ABOUT WILDFIRE ALERT: GOALS
The Problem | Technology | Delivery | Project UpdateThe Problem
Fires are a naturally occurring and dangerous part of our natural landscapes in Southern California, causing millions of dollars worth of damage and loss of lives in the wildland-urban interface. Early detection of fire ignitions, especially under dangerous weather conditions, is critical for emergency personnel to contain and extinguish fires before they can cause significant damage. Equally important is the preparedness of communities to reduce financial losses and aid in a quick recovery. Novel solutions using advanced technologies have been suggested as an important, but currently underutilized, tool for increasing fire safety.
The Technology
To test and demonstrate the ability of new technologies to quickly locate fire and improve and maintain public preparedness, SMER will construct an array of 13 state-of-the-art wireless fire detection sensors, 4 weather stations, and 4 remote cameras. This real time information will be delivered to the community along with other static fire-preparedness information via the Wildfire Alert webpage, administered by SDSU Field Stations Programs (FSP) staff. In addition, a Fallbrook community education outreach program will be implemented by SMER/FSP staff to support and advertise use of the wildfire alert web page and others. After the initial set-up has been tested it is hoped that such sensor arrays and their accompanying web pages can serve as sentinels and early warning systems at the wildland/urban interface.
Fire Sensors
The FireALERT sensors are designed and produced by Ambient Control Systems, Inc (ACSI). The sensors detect fire by analyzing the infrared flicker flames and heat produce. Infrared light is transmitted to the unit via a view scanning imager that provides a circular 360 degrees field of view with an incremental horizontal stepper positioning system. The imager also has a +/- 22.5 degree vertical field of view. Ambient's proprietary pattern recognition algorithms analyze the infrared light captured by the imager and differentiate the fire "signature" from other phenomena. If the sensor detects a fire it transmits and alert using the 802.11b wireless communication bubble at SMER.
Information provided by ACSI reports that the sensors can detect and validate a 4' x 4' wildfire over an area of 160 acres (approximately ¼ mile range) within 2 minutes. Larger fires can be detected at greater distances (for example an 8x8 foot fire can be detected at a ½ mile range). Based on ACSI information these systems should operate on solar power with minimal maintenance input for up to 20 years.
SMER/FSP staff are currently in the process of calibrating and testing the ability of the FireALERT systems to detect fire on the reserve. Thus far trails have been marginally successful. FSP staff and ACSI are working in cooperation to test and improve the technology for use in the Fallbrook area.
Wireless Communication Network
The wireless sensor network at Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve (SMER) consists of 5 Telecommunications Sites (TCS) and a diverse suite of environmental sensors that stream real-time data to the World Wide Web via the TCS. The TCS uses 802.11b technology and a variety of external antennas and amplifiers to create a communication bubble that covers over 65% the reserve
The SMER Network gains access to the Internet via the High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN), a non-commercial, wide-area wireless backbone network that connects remote backcountry locations across Southern California to an Internet node at University of California, San Diego. HPWREN is an NSF-funded project lead by the San Diego Super Computer Center and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, along with a multitude of collaborating institutions. HPWREN provides a 45 Mb/s bandwidth.
The server is housed at the SDSU Visualization Center. SDSU Viz Center is designed to disseminate massive amounts of data simultaneously, and is fully capable of accommodating millions of web access requests per day during an emergency. The Visualization Center is equipped with Wide Area Visualization Solution (WAVS), developed by TeraBurst Networks, Inc. WAVS is comprised of two major Sun Microsystems machines, a Sun Zulu graphics server and a 16-CPU Blade Server, connected to the Internet trunk at the San Diego Supercomputer Center by optical switches and a 2.5 gigabits-per-second optical fiber network.
Weather Towers and Web Cams
Standard meteorological sensors, plus fuel moisture and temperature sensors are connected to a Campbell data logger which is in turn connected to an IP-addressable computer.
Weather station sensors and IQEye cameras are currently in operation on the network
Video images are connected to an axis camera server via an IP-addressable computer.
Web Page
The Wildfire Alert webpage provides a direct interface for realtime data being collected by the sensors described above. Once the fire detection sensors are calibrated and operation it will provide an early warning center for the community and fire chiefs. This web page also provides a hub for fire preparedness information in general for the community, including homeowners, businesses, agricultural users and recreational users.
Delivery
The delivery of both the real-time data being collected by the fire sensor network, and general information on fire preparedness is being conducted primarily via wildfirealert.com. In order to promote the use of this web-page, an education team (Spring Strahm and Kelcey Moreno) have been hired to conduct a community outreach program to promote general awareness and use of the webpage. Several channels are planed to disseminate the information, beginning with community fairs, awareness days, face-to-face meetings, community group meetings, K-12 Schools (visits, class presentations, assemblies) and appropriate college classes (class presentations). In addition advertisements in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio are planned.
Project Update
- Deploy Fire sensors
- 4 of 13 fire sensors have been installed on the SMER network to-date. FSP staff are still in the process of calibrating the sensors and testing their ability to detect fires on the complex terrain at the reserve. Thus far the fire sensors have only had marginal success however FSP and Ambient Control Systems, Inc. are in a cooperative process of fine-tuning the technology. In the mean time all weather station data are available and providing good information about the fire danger in the area.
Status: On-going - Deploy Weather stations and cameras
- All weather station equipment and web cams have been installed and are functioning. In addition to the weather stations at SMER the web page also provides real-time updated information throughout San Diego county from other publicly available weather stations.
Status : Completed - Web page
- The initial version of the web page has been posted. Now a major effort to add content is underway and will be on-going through the end of the project
Status : On-going - Community Outreach Program
- An education coordinator and education intern began work on the outreach program beginning in January 2006. At the current time most of the effort is being focused on generating content for the web page and designing education materials. Once these are in place the education staff will help distribute this information through a variety of public and private events.
Status : On-going
