires, remotely to help humans respond to these threats and prevent large scale fires and other infrastructure damages.

Technical Report Contributors: Shreejan Gupta (sg3gj), Bill Yang (zy5nj), Alec Ross (asr3bj), Nathan Do (ndd7xv)