Sean Cai and a team of budding RPI engineers designed an early forest fire warning system. His team built a prototype machine that measures the humidity and listens to bark beetle activity through high frequency microphones. Using an algorithm the machine sends a signal when the probability of forest fire is highest. The humidity and beetle activity work hand in hand predicting highly vulnerable fire conditions.
The idea sprung from a huge forest fire that occurred in the mid-west a few months ago. Inspired to help, Sean and his team reached out to fire departments in California and Wyoming to learn more about the causes of these fires. Through research they learned that in addition to the high temperature-low humidity combination, bark beetles are a significant factor in causing forest fires as well. “Bark beetles attack certain trees that then generate oil to defend against the beetles, which in turn is extremely flammable,” Cai says. “Our device is attached to the trunk of the trees, which can detect the temperature and humidity of the surrounding environment, as well as the Bark beetle activities. When the surrounding environment is hot, dry, and showing the existence of bark beetles, the device will automatically send an alert to the central control system so that the fire department can send a helicopter to the area to address the possibility of a forest fire. It is a warning system that can save a lot of human resources and water that is often needed to fight forest fires,” concludes Cai.
The Macfarlane Engineering Prize was established by Mrs. Walker D. Hines in memory of her father, Graham Macfarlane, class of 1872. The prize is awarded to the team that has presented the best Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) project during every academic year.