Sensor Deployment and Link Analysis in Satellite IoT Systems for Wildfire Detection

Climate change has been identified as one of the most critical threats to human civilization and sustainability. Wildfires, which produce huge amounts of carbon emission, are both drivers and results of climate change. An early and timely wildfire detection system can constrain fires to short and small ones and yield significant carbon reduction. In this paper, we propose to use ground sensor deployment and satellite Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for wildfire detection by taking advantage of satellites' ubiquitous global coverage. We first develop an optimal IoT sensor placement strategy based on fire ignition and detection models. Then, we analyze the uplink satellite communication budget and the bandwidth required for wildfire detection under the narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) radio interface. Finally, we conduct simulations on the California wildfire database and quantify the potential economical benefits by factoring in carbon emission reductions and sensor/bandwidth costs.

Sensor-Based Satellite IoT for Early Wildfire Detection

Frequent and severe wildfires have been observed lately on a global scale. Wildfires not only threaten lives and properties, but also pose negative environmental impacts that transcend national boundaries (e.g., greenhouse gas emission and global warming). Thus, early wildfire detection with timely feedback is much needed. We propose to use the emerging beyond fifth-generation (B5G) and sixth-generation (6G) satellite Internet of Things (IoT) communication technology to enable massive sensor deployment for wildfire detection. We propose wildfire and carbon emission models that take into account real environmental data including wind speed, soil wetness, and biomass, to simulate the fire spreading process and quantify the fire burning areas, carbon emissions, and economical benefits of the proposed system against the backdrop of recent California wildfires. We also conduct a satellite IoT feasibility check by analyzing the satellite link budget. Future research directions to further illustrate the promise of the proposed system are discussed.