A Different Type of Alarm System-Bushfire Alarms

     Our first installment of A Different Type of Alarm System was influenced by our enthusiasm regarding the wide array of functions that different alarm systems serve. It was originally meant to be our only installment on the theme, yet once again we found ourselves encountering the same sort of technological intrigue when we read about how alarm systems are being used in the early detection of bushfires.

     As most know, the annual fires that sweep across northern California and Australia can be quite a threat to the families and homes in their path. This makes early detection of fires key as a wildfire can spread, well, like a wildfire. There have been monitoring and alarm systems in years past for this application, but in 2010 a team of researchers at the University of Adelaide, led by Dr. Said Al-Sarawi, sought to produce a system that was of much lower cost. The system, pictured below, reports important data via SMS messages using GSM technology in order to alert authorities and homeowners of potential bushfires. Alternatively, the team also researched using ZigBee technology incorporated into a local area network (LAN) to distribute the data and achieve the same results.

     As the picture of the system demonstrates, it is self-sustaining with the use of solar panels and boasts the benefits of being quite mobile as well. Although the research produced by the team was published some time back, us here at Washington Alarm applaud the team’s work in finding a low-cost alternative to a life-saving alarm system.
 
News of this research was originally found on Eurekalert.com. Access to the PDF file of the research can be found here.