Common Silvanet Terms

Here is a brief list of key terms and concepts used in Silvanet.

See also

For a more extensive list of terms, see the Silvanet Glossary. See also the Silvanet Suite FAQ.

Air quality: Air quality is quantified as an Index of Air Quality (IAQ) which has a range of values that indicates the quality of air within range of the sensor. It is used by the Silvanet sensor to trigger a Phase 1 alert if it passes a defined threshold. See IAQ below.
Border Gateway: A Border Gateway receives messages from Silvanet sensors via Mesh Gateways using LoRaWAN and forwards the messages to the Silvanet Cloud using one of three services: LTE-M (mobile), Ethernet (PoE adapter and router) or satellite.
Calibration: Once deployed, the Silvanet sensor needs to perform a 14-day calibration to determine a value for normal air in the environment around the sensor. This is critical for allowing the sensor to detect a smoldering fire. The calibration period is approximately 14 days after deployment and during this period the sensor does not detect smoldering fires.
Fire alerts: A sensor triggers a Phase 2 (Red) Fire alert after the sensor determines with a high probability that a fire has been detected. The Fire alert is sent immediately to registered users via the Silvanet Cloud.
False alerts: During the calibration period and up to one month after deploying, the sensor may trigger false Fire Alerts. This is normal behavior and is expected.
IAQ: An IAQ (Index of Air Quality) is an index that has a range of values that indicates or quantifies the quality of the air available in the surrounding area. The threshold value which triggers a Phase 1 alert is defined by Dryad.
Interactions: Interacting with a sensor causes the sensor to be recalibrated. Interactions can include touching the sensors in any way, moving the sensors in any way, being in proximity to the sensors and running machinery and vehicles, especially diesel, near the sensor. It can also include bringing any source near the sensor that could trigger the Phase 1 alert such as cigarettes and even breathing on the sensor.
Mesh Gateway: Mesh Gateways receives messages from sensors and forwards them to other Mesh Gateways or directly to a Border Gateway using a LoRaWAN mesh network. Messages sent from sensors hop through all Mesh Gateways within range.
Phase 1 alert: A Phase 1 alert is not necessarily an indicator of a fire. However, when a Silvanet sensor triggers a Phase 1 alert (yellow), it indicates a deterioration in air quality in the surrounding environment. Phase 1 alerts are used as an optimization to reduce the number of gas scans (which check for fire) and only do so when there is a change in the gas composition of the air.
Phase 2 alert: If the sensor determines a fire is the most likely cause for the deterioration of air quality (which is indicated by a Phase 1 alert), the sensor immediately issues a Phase 2 Fire alert sent to the Site's registered users.
Silvanet Sensor: The Silvanet Wildfire Sensor is designed to detect forest fires during the early stages (even during the smoldering phase) within minutes. The sensor monitors the microclimate by measuring temperature, humidity and air pressure.
Site: A Site is a geographical area which has a dimension that is dynamically calculated based on the placement of Silvanet devices in a forest. Each Site has its own unique Site ID.
Silvanet Packet: Silvanet Packets include a list of Silvanet Devices that are to be deployed by users. They include the planned deployment locations of the devices and typically include sufficient devices for a day's deployment activities. More than one Packet can be prepared for Site deployments. They are prepared using the Site Management app and opened in the Silvanet Deployment app for registering actual deployment locations.
VOC: A VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) is an organic chemical compound that evaporates easily at room temperature. VOCs are compounds that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility. The gas sensor in the Silvanet Sensor is designed to detect VOCs.