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Cairo | Warning: Things are heating up!

Control

High-Level Project Summary

Trying to solve climate change related problems, we have established a system that can address the problem of forest fires. The system consists of:1- Detection system that provides accurate data about the situation of temperature, humidity, and smoke in the forest.2- Central unit that will process the data gained from the detection system to determine whether there is a serious problem like a fire in the forest or not.3- Robotic system that will go to the fire region and begin the process of putting down the fire. The robot will be supported with multiple sensors, each sensor will provide the robot with specific type of data that the robot will use to put the fire down.

Link to Project "Demo"

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ROhwT8yITCJh8Ow43z4dzTV-M_sa2O03/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112319798190972926703&rtpof=true&sd=true

Link to Final Project

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zvj7NVxY4DjA8VGmPaCRb8tOkPnsN0S9/view?usp=sharing

Detailed Project Description

The present system comprises of a central workstation and distributed data gathering devices that all wirelessly interact with one another to offer full real-time monitoring of fire in the region. Multiple steps of verification are used in order to leverage a range of fire characteristics during detection to accurately detect harmful flames while avoiding false positives. When a potential fire is encountered, autonomous vehicle goes to the fire location to confirm the data, provide live coverage and try to contain the situation by the aided fire hose till the help arrive.

First of all, the data gathering devices composites of multiple sensors:

1. Smoke detecting sensor: this sensor has a variable resistor whose conductivity varies with the concentration of CO and Combustible Gas. The sensor measures the concentration of the gases in ppm. It consists of a Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) type Gas Sensor, also known as Chemiresistors, since the detection is dependent on a change in the sensing material's resistance when the gas comes into contact with it. Gas concentrations may be sensed using a simple voltage divider network.

2. Temperature and humidity sensor: to measure the current temperature and humidity off the surrounding air.

3. Flame Sensor: Detects a flame or a light source of a wavelength in the range of 760nm-1100 nm (infrared electromagnetic waves). It can detect the flame up to 2 meters.

Then the data is transferred to the controlling unit via the Bluetooth module (that is a module that allows the microcontroller to connect to central unit). These data are judged upon according standards collected from NASA resources. The optimum conditions of a fire to happen is when the temperature is above 50 degrees Celsius, and the first signs of a fire is when the carbon monoxide concentration exceeds 100ppm, the extreme conditions is thought to be when the concentration of the carbon monoxide is above 800 ppm. Data gathered from multiple devices are then compared to each other to determine the affected areas and. After that, the judgement takes place. Finally, the decision is taken, whether to release the autonomous vehicle or not, and where to release it.

The judgement can yield three possibilities of danger:

1. the situation is safe and that is another normal day.

2. the conditions are perfect for a fire to happen but no signs of fire found.

3. the smoke sensors are reading high levels of combustion gases and flame senor readings have surpassed the safety threshold. The Autonomous vehicle is now on the way to try to contain the fire and get live update of the situation.

The autonomous vehicle consists of multiple parts that would aid its mission:

1. A camera to get live view of the fire as it happens to provide the experts with enough information to deal with the situation quickly and without anyone being in danger.

2. Flame sensor that would determine the direction at which the car should head to based on the strength of the received signal. The signal can have any value from 0 to 1023.

3. Ultrasonic sensor that would help the vehicle avoid obstacles and help the car to create a virtual map about its position.

4. A Bluetooth module that would send the current sensor readings and the location based on the virtual image to the central unit to monitor the current state of the vehicle.

5. A firing hose that is provided with water from the nearest water reservoir in order to contain the fire till the backup arrive or to completely extinguish the fire.

6. A siren to help guide the back up to its current situation.

The vehicle would head first to where the fire is most extreme now based on the data sent by the data gathering units. Then, it would follow the fire on its own once it catches a glances of a high intensity fire based on the data fed by the sensors mounted on it. The vehicle would stop at a distance of 0.5 meter of the nearest fire and then open the water on that fire. After that the vehicle would search for the next fire to do the same process again and so on. The central unit could abort the mission and order the vehicle to return based on the current fire state. Also, the central unit can take full control over the vehicle to place it where it is needed.

Benefits:

1. The fire could be detected as early as possible thus eliminating a big problem which is the late detection of the fire and accordingly late response.

2. Providing live update of the situation of the fire as it happens without risking any human life.

3. Fighting the fire with machines with much more efficiency than a fire man thus sparing human lives that could have been wasted instead.

4. Providing data that could be further used in researches to help further reduce forest fires.

This project is written by C++ and carried on by Arduino UNO as the microcontroller. The project uses graph theory to help develop the virtual image of the autonomous vehicle.

Space Agency Data

1- https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/wildfires-resource-page

We used this link to get more information from NASA's data about creating geo maps of areas of high danger and low danger in first fires.

2- https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/

We used these NASA's data to address correctly the problems of climate change and its effects on the earth.

3-https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MOD14A1_M_FIRE

Used to gain information about forest fires causes.

4- https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/Aritro/smoke-detection-using-mq-2-gas-sensor-79c54a

Used to gain information about how to use gas sensors.

5- https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/arduino-dc-motor-control-tutorial-l298n-pwm-h-bridge/

Used to know how to manage the power on the motors used in the robot.

6-https://www.circuitbasics.com/how-to-set-up-the-dht11-humidity-sensor-on-an-arduino

Used to gain information about flame sensors mechanisms.

Hackathon Journey

NASA space Apps' experience was so unique and fruitful that we learnt too many lessons in it. First of all, we managed to work in good shape with a team of different thoughts and backgrounds; something that added to each other a new thing in his personality. For instance, Yousef is so clever in dealing with hardware and electronics specially, we learnt from him too much in this field. While, Yousef also gained experience from us in the field of coding and designing. We can say that we didn't just work with each other; instead, we learnt from each other.

We chose this challenge (things are heating up) because we believe in the danger of climate change on our world. Furthermore, we have seen a lot last year about forest fires and the resulting destruction of animal habitats. The climate also changes roughly and suddenly in many areas which represents a problem on the environment. All these things combined helped us to choose this challenge. Our approach focused mainly on solving forest fires problems by providing what was needed in the challenge of drawing maps of areas of high danger and areas of low danger, using a unique detection system of sensors. However, we didn't stop at this point. We continued and developed a robotic system that will help in putting the fire of the forest down. We faced every challenge by making reasonable discussions, making good decisions, making good use of time, and dividing all the work on each one of us.