Silvanet Wildfire Sensor (Gen 3)
Silvanet Wildfire Sensors provide ultra-early detection of fires by monitoring the environment to detect gases associated with smoldering fires and alert users.
Dryad's 3rd Generation Silvanet Wildfire Sensor is designed to detect forest fires within minutes, often during their early smoldering phase. This reduces the risk of the fire spreading out of control and allows firefighters to extinguish smoldering fires before they spread.
The Wildfire Sensors now have an updated, endurable casing and incorporates NFC for offline device registration and local debugging.
The Sensors are mounted directly on trees using tree nails or securely attached to poles or fenceposts using garden wire.
Overview
The Silvanet Wildfire Sensor monitors the forest’s microclimate, measuring temperature, humidity, and air pressure within a radius of 80 m to 100 m (260 ft to 320 ft). It combines ultra-low-power air quality sensing with a precise gas sensing mode.
As the end-device, it uses LoRaWAN to communicate with the Silvanet Mesh Network and can operate maintenance-free for 10-15 years. Energy is stored in supercapacitors rather than batteries to prevent the Sensors from being a source of fires themselves.
Key Features
Gen 3 Silvanet Wildfire Sensors have an updated design for better gas sensing and allows device registration using NFC.
New features
Integrated NFC: Integrates NFC for registering and connectivity testing (using the Silvanet Deployment app) and for offline local debugging.
New gas sensor: Updated gas sensor for improved fire detection capabilities.
Deployment features
Detection radius: Deployed every 100 m (typical) for a fire detection range of 100 m radius for 60 minute detection of a 2 m x 3 m fire.
Maintenance free:
Runs maintenance free for 10 to 15 years without the need of batteries.
Weatherproof casing design:
Endurable casing design (weather/UV proof) with IP67 Ingress protection. Integrated loop for quickly mounting on trees or wooden poles with a single tree nail and spacer (at minimum 3 m above forest floor).
Solar powered
Power is supplied by a built-in 6 x 6 cm solar panel. As a precaution against the device itself starting a fire, it stores its energy in supercapacitors rather than batteries. This avoids the use of lithium and other toxic materials.
LoRaWAN connectivity:
LoRa-integrated radio sends and receive messages to the robust LoRaWAN Silvanet Mesh Network (Mesh Gateways and Border Gateways).
Firmware update: Remotely update firmware using FUOTA (Firmware Update Over-the-Air).
Environmental monitoring
Bosch gas sensor combines ultra-low-power Air Quality sensing with a precise gas sensing mode. It is a low-energy hydrogen sensor that can detect the presence of a smoldering fire over distances of up to 115 m.
Detects the presence of Volatile Organic Compounds (VoCs) and Volatile Sulfur Compounds (VSC) and detects these compounds at <20 ppm.
The gas sensor detects CO (Carbon Monoxide), H2, (Hydrogen) and VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) at the ppm level with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) to reliably detect a fire and avoid false positives.
Monitors the microclimate of the forest by reading temperature, humidity and air pressure.
Regulatory compliance
USA (FCC, PTCRB)
Canada (IC)
Europe (CE RED)
CB Scheme
LoRa Radio
ISM Bands: NA902-928, AU915, EU868, AS923
Tx Power: 14 dBm
Delivered components
10 Wildfire Sensors
10 tree nails
10 spacers
Garden wire
Dimensions and weight
The dimensions of the Silvanet Wildfire Sensor are (LxWxH) 19 cm x 9.2 cm x 1.34 cm. It weighs 136 grams.
Environmental detection
The Silvanet Wildfire Sensor uses a Bosch gas sensor to monitor the microclimate of the forest. It is a low-energy hydrogen sensor that detects the presence of a smoldering fire over distances of up to 115 m.
The gas sensor detects the presence of CO (Carbon Monoxide), H2, (Hydrogen), VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and VSCs (Volatile Sulfur Compounds). It detects VOC and VSC compounds at <20 ppm. It monitors the microclimate of the forest by providing measurements under the following conditions:
Air pressure: 300 hPa to 1100 hPa
Humidity: 0% to 100% condensing
Temperature: -40°C to +85°C
Energy harvesting (solar panel)
The Silvanet Wildfire Sensor includes a 60 mm x 60 mm solar cell on its front housing.
Each day the solar panel harvests 7Ws in the constrained conditions of a forest.
The solar panel provides sufficient energy supply to support continuous operation over a 24hr period while still having enough reserve power to support the powering of the gas sensor and to send a burst of messages when a smoldering fire is detected.
It continuously generates energy during the daytime and recharges the device with sufficient power for after sunset. It then begins to discharge until sunrise. After sunrise, it begins to recharge to 100% within about an hour.
Supercapacitor Energy Storage
The Silvanet Wildfire Sensor uses a set of supercapacitors to store energy for use by the radio, gas sensor and other components. It stores the energy for day-to-day tasks and has a reasonable amount of reserve power to operate the gas sensor and radio module in case a potential fire is detected.
As supercapacitors have an expected lifespan of 10 years or more, the sensors are essentially maintenance free. This allows for an expected lifespan of the sensor between 10 and 15 years.
Supercapacitors have a high capacity but a small maximum voltage of 2.7 V so a series of capacitors are loaded to 4 V. Capacitors are fully charged to 5.2 V.
Energy consumption
The Silvanet Wildfire Sensor has very low energy consumption which is provided by its built-in solar panel.
The two key components that consume energy are the gas sensor and the LoRa radio:
The gas sensor consumes ~3.9 mA in standard gas scan mode.
LoRa radio - see Idle/active modes.
Idle/active modes
Normally, the Silvanet Wildfire Sensor is in idle mode. Every 60 seconds it enters active mode to read the air quality. Then, every 2 hours it reads the environment after which it sends a single packet to the Silvanet Cloud Platform via Mesh Gateways and Border Gateways.
Normal State
Idle mode
60 seconds
Every 60 seconds
Active mode - Check Air Quality
1 second
Every 2 hours
Active mode - check Air Quality and send data packet.
1 second
These data packets contain normal (non-fire detection) environmental data which includes temperature, pressure and humidity internal values.
These values are then displayed in the Site Details section of the Site Management app.
Sensor calibration
After deployment, the Wildfire Sensor requires 14 days to calibrate. Until then it can generate false alarms.
Firmware update
The Silvanet Wildfire Sensor supports FUOTA (Firmware Update Over The Air).
Using FUOTA, the Wildfire Sensor can successfully and securely receive firmware updates even if its power supply is interrupted.
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