Method and system for wildfire detection and management
A remote fire detection system includes a plurality of sensor nodes, each comprising a smoke sensor, a temperature sensor, a gas sensor, and a processor having inputs coupled to the outputs of the sensors. The processor processes the sensor signals to generate at least one of smoke, temperature, or gas metric information, and determines a unique time window within a reporting period. A transmitter transmits report generated by the processor during the unique time window within the reporting period. A personnel node includes a location processor that generates location information of the personnel node and a transmitter that transmits the location information. A gateway node includes a receiver that receives reports generated by the plurality of sensor nodes during the unique time window within the reporting period. A processor generates a waveform comprising synchronization pulses during the reporting period and processing the received reports generated by the plurality of sensor nodes to generate an uplink message in response to the at least some of the sensor metric information. A transmitter transmits the waveform and the uplink message. A server node receives the uplink message and determines a probability of a fire at a location based on sensor metric information of the received uplink message.
1. A remote fire detection system comprising:
a) a plurality of sensor nodes, each of the plurality of sensor nodes comprising:
i) a smoke sensor that generates a smoke sensor signal at an output;
ii) a temperature sensor that generates a temperature sensor signal at an output;
iii) a gas sensor that generates a gas sensor signal at an output;
iv) a processor comprising a first input coupled to the output of the smoke sensor, a second input coupled to the output of the temperature sensor, and a third input coupled to the output of the gas sensor, the processor processing the smoke sensor signal, the temperature sensor signal, and the gas sensor signal to generate at least one of smoke, temperature, or gas metric information, generating a report comprising the at least one of smoke, temperature, or gas metric information, and determining a unique time window within a reporting period; and
v) a transmitter having an input electrically connected to an output of the processor, the transmitter transmitting the report generated by the processor during the unique time window within the reporting period;
b) a personnel node comprising:
i) a location processor that generates location information of the personnel node at an output; and
ii) a transmitter having an input electrically connected to the output of the location processor, the transmitter transmitting the location information of the personnel node;
c) a gateway node comprising:
i) a receiver that receives at least some of the reports generated by the plurality of sensor nodes during the unique time window within the reporting period;
ii) a processor generating a waveform comprising synchronization pulses during the reporting period and processing the received reports generated by the plurality of sensor nodes to generate an uplink message in response to the at least some of the smoke, temperature, or gas metric information of the received reports; and
iii) a transmitter that transmits the waveform and the uplink message; and
d) a server node that receives the uplink message and determines a probability of a fire at a location based on at least one of the smoke, temperature, or gas metric information of the received uplink message.
2. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the unique time window within the reporting period determined by a respective one of the plurality of sensors is dependent on an absolute position of the respective one of the plurality of sensors.
3. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the unique time window within the reporting period determined by a respective one of the plurality of sensors is dependent on a position of a respective one of the plurality of sensors relative to a position of a respective one of another of the plurality of sensors.
4. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the unique time window within a reporting period determined by a respective one of the plurality of sensors is dependent on a distance from a respective one of the plurality of sensors to the gateway node.
5. The remote fire detection system of claim 4 wherein the unique time window within a reporting period determined by a respective one of the plurality of sensors is proportional to a distance from a respective one of the plurality of sensor to the gateway node.
6. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the processor in at least one of the plurality of sensors further generates diagnostic information in the unique time window within the reporting period.
7. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the processor in at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes generates an internal clock signal based on the waveform.
8. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the processor in at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes generates an internal clock signal based on the reporting period.
9. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes generates at least one of smoke, temperature, or gas metric information from another one of the plurality of sensor nodes.
10. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the processor in at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes generates an alert when least one of smoke, temperature, or gas metric information indicates an alert threshold has been exceeded.
11. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the processor in at least one of the plurality of sensors instructs the transmitter to transmit an alert message at a time that is independent of the unique time window.
12. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the transmitter of the gateway node transmits the uplink message generated by the processor as a cellular message.
13. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes further comprises a global positioning system receiver.
14. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the gateway further comprises a global positioning system receiver.
15. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the gateway node and at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes comprise the same node.
16. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of sensor nodes are positioned at regular intervals.
17. The remote fire detection system of claim 16 wherein the position of the plurality of sensor nodes at regular intervals forms a grid.
18. The remote fire detection system of claim 16 wherein the regular intervals comprise approximately one-quarter of a mile.
19. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the smoke sensor comprises a light source and a photodiode.
20. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the gas sensor comprises a CO sensor.
21. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes further comprises a TVOC sensor.
22. The remote fire detection system of claim 21 wherein the TVOC sensor generates a gas sensor signature signal at an output.
23. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes further comprises a relative humidity sensor.
24. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes further comprises a soil moisture sensor.
25. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the gateway node further comprises a lightning detector.
26. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of sensor nodes is enclosed in a tubular enclosure.
27. The remote fire detection system of claim 26 wherein a portion of the tubular enclosure comprises a mesh material.
28. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the server node receives the transmitted location information of the personnel node.
29. The remote fire detection system of claim 28 wherein the server node generates a tracking map of firefighting personnel.
30. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the location processor processes data from a GPS.
31. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the location processor processes a received wireless signal.
32. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the location processor determines a signal strength of a received wireless signal.
33. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 wherein the personnel node further comprises a biometric sensor.
34. The remote fire detection system of claim 1 further comprising a weather station node.
35. A method of detecting a probability of a fire at a remote location, the method comprising:
a) generating at least one of a smoke sensor signal, temperature sensor signal, and gas sensor signal at each of a plurality of sensor nodes;
b) generating at least one of smoke, temperature, or gas metric information from the at least one of a smoke sensor signal, temperature sensor signal, and gas sensor signals at each of the plurality of sensor nodes;
c) generating a report comprising at least some of the smoke, temperature, or gas metric information for each of the plurality of sensor nodes;
d) transmitting the report generated during a unique time window within a reporting period for each of the plurality of sensor nodes;
e) receiving at least some of the reports during the unique time window within the reporting period at a gateway node;
f) generating a waveform comprising synchronization pulses during the reporting period and processing the received reports generated by the plurality of sensor nodes to generate an uplink message in response to the at least some of the smoke, temperature, or gas metric information of the received reports; and
g) determining a probability of a fire at a location based on at least one of the smoke, temperature, or gas metric information in the received uplink message.
36. The method of claim 35 wherein the unique time window within the reporting period is dependent on an absolute position of the sensor nodes.
37. The method of claim 35 wherein the unique time window within the reporting period is dependent on a position of a respective one of the plurality of sensor nodes relative to a position of a respective one of another of the plurality of sensor nodes.
38. The method of claim 35 wherein the unique time window within a reporting period is dependent on a distance from a respective one of the plurality of sensor nodes to the gateway node.
39. The method of claim 35 wherein the unique time window within a reporting period is proportional to a distance from a respective one of the plurality of sensor nodes to the gateway node.
40. The method of claim 35 further comprising generating diagnostic information in the unique time window within the reporting period.
41. The method of claim 35 further comprising generating an internal clock signal based on the waveform.
42. The method of claim 35 further comprising generating an internal clock signal based on the reporting period.
43. The method of claim 35 further comprising generating an alert when least one of smoke, temperature, or gas metric information indicates an alert threshold has been exceeded.
44. The method of claim 35 further comprising instructing the transmitter to transmit an alert message at a time that is independent of the unique time window.
45. The method of claim 35 further comprising transmitting the uplink message as a cellular message.
46. The method of claim 35 further comprising receiving global positioning system data for at least some of the plurality of sensor nodes.
47. The method of claim 35 further comprising receiving global positioning system data at the gateway node.
48. The method of claim 35 wherein the plurality of sensor nodes are positioned at regular intervals.
49. The method of claim 48 wherein the position of the plurality of sensor nodes positioned at regular intervals forms a grid.