All work
Embedded Systems

Self-Sufficient Early Warning Fire System

2020-2021 · Independent research project, grade 9 · Terra Science and Engineering Fair, with RIT STEP

Solo project: research, part selection, wiring, code, enclosure design and 3D printing, and testing

The final prototype: a light blue 3D-printed box on a countertop with a square camera window on the front, a sensor board on the side, and a cable exiting the top
Result

Built a Raspberry Pi detector with a camera and temperature, humidity, and gas sensors in a 3D-printed enclosure, and tested it against a campfire. Smoke was visible in the camera images from about 80 feet, and the temperature sensor registered a change of about 5 C over a 25 foot approach.

Objective

Can affordable technology detect a wildfire before it becomes uncontrollable? The early warning systems I found were either expensive camera towers built for fire agencies or satellite data meant for fire managers. I wanted a small, self-sufficient device that people in high-risk areas, like campsites, farms, and homes, could put on a pole or treetop, and that would compare its readings with other nearby devices to catch a temperature spike in one area.

Approach

The first prototype was built around an Arduino. I studied the programming books but could not get the sensors to work, and after more research I found there was more support for the Raspberry Pi, with interchangeable sensors, so the second prototype moved to a Raspberry Pi 3 with a PiCamera, a temperature and humidity sensor, a combustible gas sensor, a cellular modem, and a PiJuice hat with a solar panel for power. I priced both prototypes; the second came to about $260 per unit.

I wrote up the parts, wired the sensors, adapted Python code for temperature logging and time-lapse photo capture, and designed a 3D-printed box with a window for the camera, holes for the cables, and a hole in the base so the unit could later sit on a rotating pole.

Results

For the smoke test I set the camera to take a photo every minute instead of every ten and lit a small campfire. The smoke was easy to pick out in the images from about 80 feet, and the camera resolved detail much farther than that. For the temperature test I moved the device 5 feet at a time along a 25 foot line, first away from the fire and then back toward it. The sensor showed about 5 C of change and humidity dropped closer to the fire, so it works, but it is much less useful than the camera and would need work to be accurate.

What I would do next

Add the solar panel to the prototype so it is truly self-sufficient, connect the Raspberry Pi to the internet and write the code to transmit readings and manage the photo files, and re-evaluate the temperature sensor. This was the first project where I went from an idea to a built, tested device on my own, and it is what started me on engineering.

Figures

Prototype 1, built around an Arduino. I could not get the sensors working reliably, so I moved to a Raspberry Pi.
The first prototype on a breadboard: an Arduino Uno wired to an LCD display and sensors with jumper wires

Prototype 1, built around an Arduino. I could not get the sensors working reliably, so I moved to a Raspberry Pi.
Enclosure sketch before 3D printing, with the camera window and cable holes worked out.
Hand sketch of the enclosure: a box about 7.5 inches on a side with notes for the camera window, sensor openings, and cable holes

Enclosure sketch before 3D printing, with the camera window and cable holes worked out.
Smoke test: the camera picked up the campfire's smoke at about 80 feet.
Photo taken by the device's camera across a yard toward a treeline, with a red outline around a faint plume of smoke from a campfire about 80 feet away

Smoke test: the camera picked up the campfire's smoke at about 80 feet.
Temperature test. The device was moved 5 feet at a time along a 25 foot line to and from the fire.
Testing outdoors: the device on the grass beside a tape measure laid out toward the fire, with a keyboard connected for reading the sensor output

Temperature test. The device was moved 5 feet at a time along a 25 foot line to and from the fire.