MicroMet3IB weather station has been designed to measure climatic conditions which allow to calculate all indeces linked to the determination of forest fire hazard.
Furthermore MicroMet3IB station has been used, during the occurence of the forest fire, to evaluate wind conditions and provide a prompt support to put out the fire. For this purpose the station is tipically provided of the following sensors/ measures:
1. Wind speed and direction 2. Air temperature and rel. humidity 3. Rainfall 4. Global solar radiation 5. Temperature and rel. humidity of fuel stick sensor (estimate of the incendiability of the wood litter) 6. Atmospheric pressure 7. Evapotranspiration (calculated with Penman Monteith’s method)
The instrumental equipment of the station allows to supply all the input data for the calculation of the following indices:
Estimation of water deficit (depending on rainfall, number of days since the last precipitation and max temperature)
Aridity index (as a function of evapotranspiration and precipitation)
Forest fire risk index (as a function of wind speed, humidity and air temperature aridity index)
The telemonitoring system for forest fires consists of the following functional elements:
A series of wireless multiparameter sensors mod. BUTTERFLY for the measurement of: air temperature and humidity and CO2 located in strategic points of the wooded area to alert in real time the available staff and the operations center
One or more weather stations mod. MicroMET for the measurement of environmental conditions, the prevention of fire risk conditions and decision support
A completely independent data transmission system via GPRS for each measurement point with data transmission on the FTP area and alarms via SMS
A software for the operations center for the supervision of the network and for the collection and processing of data
ADVANTAGES
Very low consumption, compact and with low visual impact
Data transmission and alarms released from proprietary communication protocol with data in standard text format (CSV format)
Wireless telemetry system with distributed intelligence
Easily installed and reprogrammable remotely
Reliability over time and minimum maintenance required
Completely Italian technology
Specifications
BUTTERFLY Peripheral Sensors
Butterfly-F is a wireless multi-parameter sensor for forest monitoring and forest fire alert capable of transmitting data via GPRS in a protected internet area (FTP area) and sending any alarms via SMS to available personnel in real time.
The macro-descriptive climatic parameters of a fire that are monitored by Butterfly-F are typically the temperature and humidity of the air and carbon dioxide (CO2); the device also has a high versatility for connecting numerous transducers for environmental and industrial monitoring, making it extremely adaptable to any remote measurement application.
MicroMET3 Weather station
The weather station is mainly used for the assessment of environmental conditions that can favor the development of the fire; it is also used, during the occurrence of the event, to assess the wind conditions to support the personnel in charge of extinguishing. For this purpose, the station is equipped with the following measuring sensors:
Wind speed and direction
Air temperature and humidity
Atmospheric pressure
Precipitation
Global solar radiation
Ponderosa pine stem temperature and humidity
Each measurement is used to assess the real time climatic conditions of the site and establish the danger degree of possible fire development.
Data transmission system via GPRS
The data transmission system is based on a GPRS wireless network that allows the transfer of data over a protected FTP area, while it uses SMS message technology to send alarms. This system makes it possible to obtain a wireless network in remote measurement with distributed intelligence in which each Butterfly sensor and each weather station are able to transmit data independently without the need to rely on repeater intermediate points for retransmission. The main advantages of the GPRS system are:
All Butterfly measuring points become independent and able to independently manage the measurements by promptly signaling an alarm condition by sending an SMS to a staff's mobile phone.
Each Butterfly sensor is equipped with a microprocessor able to carry out a continuous sampling of the measurements, to independently manage the functional logic to ensure a reduction in consumption and obtain greater functional autonomy.
The Butterfly sensor can activate an intelligent functional logic in which, while maintaining a continuous sampling of the data, it can check if the measurements are in alarm and when the set thresholds are exceeded, send an alert to on-call personnel; in addition, the sensor can increase the data transmission rate, while in the presence of persistent normal conditions (e.g. winter, rain, high humidity, etc ...) it can reduce the data transmission rate (for example every hour or half hour) to preserve the '' energy in the event of a fire and upon the occurrence of real critical conditions. This aspect not only complies with the guidelines of the WMO and the requirements of the US National Wildfire Coordinating Group, but is highly recommended especially in wooded areas where the irradiation conditions of the photovoltaic power supply panels are not optimal.
MeteoGraph-AL Software
Meteograph-AL is a web application that allows you to manage a network of remote monitoring stations and to carry out graphic and table processing.
The main functions of MeteoGraph-AL are:
Communication and archiving
Data acquisition, graphic and table processing and synoptic display of values and alarms
Display, print and download of the tabular (CSV) and graphic (jpg) report
anagement of alarm thresholds and sending messages via e-mail
