A Smart Forest-Fire Early Detection Sensory System:

Another Approach of Utilizing Wireless Sensor and

Neural Networks*
Hamdy Soliman, Komal Sudan, Ashish Mishra
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
New Mexico Tech
Socorro, USA
{hss, ksudan, amishra}@nmt.edu

Abstract —In this paper, we analyze the potential of combining
wireless sensor networks with artificial neural networks (ANNs)
to build a "smart forest-fire early detection sensory system"
(SFFEDSS). We outline our new SFFEDS system in which
temperature, light and smoke data from low-cost sensor nodes
spread out on the forest bed is aggregated into information. This
information is spatially and temporally labeled into knowledge
which will be encoded as input to ANN models that convert it into
intelligence. At the top tier of our system, the trained neural
models make intelligent decisions and report fire in its early
stages based on gathered field knowledge. In our
experimentation, we extended the sensing capability of the MicaZ
sensor motes by attaching external smoke detectors of our own
design. The results are very promising as the SFFEDSS unit is
able to not only detect fire but also accurately report the
direction of fire progress which is deduced from the wind
direction.*
Keywords- Wireless Sensor Networks, Artificial Neural
Networks, Forest Fire Detection, Learning Vector Quantization
Neural Network model, Wireless Sensor Network Application
I. INTRODUCTION
Forest fires are costly and dangerous because they cause
extensive damage both to property and human life. Hence,
early and timely detection of forest fire is crucial as it can help
in saving hundreds of lives and billions of dollars worth of
resources. If fire breakout can be detected in its early stages it
is possible to control the spread of fire. The task of monitoring
the forests is challenging because of the vastness of the
territory and dense foliage. A good alternative to the above
problems is to use wireless sensor networks. The sensor motes
when spread in the forest will typically send readings of the
surroundings to be routed to the base station, at regular
intervals. The base station will collect information from the
sensors in its grid and add spatial and temporal tags, converting
such information to knowledge that will be further encoded and
processed by the ANNs. As the future is for ambient
intelligence, ANNs are being used for making automated
decisions. Neural networks are used for pattern recognition so
*
This work is supported by National Science Foundation grant
CNS 07-09437.
that computers can learn to simulate the structure and
functioning of biological neural networks. The obtained
knowledge will be used to train a neural network to be able, at
its operating mode, to detect abnormal situations and can sound
an alert on which appropriate action can then be taken. The
sensor motes in the field will act as sensory organs and send
data. The neural network will act as the brain by processing
information sensed by the sensor nodes and conclude if a fire is
starting out or not. Additionally, when fire is detected, the
ANN model will be able to help in determining the direction of
the fire spreading, via the smoke information collected from the
forest, which will be very helpful to the firefighters. In this
paper, we blend sensor network (SN) and ANN systems to
come up with a smart forest fire early detection sensory system
(SFFEDSS).
In Section II, we discuss why sensor networks are suitable
for use in forest fire detection. Section III covers the theoretical
concepts of neural networks. Section IV covers the related
work. In section V, we discuss our approach to build the
SFFEDSS using sensor network and neural network modeling.
Experimental results are shown in Section VI. Finally, we
conclude in Section VII.
II. DISCUSSION
The aim of this paper is to implement a forest fire early
detection system using small and cheap sensor nodes which can
be left unattended. We are not using large expensive centralized
control equipment which adversely affects system robustness in
such vulnerable environment. Instead, our network is adopting
an ad-hoc control regime that still can cover a large monitoring
area. Our sensor network represents a small scale cell that can
be replicated in a much larger topology to cover the entire
forest. Connecting such cells to cover an entire forest will
require some existing techniques outside the scope of this paper.
The basis of our small scale cell design is that any fire starts
small, eventually consuming its hosting cell and its
neighborhood, yet if such core cell (and its neighbors) conveys
the fire detection information messages to the other neighboring
cells (those acting as routers), then the news will spread globally
and fire will be detected (via the processing at the ANN
detection unit).

978-1-4244-8168-2/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 1900 IEEE SENSORS 2010 Conference

 One of the main drawbacks pointed out in sensor networks
is battery power [1]. The need to frequently change batteries
and the corresponding manpower required for this task is a big
deterrent to the usage of sensor networks. Recent advances in
the field of powering sensor nodes suggest the idea of using a
mobile-host based wireless energy transmission system to
provide power [11]. The mobile host has the capability of
wirelessly transmitting energy to sensor nodes on an as-needed
basis. The wirelessly transmitted microwave energy is captured
by a receiving antenna, transformed into DC power by a
rectifying circuit, and stored in a storage medium to provide the
required energy to the sensor node. Also, energy for the sensor
nodes can be scavenged. Some long-lasting sources of sensor
power are: solar power, temperature gradient, vibrations and
pressure variations. The aforementioned methods will be
extremely helpful in solving the critical issue of power in the
wireless sensors domain [3]. In addition, nuclear powered
batteries might allow us a constant source of sensor power for
long times (months or even years!).
Another concern while considering the use of sensor nodes
is the number of nodes to be deployed as a function of the
vast forest space. Using cellular sensor networks for our
forest fire monitoring has a flexibility advantage of placing cells
at selected forest areas. For example, by carefully placing basic
cells of sensing network nodes close to vulnerable areas such as
hilltops, which are subject to lightning strikes, we can
substantially reduce the number of sensors required to cover a
large geographic area [1].
III. CONCEPTS OF NEURAL NETWORKS
Artificial neural networks are best suited to solving the
problems that are the most difficult to solve by traditional
computational methods. A fundamental difference between the
two is that ANNs solve problems in a parallel fashion, while
traditional computational methods are best suited to solving
problems serially [2]. Neurobiologists believe that the brain is
similar to a massively parallel analog computer, containing
about 100 billion simple processors with each requiring a few
milliseconds to respond to input. With neural network
technology, which aims to mimic the brain, we can use parallel
processing methods to solve some real-world problems where
it is very difficult to define a conventional algorithm. Such
difficulty stems from the fact that the ANNs, in the context of
forest fire collected knowledge, deal with a set of highly
dynamic with complex nonlinear interactive factors that
represent the fire behavior/environment. In addition, the great
ability of ANNs (with the right choice of the proper model and
its training) to generalize any incomplete input data (vector), at
operating mode, allows them to cope with any unexpected
dynamic variations of the very complex fire spreading sensed
knowledge. Such dynamic variations are expected due to
varying wind directions and temperature, also sensor
disappearance due to power failure or physical damage. Hence,
the ANNs training knowledge (vectors) are expected to vary
from the operation mode ANNs input knowledge vectors. A
traditional pattern matching approach will need to be highly
sophisticated (cost/time) to achieve what the ANNs can do in
such case.
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A neural network is a set of interconnected simple
processing elements, or neurons [4]. Neural networks are
potentially useful for studying the complex relationships
between inputs and outputs of a system. Generally, the
problems which are amenable to be solved using neural
networks have a high degree of non-linearity between the input
and the output.
A. Learning Vector Quantization Neural Network Model
Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) is a supervised
pattern classification method in which each output unit
represents a particular class/category/cluster.
During training, the output units are positioned to
approximate the decision surfaces of the theoretical Bayes
classifier. Since LVQ is a supervised model, it is assumed that
a set of training patterns with known classifications is provided
along with an initial distribution of weight vectors each of
which represents a known classification. After training, an
LVQ network classifies an input vector by assigning it to the
same class as the output unit that has its weight vector closest
to the input vector [4].
Figure 1. Clusters of closely related vectors
In LVQ, a set of initial weight vectors is selected. These
weight vectors act as representatives for each cluster (there can
be more than one weight vector representing a single cluster).
During training, a set of input training vectors (collected sensed
knowledge) with pre-known clusters membership is used. The
cluster unit whose weight vector (centroid) matches the input
vector most closely (based on the minimum Euclidean
distance) is chosen as the winner. Applying the input vectors,
in the supervised training of the ANN, if the winning cluster is
a correct classification of the input vector then the its centroid
is awarded by bringing it closer to the input vector, otherwise it
is pushed away from such misclassified input vector.
During the ANN testing phase (in operating mode), test
vectors (not used in the ANN training phase) are given to the
neural network testing the ability of the network to obtain their
correct classifications.
IV. RELATED WORK
The easiest technique of detecting forest fire is continuous
monitoring of the forest from a very high altitude place or from
a watchtower and trying to determine the location of the fire Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 show the sample readings of one sensor
flames by using instruments like Osborne Firefinder [12] in mote for temperature for the scenarios of "no fire" (base case)
case fire is observed. and "fire", respectively.
Several approaches have been introduced for detecting fire Collecting information at the base station, which is then
based on images obtained from the cameras deployed in the converted to knowledge, is one of the basic requirements of our
forest. Zhang et al [9] have proposed an algorithm using system. The idea is to build one or more collection trees, each
artificial neural network for forest fire detection based on of which is rooted at the base station. When a node has data to
dynamic characteristics of fire regions segmented from video be sent for collection it sends the data up the tree. It also
images. Zhang et al [7] in their approach have first used forwards collection data that other nodes send to it. We have
wavelet to test whether a pixel from the image belongs to fire used the Collection Tree Protocol (CTP) [6] which builds and
region and then used Fast Fourier Transform to describe the maintains minimum-cost trees to nodes that advertise
contour of fire area. The costs involved in the setup and themselves as tree roots. Collection is address free - when there
maintenance of these approaches is very high. In addition, it are multiple base stations (multi SN cells), it sends to the one
might be too late to detect the already spreading flames of fire with the minimum cost without knowing its address.
in a tough to access terrains, where very early detection is
essential.
Images taken from satellite have also been used in detecting
fire but due to low spatial and temporal resolution of satellite
images the detection gets delayed.
A combination of wireless sensor networks and artificial
neural networks has been used in research on forest fire
detection. Yu et al [8] have used sensor readings for humidity,
temperature and smoke to detect fire. Feed-forward neural
network has been used in this approach to reduce
communication overhead by aggregating data at the headers of
the clusters formed in the network. This approach requires a lot
of processing at the node level. The drawback of such an
approach is the huge amount of power consumption at the mote
level due to the power draining ANN processing which
shortens the lifetime of the node. Furthermore, when a cluster
Figure 2. Readings from sensor for temperature in the base case scenario
head is destroyed in the fire, it severely affects the robustness
of the system. Motivated by such high power consumption and We do not use any in-network data aggregation technique.
lack of robustness in existing models, our system shifts the The reason is that the failure of the in-network aggregator may
ANN processing from the mote level to the central surveillance jeopardize the system and decrease the robustness of the
room equipped with wall-powered highly capable processing system. In our approach all nodes are considered to be the same
systems which can run complex ANN algorithms. In our and loss of a few nodes does not affect the decision making
system, cells are placed within transmission range of one ability of the ANN.
another, and information packets are routed to the nearest
central processing office. Hence, our system is highly robust as
destruction of a few cell's nodes does not affect the decision
making ability of the ANN, at the decision making level.
We propose an approach which experiments with a SN cell
of tens of sensors, using of an ANN at the base station (laptop)
to process knowledge (processed information from the sensors
deployed in the forest) to detect fire and also to determine the
direction of the fire (via sensed smoke knowledge) based on
which sensors report smoke detection.

V. APPROACH
Continuously, data are collected from field via a SN cell of
sensors, e.g., temperature, light, and smoke. All readings are
transmitted (after being transferred to information then to
knowledge) to an already trained ANN, at the central Figure 3. Readings from sensor for temperature in the scenario of fire
processing unit (base station). The ANN running at the base
station uses such received knowledge (vectors) to test if any In our experimentation, we extended the sensing capability
belongs to the fire's cluster, hence detecting fire. of the MicaZ sensor motes by attaching external smoke
detectors of our own design. Our SFFEDSS depicts a

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cell which can be extended and replicated in a large scale
deployment over the entire forest.
A. Experimental Setup
We built a prototype SFFEDSS cell unit consisting of six
MicaZs, and then we deployed it in a field similar to the forest
terrain. Sensed data (temperature, light and smoke) collected
from the field were spatially and temporally labeled, then
processed at a base station (laptop) which was attached to a
gateway. Such processing is used to train the intelligent part of
the SFFEDSS via LVQ neural network model, with only a part
of the obtained knowledge from the field. The remaining
obtained sensed knowledge was used to test the detection
precision of our system. Throughout the experiments, we
emulated various scenarios of forest fire. The nodes were
arranged as shown in Fig. 4. The nodes communicated with the
gateway which is connected to a laptop. MIB520CB with USB
connectivity was the gateway used in this experiment though it
is also possible to use any other gateway hardware which
supports wireless communication. All the six nodes were
equipped with smoke detectors. A large number of readings
were collected for different scenarios. The scenarios are:
• base case (no fire)
• fire with low level of smoke
• intense smoke with fire just beginning to build up
The MicaZ sensor motes have been used in the high power
mode, where sensors send the environment sensed readings to
the base station every second.
During the experiment, we collected readings for
temperature, light, and smoke from the six sensors. For the
experiment, we created an area similar to the forest bed using a
ground covered with dry leaves, grass, pine needles, and wood
shavings which are flammable and cause smoke on burning. To
imitate the growth of the fire, we started the fire at one end and
then helped it spread towards the other sides by modeling
windy conditions. This process was repeated several times for
different modeled wind directions.
Figure 4. Setup of the sensor nodes with the gateway
After the data was collected, the readings were encoded and
used for training and testing the neural network.
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B. Encoding of Readings
Spatial and temporal coherency of events is captured by
considering the readings of adjacent sensors over a certain
period of time. The sensor readings (which are numeric values)
were divided into several ranges. Each range had a bipolar
pattern associated with it. In the encoding process, we replaced
each sensor reading with the bipolar pattern associated with the
range the sensor reading belonged to. As part of training the
LVQ model, we have encoded reading of 10 and 20 second
time periods for creating the training/testing vectors. So, each
vector has the encoding of readings of six sensors for either 10
or 20 seconds.
C. Artificial Neural Network Setup
We carried out some experiments with the LVQ ANN
model for temperature, light, and smoke. In the first
experiment, the ANN model tries to distinguish between the
base case (no fire) scenario and other scenarios of fire. For this
experiment, we created two clusters, namely, base-case and
fire. In the second experiment, the ANN model tries to judge
the direction of the growth of fire by looking at the readings of
temperature, light, and smoke. For this experiment, we created
four clusters, one for each direction – north, south, east, and
west, i.e., category north indicates that the fire is progressing
towards the North direction and so on. The goal is to classify
the test input vectors to the correct categories, preparing for the
supervised ANN training. Half of the sensed knowledge
vectors for different scenarios are used for the ANN training
and the other half for its testing.
To initialize the ANN different weight vectors (centroids),
i.e., future categories, we randomly selected some of the
training vectors and used those as the future operating mode
centroids. The stopping condition was a fixed number of
iterations which is based on the ANN producing acceptable
results. Similarly, base on the same criterion, the learning rate α
of the LVQ training is also selected from a set of several
possibilities of learning rates.
VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Experiment 1: Distinguish between Base Case and Fire
Scenarios
In this experiment, the LVQ model was able to distinguish
between the two categories fairly accurately. We noticed that
the vectors created during the initial 60-80 seconds during the
fire scenarios were being misclassified. On an average, it took
us around 60-80 seconds to build the fire and/or cause
sufficient smoke so that the sensors could detect it. This is the
likely reason for the misclassification which was observed for
vectors created during the initial fire build-up time.
From Tables I, II, and III (below), we observe that the
various scenarios were getting distinguished best when
temperature was used as a parameter.
Also, we can see from the results that increasing the size of
the vector's time period gives slightly better results. The
reason is that by considering longer time periods we might run
across some pattern which helps in distinguishing fire but
having a very long time period while creating the input vectors our automated SFFEDSS system can be used to monitor the
(eg. a vector of 40 seconds time period) is not going to be very forests without constant human supervision.
helpful since we lose the primary goal of early fire detection.
The SFFEDSS system can act as the first line of defense
and can be used to complement other techniques. Future work
TABLE I. RESULTS FOR EXPERIMENT 1 - TEMPERATURE DATA includes extending the capabilities of the SFFEDSS by being
Percentage of correctly classified test vectors
able to accurately pinpoint a fire’s location, with complete
Scenario cellular large scale system, with the aid of cell number and
10secs 20secs
corresponding forest position. The SFFEDSS system's ANN
Base Case 99% 99% can be trained with substantial number of different training
Fire 97% 98% scenarios to guess conditions prior to fire breakout. In order to
conserve sensor node power or overcome the problem of node
failure, the readings of a few sensors can be predicted by
TABLE II. RESULTS FOR EXPERIMENT 1 - LIGHT DATA
looking at the readings of its neighbors. This concept of soft-
Percentage of correctly classified test vectors sensing [10] can be applied to our SFFEDSS system which will
Scenario also help in establishing the effects of repeated temperature,
10secs 20secs
light, and smoke sampling on energy consumption.
Base Case 98% 99%

Fire 97% 97% ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We are grateful to the NMT NSF-CRI sensor networks
TABLE III. RESULTS FOR EXPERIMENT 1 - SMOKE DATA
undergraduate research group members Teague Bick, Marc
Percentage of correctly classified test vectors Mendoza, Jeffrey Napier, Tod Landis and Omar Soliman for
Scenario
10secs 20secs helping us in setting up and carrying out the experiments and
Base Case 96% 98%
for giving valuable suggestions on improving the presentation
of the paper.
Fire 91% 95%
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