Real-time forest fire monitoring in the Guanacaste Conservation Area: A LoRa-based sensor node system with satellite data integration

Abstract

The Guanacaste Conservation Area, declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, covers approximately 2% of the country’s territory, and is host to 2.6% of the global terrestrial biodiversity, it is also mainly composed of dry forest. Despite recent efforts to recover from the damage caused by logging, poaching and misuse of lands, the forest remains at risk from fires mostly from anthropogenic origin, enhanced by extremely dry weather due to climate change, which requires significant effort from park rangers to detect and act on. This research outlines the development of a LoRa-based sensor node system for the detection and prevention of forest fires in the Guanacaste Conservation Area of Costa Rica. The proposed system developed in collaboration with the Universidad de Costa Rica, the Guanacaste Conservation Area and local communities, detects signals of potential fires through a sensor node system, by utilizing Bosch´s BME688 environmental gas sensor and addresses challenges such as scalability, durability, costeffectiveness and minimizing the environmental impact of the nodes. In order to withstand the extreme conditions of the environment, the system is equipped with a specialized enclosure that ensures that the gas sensors will get exposed to the ambient air whilst the sensitive parts of the electronics are protected from the environment. Additionally, satellite data was used in order to determine the optimal positioning of the sensor nodes within the conservation area according to fire-prone areas of the forest or proximity to other vulnerable objects. The system establishes correlations and detects gasses associated with combustion; whilst also minimizing the use of potentially harmful materials and elements commonly used in electronics. The proposed system also has a simple installation and operation process. The future plan of this system includes the possibility of enhancing satellite and climatic data, providing a more comprehensive understanding of conditions within the forest and aiding park rangers to improve response times to forest fire events. All while using satellite data to position the sensors optimally.