Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr

IoT enabled advanced forest fire detecting and monitoring on Ubidots

platform
P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi, S. Gopal Krishna Reddy, G. Sai Manikanta ⇑
Electronics and Communication Engineering, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram, AP 522502, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The amount of land that we have lost during the 2019 forest fires is nearly 11.9 million hectares. The area
Received 21 December 2020 of forest that is prone to forest fires is increasing day by day. The number of wild animals died during the
Received in revised form 30 January 2021 forest fires is uncountable but in the recent Australian forest fires we have found that nearly a billion ani-
Accepted 10 February 2021
mals have died this includes 25,000 koalas. So, the main issue we have is can we prevent forest fires YES
Available online xxxx
prevention is better than cure, but we humans are so deep in the usage of fossil fuels we need an esti-
mated 30 years to go carbon negative. So, the immediate work we must do is to stop the spreading of
Keywords:
forest fires the main part of stopping forest fires is the detection of forest fires. We are using ESP32 board
DHT11 sensor
PIR sensor
and rain sensors, sound sensor, DHT11 sensor, PIR sensor are being used.
ESP32 board Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
ESP32-CAM Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
Ubidots IoT Platform ence on Materials, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering for Sustainable Developments-2020.

1. Introduction
Now a days the more utilization of fossil fuels and deforestation
of forest leads to an existential threat to human beings and all liv-
ing beings on the planet earth. Doctors will examine you and check
for the symptoms and will come to conclusion about your disease
just like that the forests burning is also a symptom for our mother
earth. As the world is in the transition from fossil fuels to renew-
able energy, we must stop the forest fires as afforestation is very
difficult it is estimated that it will cost us nearly 5 trillion US dol-
lars to afforest the planet. So, we must go by the old saying ‘‘pre-
vention is better than cure”. The forest fires are mainly caused by
the power line arc discarded cigarettes. These are man-made rea-
sons causing the forest fires the forest fires may happen due to nat-
ural reasons also lighting is also a main cause of fires the lighting
struck at remote places will cause fires. It is a well-known phe-
nomenon and we know that as we see them at least once a year
and thanks to the upgrading technology we can detect lighting
very easily the lighting will cause impulses that can be detected
we use this technology in planes and also during rocket launches
it is mandatory to conduct these tests it may seem to be costly
but it is not The destruction of property is also a major loss to peo-
ple it is estimated that nearly 12 billion dollars in USA so this must
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: pamarthikanakaraja407@gmail.com (G. Sai Manikanta).
be stopped Our project mainly focuses on the detection and report-
ing of forest fires the detection is the main thing in stopping forest
fires the more time we spend on detecting is directly proportional
to the time we lost in stopping the forest fires As we see the
deployment of this system are very difficult as we are talking about
lakhs of hectares of forest land so the deployment must happen
through air or there are some forests where we have built roads
and a basic infrastructure is available we can use man support to
deploy this system Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig. 8.
They may be hanged to trees or they may be kept in hard boxes
with a glass door on one side so our camera can see what’s happen-
ing and we will drill small holes on box so the air can pass through
the box and our sensors can identify smoke and rain as our project
can be modified based on forests, we can change some functions.
Smoke detection is the most important aspect of forest fire detec-
tion the smoke sensor will detect and the day-to-day value will be
updated in the Bidets IOT dashboard we are setting a threshold
level for the smoke detection the buzzer will be on only when
the level of smoke exceeds the given threshold value. We are also
using humidity sensor it is referred as PIR sensor the humidity
levels are directly related to rise and fall in temperature the
amount of water vapor in air is called humidity in simple terms.
Because dead forest fuels and the air are always exchanging mois-
ture the relative humidity is important. Less humidity levels mean
the forest fires occurring probability is high and high humidity
means less probability of forest fires and the exchange of moisture

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.02.343
2214-7853/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Materials, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering for
Sustainable Developments-2020.

Please cite this article as: P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi et al., IoT enabled advanced forest fire detecting and monitoring on Ubidots platform,
Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.02.343
P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 4. DHT11 Sensor.

also happens in forests. Another addition we have done to our pro-

ject is to add a PIR sensor you may ask why PIR sensor here in for-
est we can use this PIR sensor to detect the motion of the animals
and the movement of humans as well. Coming to the movement of
Fig. 1. Proposed Sequence Diagram.
animals by deploying this project in forest we can detect the move-

Fig. 2. ESP32 IoT Development Board.

Fig. 3. ESP32 Camera Module.

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P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi et al.
Fig. 5. Structure of Rain Sensor.
Fig. 6. Structure of PIR Motion Sensor.
ment of tigers and elephants we are entering into their habitant we
are erasing our boundaries with wild animals by deforestation this
will increases the threat of tigers and other carnivorous animals if
we face a threat of tiger hunting in nearby villages, we can track
them. The other problem that can be solved is red sandal wood
smuggling. Ketazolam forest has abundance of sandalwood smug-
glers are cutting down trees and selling them illegally these atroc-
Fig. 7. Structure of Noise Sensor.
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ities must be stopped by detecting their motion and by the
integrated ESP32 camera module the identification of person or
animal will be easy. The working of camera is not that hard at first
it will read data from the camera and will process the information
it got and will filter the image and conversion takes place we have
three modes in this project we can either choose from live stream-
ing or image capturing. The advanced feature we are having is
facial recognition software as all of us have Aadhaar cards with
our photos on it the police can search the person photo in their
database and capture the criminals and smuggler’s easily. Sound
sensor is also used in our project and will be used for listening to
the sounds of smugglers when they are cutting down the trees
the police may be alerted.
2. Literature survey
[1] Detecting and Reporting Forest Fire through Deployment of
Three Dimensional Multi-sink Wireless Sensor Network [2] Wire-
less Sensor Networks and Fusion Information Methods for Forest
Fire Detection Arnoldo Díaz-Ramíreza,⁄, Luis A. Tafoyaa, Jorge A.
Atempaa, Pedro [3] Wireless Sensor Networks for Early Detection
of Forest Fires [4] Continuous monitoring of forest fires in the
Mediterranean area using MSG [5] Combining Satellite-Based Fire
Observations and Ground-Based Lightning Detections to Identify
Lightning Fires Across the Conterminous USA.
3. Proposed methodology
In this project we use ESP32 board which is used for the inte-
grated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for a wide range. We
use different types of sensors like rain sensor which detects rainfall
in the forest, sound sensor which detects any type of noise, Dht11
sensor which detects the temperature and humidity of the sur-
roundings in the forest and we use PIR sensor which detects the
motion of the bodies (if any) in the forest. Along with these we also
use ESP32 CAM which is used to monitor the situation or to take
images of the surroundings or also used for face recognition. We
use the step down transformer (12–0-12) as a power supply to
the ESP32 board and buzzer. The buzzer is activated when the data
from the sensors is greater than the threshold value and the LCD is
used to display the data readings from sensors.
In this above block diagram, at first the data from the sensors
(Rain sensor, sound sensor, Dht11 sensor and PIR sensor) is taken
and are verified by the ESP32 micro controller. The readings which
are taken from the sensors will be compared with the threshold
value which is given by the user considering the surrounding
atmospheric conditions. If the readings from the sensors exceeds
(greater than) the threshold value. It alerts the respective depart-
ments by messaging them using ESP32 and also the buzzer gets
activated to alert the people in surroundings.
P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi et al.
Fig. 8. Schematic Diagram sof Proposed Model.
4. Methodology
In this paper different types of devices are used i.e., which are
explained below
4.1. ESP32 IoT development board
It is a long range wide area network wireless module developed
by Semtech, which enables extremely long range communication
with less energy consumption and low cost. Infrastructure invest-
ment, end node sensors and operating expenses are the three areas
where the cost can be further reduced [6]. Here in this project two
LoRa modules are used, module 1(principle node) is bidirectional
i.e., the information from the sensors (end node) is received,
updates humidity or temperature and is sent to the cloud. Module
2 (end node) which is also called as receiver module all the appli-
ances are connected and the information is sent to module 1.
4.2. ESP32 camera module
In this project ESP32 cam is used to monitor the situation in the
forest. It is a development board which contains ESP32-S chip and
an OV2640 camera with micro SD card slot in it. The ESP32 cam
stores the data in it in the form of photos (snaps) or video. We
can monitor the forest surroundings from the control room
through this ESP32 cam.
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4.3. DHT11 sensor
The DHT11 is a fundamental temperature and moisture sensor.
It uses a capacitive moisture sensor and a transducer to test the
ambient weather and spits out a digital signal on the data pin good
for 20 to 80 percent humidity readings good for 5 percent accuracy
of 0–50 °C ± 2 °C accuracy temperature readings. The shift in sensor
reading can be seen in Ubidots.
4.4. Rain sensor
In our project it is used to sense the rainfall in the forest area. A
switching device which is activated by the sense of rain (water) is
said to be rain sensor. From the above information finally, we can
conclude that this sensor is used to sense the water (rainfall) and
generate readings to the respective fire departments in order to
take necessary action in further.
4.5. PIR sensor
In our project it is used to detect the motion of the human
beings or animals which helps us to prevent from smuggling trees
(sandal wood etc. . .) in unauthorized areas at forest. PIR sensor is a
low expensive device which consumes low power ad these are the
reasons it is mostly used in house and business purposes. It is com-
monly observed in malls at the entrance door which counts the
humans entered in the malls.
P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 9. Proposed Flow Chart of ESP32 Camera.

4.6. Noise sensor

In our project sound or noise sensor is used to detect whether

there is any sound in the surroundings or not. It detects noise level
and sends the information gathered to the admin. The sound or
noise detection sensor is a combination of microphone and some
circuitry. The ability of a noise sensor is to detect different levels
of sound. The noise or sound sensor is used in various different
types of industries.

4.7. Circuit diagram of proposed Model

The components used in the above circuit diagram are ESP32

board, ESP32 CAM, Rain sensor, DHT11, PIR Sensor, Noise sensor,
CAM motor and power supply (12–0-12). All are connected as
shown in an above Fig. 9 Fig. 10 Fig. 11 Fig. 12 Fig. 13 Fig. 14 Fig. 15.

4.8. Flow Chart for ESP32 camera

In our project we use ESP32 cam to observe the situation in the
forest. After we initialize the ESP32 camera module and IOT web
server it reads the data from the camera and after that it filters
and converts data. If we choose mode to be streaming, it gives
access to live video streaming of anywhere we want or if we
choose the mode to be photo, the CAM gives access to live photos
snaps of anywhere we need or if we choose the mode to be face
recognition it identify the person using face recognition. After the
completion of the given task, it repeats the process again and again
as long as we want it to.
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Fig. 10. Proposed Flow Chart.
4.9. Flow chart for proposed model
In this project it displays the data on LCD which is acquired
from the sensors (dht11, rain, and noise and PIR sensors). By using
UBI dots-IoT (platform) it reads the data from sensors and filters
the message and then it converts the data and validate it. If the
data is valid it uploads the data to UBI dots IoT dashboard and
P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 11. Humidity Values in Ubidots IoT Platform.

Fig. 12. Temperature Values in Ubidots IoT Platform.

Fig. 13. Raindrop Values in Ubidots IoT Platform.

checks the data with the given threshold value and if the data is alerts the authorized departments (fire department & forest
not valid it repeats the process again [7]. If the readings from the department). After the completion of task, it repeats the process
sensors exceed the threshold value it activates the buzzer and again and again and alerts people if anything goes wrong.

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P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 14. Temperature Data Visually Displayed on IoT.

Fig. 15. (a) (b) Sensors Data Displayed on Ubidots IoT Platform.

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P. Kanakaraja, P. Syam Sundar, N. Vaishnavi et al.
5. Result and discussions
This figure describes the plot between humidity value and time
according to the data, initially the humidity value is high after
sometime it gets decreased and the fluctuation in the graph
continues.
This figure describes the plot between noise and time. Accord-
ing to the data, since all the values have not crossed their expected
cut-off, the graph remains steady.
This figure plots between rain data and time. According to the
data obtained the graph obtained first increases then becomes
steady.
This figure calculates and shows the current temperature status.
This dashboard keeps the collection of all the parameters. In a
single page and provides the data of all the parameters.
Real time data time to time and display the results in the LCD.
We store the data such that we can obtain the required data when-
ever we are in need. The ESP32 Cam takes the pictures at certain
intervals and helps to monitor the data at a faster pace and when-
ever the expected parameter crosses its cut-off, a buzzer alerts us
and tells the state of the environment and intimidates the problem.
6. Conclusion
The forest fires may seem to be a small problem that is mainly
to the wild animals and to flora and fauna it won’t be a long time it
becomes a problem to humans we are in a mind state where we are
ignoring problems we are causing to the earth. The news shown by
TV channels is the only news we take to heart we should take mea-
sures to stop forest fires and mainly this project of ours is a small
step in the effort to protect forests and the forest officers must also
be considering our project or else the forest smuggling and killing
of rare animals is unstoppable we lost white rhinos and many Afri-
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
can elephants we must put an end to this I hope that our project
meets the requirements to prevent forest fires And monitoring
forests.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
References
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[2] L. Y. Chen, H. S. Huang, C. J. Wu, Y. T. Tsai, and Y. S. Chang, A LoRa-Based Air
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[3] F. Saeed, A. Paul, A. Rehman, W. Hong, H. Seo, IoT-Based intelligent modeling of
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[5] A. Sharma, P.K. Singh, Y. Kumar, An integrated fire detection system using IoT
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[6] V. Dubey, P. Kumar, N. Chauhan, Forest fire detection system using IoT and
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Further Reading
[1] W. Chen, K. Moriya, T. Sakai, L. Koyama, C. Cao, Monitoring of post-fire forest
recovery under different restoration modes based on time series Landsat data,
Eur. J. Remote Sens. 47 (1) (2014) 153–168, https://doi.org/10.5721/
EuJRS20144710.