FireWxNet: a multi-tiered portable wireless system for monitoring weather conditions in wildland fire environments

ABSTRACT

In this paper we present FireWxNet, a multi-tiered portable wireless system for monitoring weather conditions in rugged wildland fire environments. FireWxNet provides the fire fighting community the ability to safely and easily measure and view fire and weather conditions over a wide range of locations and elevations within forest fires. This previously unattainable information allows fire behavior analysts to better predict fire behavior, heightening safety considerations. Our system uses a tiered structure beginning with directional radios to stretch deployment capabilities into the wilderness far beyond current infrastructures. At the end point of our system we designed and integrated a multi-hop sensor network to provide environmental data. We also integrated web-enabled surveillance cameras to provide visual data. This paper describes a week long full system deployment utilizing 3 sensor networks and 2 web-cams in the Selway-Salmon Complex Fires of 2005. We perform an analysis of system performance and present observations and lessons gained from our deployment.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.2 PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
      Subjects: Earth and atmospheric sciences

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Wireless communication

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Performance, Reliability

Keywords:
applications, deployments, fire, forest fires, wireless sensor networks