Anale. Seria Informatică. Vol. XVII fasc.
2 – 2019
Annals. Computer Science Series. 17th Tome 2nd Fasc. – 2019
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATIC FIRE ALARM
SYSTEM USING GSM MODULE
Olaniyan O. M, Jayeoba M., Kazeem S.
Department of Computer Engineering, Federal University, Ekiti
Corresponding Author: Olaniyan O. M., [email protected]
ABSTRACT: A great threat to lives and properties is fire systems such as fire alarm, water supply system, fire
disaster ever since the genesis of human existence. extinguishers etc. which are not enough to take
Statistically, over 70% of total loss of properties and prompt action during fire to save properties and
about 20% of total loss of lives every year in Nigeria is ultimately save lives. It is thoughtful that an
due to fire disaster. Electric short circuit in faulty
automatic fire detection and mitigation system, in
electrical wiring, leakage of flammable materials,
insufficient fire defense materials, violation of fire safety such scenario, will provide real-time surveillance,
and most especially, lack of adequate awareness etc. are monitoring, and automated notification. Wireless
the major causes of such percentage. Although sensor networks (WSNs) are widely deployed in
conventionally, some factories and recent buildings have environmental monitoring, structural health
now incorporated fire extinguishing systems which are monitoring and industrial monitoring in recent years.
not enough to take prompt action during fire to save For such applications, WSN provides low cost
properties and ultimately save lives. This project is based solutions. Though WSNs devices have limited
on the design and implementation of an automatic computation, radio communication capabilities and
wireless-based fire monitoring, detection and alarm sensing, their low power consumptions, small
system using GSM module. Designing a system to
magnitude, and low cost makes them suitable for
alleviate and to detect fire accidents in advance (before its
outbreak) by alerting residents of a building and the fire communication between detectors in fire alarm
department would really help to combat fire outbreak system.
issues in the nation. The system is able to detect an This paper therefore presents the design and
erupting fire, alert occupants of the building, notify the implementation of a system that detect fire-
concerned recipient, extinguish the source of the fire outbreaks in advance automatically, and further send
before the occurrence of such hazard, thereby proffering notifications to concerned recipients over a wireless
an eventual prevention of fire outbreaks and its fatalities, network for significant lives and cost saving.
hence, saving lives and properties. This project basically
takes the advantage of the dominating wireless II. BLOCK DIAGRAM
communication network, using a GSM module to alert the
concerned occupants remotely via text messages when the
sensors sense dangerous gas leakage, heat and fire in This system’s architecture is based on the Wireless
order to alleviate the rate at which peoples lose lives and Network and comprises of both software and
properties due to fire hazards in Nigeria. hardware resources. The three major sections of the
KEYWORDS: Fire, Sensor, Control Panel, Power supply. system are: Sensor Interface, Control, Panel /
Transmission, and Displaying / Alert / Notification
I. INTRODUCTION as shown below.
A great threat to lives and properties is fire disaster III. SYSTEM COMPOSITION –
ever since the genesis of human existence. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Statistically, over 70% of total loss of properties and
about 20% of total loss of lives every year in Nigeria At the core of the system is the enclosed
is due to fire disaster (Fire Industry Association, environment being monitored, which can also be
2015). Electric short circuit in faulty electrical referred to as the “subject” in this case. The subject
wiring, leakage of flammable materials, insufficient is primarily monitored by flame, gas and
fire defense materials, violation of fire safety and temperature sensors which are embedded on a CPU,
most especially, lack of adequate awareness etc. are and triggered by the presence of fire symptoms,
the major causes of such percentage. ranging from flame, to smoke, or heat.
Although conventionally, some factories and recent The information collected by the sensor about the
buildings have now incorporated fire extinguishing environment will then be sent to the Control Panel
which is a microcontroller (Arduino). The
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Annals. Computer Science Series. 17th Tome 2nd Fasc. – 2019
microcontroller comprises of CPU that does the where the decision of whether to launch a
logical processing of the received information as the transmission process in order to send an alarm via
two hardware components are directly connected the Wireless Notification Medium to the building
together on the hardware part of this project. So, occupants or Fire Emergency Services or not
when the sensor receives an input that it is (depending on the configuration) is made.
configured for, it sends signal to the microcontroller
Fig. 1: Architecture of the Automatic Fire Alarm System using Module
The materials used in this project include the its mechanism, it is faster and more accurate than
following: other high temperature detectors such as heat
i. Lipo battery detectors.
ii. Sim808 GSM module
iii. MQ-2 Gas Sensor
iv. LM35 Temperature Sensor
v. ATMega328 (mini) Microcontroller
vi. Flame Sensor
vii. Resistors
viii. Capacitors
ix. LEDs
x. Piezoelectric buzzer
xi. USB Ports Fig. 2: Flame Sensor
xii. Connecting wires, soldering lead, hot
melt sticks, Veroboard, cable wires, etc. B. MQ-2 Sensor
Ideally, LPG sensor is a sensor to detect the
IV. SENSING INTERFACE presence leakage LPG gas in a domain where it is
used such as in our home, a gas service station, a
A. Flame Sensor storage tank and even in vehicle which uses LPG gas
A flame sensor is a designed sensor with the intent as its fuel. When interfaced with a microcontroller,
of detecting and responding to the presence of flame an alarm can be sounded when there is gas leakage
or fire in the environment where it is used. When or to provide a visual indication of the LPG
used with a microcontroller, it can be configured to concentration via either LCD (Liquid crystal
response to a particular level of fire or flame as the display) or seven-segment displays. The higher is
needs may be. For example, a fuel line can be the rise in the gas concentration, the higher the
deactivated (such as a propane or a natural gas line), sensor’s conductivity when the target combustible
a fire suppression system can be activated, an gas exists. The sensor can detect smoke in the range
industrial alarm can be sounded for fire awareness of 300-10,000 ppm, giving an analog output voltage
etc. depending on its area of application. Based on of between 0v to 5v depending on the quantity of
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Annals. Computer Science Series. 17th Tome 2nd Fasc. – 2019
smoke detected ([CBG13]). The sensitive material integrated development environment (IDE) which
used is SnO2, whose conductivity is lower in clean includes support for C, C++ and Java programming
air. Its conductivity increases as the concentration of languages. Using various 8-bit Atmel AVR
combustible gases increases, hence generating a microcontrollers or 32-bit Atmel ARM processors,
corresponding analog voltage at the output. the Arduino Microcontroller provide sets of digital
and analog I/O pins that can be interfaced to various
expansion boards ("shields") and other circuits. The
boards feature serial communications interfaces,
including USB on some models, for loading
programs from personal computers.
By considering its several advantages such as simple
user experience, economical nature, combined with
its open source and extensible nature; Arduino board
is chosen for the control panel of this project.
Fig. 3: Gas sensor
C. Temperature Sensor
The LM35 is an I.C (integrated circuit) based sensor
that can be used to measure temperature with an
output voltage proportional to the temperature (in
°C) and a scale factor of .01V/°C.. It is more
accurate than thermistor when measuring
temperature. The sensor circuitry is sealed to prevent
the influence of oxidation. The LM35 produces a
higher output voltage when compares to Fig. 5: A typical Arduino Board
thermocouples and may not require extra output
voltage amplification. The ATmega32 provides the following features: 32
kilobytes of In-System Programmable Flash
Program memory with Read-While-Write
capabilities, 1024 bytes EEPROM, 2 kilobyte
SRAM, 32 general purpose I/O lines, 32 general
purpose working registers, a JTAG interface for
boundary-scan, On-chip Debugging support and
programming, three flexible Timer/Counters with
Fig. 4: Temperature Sensor compare modes, internal and external interrupts, a
serial programmable USART, a byte oriented two-
The LM35 does not require any external calibration wire Serial Interface, an 8-channel, 10-bit ADC with
or trimming and maintains an accuracy of +/-0.4°C optional differential input stage with programmable
at room temperature and +/-0.8°C over a range of gain (TQFP package only), a programmable
0°C to +100°C. LM35 draws a very small current Watchdog Timer with Internal Oscillator, an SPI
(60 micro amps) from its supply and thus, less serial port, and six software selectable power saving
susceptible to self- heating. TO-92 plastic transistor- modes.
like package, T0-46 metal can transistor-like
package and 8-lead surface mount SO-8 small VI. TRANSMISSION AND NOTIFICATION
outline package are different packages that LM35 SYSTEM – GPRS MODULE
appears. This project uses the To-92 small transistor WIRELESS NETWORK
package type.
GSM / GPRS module is used to establish
V. CONTROL PANEL – ATMEGA communication between a computer and a GSM-
MICRO CONTROLLER GPRS system. Global System for Mobile
communication (GSM) is an architecture used for
At the control panel, Arduino microcontroller is mobile communication in most of the countries.
programmed with C programming language for Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is an extension
processing and controlling signals provided by of GSM that enables higher data transmission rate.
sensors. The Arduino platform provides an GSM / GPRS module consists of a GSM / GPRS
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modem assembled together with power supply USB, etc) for computer. The MODEM is the heart of
circuit and communication interfaces (like RS-232, such modules.
Fig. 6a: GSM/GPRS Module Architecture
For establishing communication between the cellular power supply circuit is also built in the module that
network and the computer, wireless MODEMs are can be activated by using a suitable adaptor ([BYJ6).
devices that generate, transmit or decode data from a
cellular network. In this project, microcontroller is
the computer used to communicate with the cellular
network. MODEMS are manufactured for specific
cellular network (GSM / UMTS / CDMA) or
specific cellular data standard (GSM / UMTS /
GPRS / EDGE / HSDPA) or technology (GPS /
SIM). Wireless MODEMs like other MODEM
devices use serial communication to interface with
and need Hayes compatible AT commands for
communication with the computer ([SP13]).
GSM / GPRS MODEM is a class of wireless
MODEM devices that are designed for
communication of a computer with the GSM and
GPRS network. To activate communication with the Fig. 6b: SIM808 GSM Module ([SP13])
network, a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card is
required just like mobile phones. Also, they have VII. POWER SUPPLY
IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
number similar to mobile phones for their A Lithium Ion Battery which can be charged by an
identification. A GSM/GPRS MODEM can perform ordinary 5V cell phone charger through an on-board
the following operations: USB charging port is used to power this device.
1. Receive, send or delete SMS messages in a Using a rechargeable battery gives the device a
SIM. major advantage which is that even when there is no
2. Read, add, search phonebook entries of the electrical power, the device can still operate. Below
SIM. is a simple block diagram of the power supply unit:
3. Make, Receive, or reject a voice call.
The MODEM needs AT commands, for interacting
with processor or controller, which are
communicated through serial communication. These
commands are sent by the controller/processor. The
MODEM sends back a result after it receives a
command. Different AT commands supported by the
MODEM can be sent by the processor / controller /
computer to interact with the GSM and GPRS
cellular network.
The GSM/GPRS module comprises of GSM/GPRS
modem with standard communication interfaces like Fig. 7: Power Supply Unit
RS-232 (Serial Port), USB etc., so that it can be
easily interfaced with a computer or a
microprocessor / microcontroller-based system. The
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current collector. The electrical current then flows
from the current collector through a device being
powered (cell phone, computer, etc.) to the negative
current collector. The separator blocks the flow of
electrons inside the battery. While the battery is
discharging and providing an electric current, the
anode releases lithium ions to the cathode,
generating a flow of electrons from one side to the
other. When plugging in the device, the opposite
happens: Lithium ions are released by the cathode
Fig. 8: Lithium Ion Battery and received by the anode.
A Lithium-ion battery is made up of an anode, VIII. CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
cathode, separator, electrolyte, and two current
collectors (positive and negative). The anode and It contains units M1, M2, M3, M4, U1 as Gas
cathode store the lithium. The electrolyte carries sensor, Temperature sensor, Flame sensor, GSM
positively charged lithium ions from the anode to the module and Arduino ATMEGA328P respectively.
cathode and vice versa through the separator. The
movement of the lithium ions creates free electrons
in the anode which creates a charge at the positive
Fig. 9: Circuit Diagram Obtained Using Proteus
The diagram above is the schematic diagram of the there is a network issue. After this sequence, it
project; the ATMEGA328 being the heart of the reverts to the active monitoring mode.
system initializes all the sensors after a time out of a
few seconds upon powered up and begins calibration IX. CONCLUSION
of the sensors; it then goes into the active monitoring
mode, analyzing sensor data for a potential fire or This design system is able to detect an erupting fire,
emergency situation. alert occupants of the building, notify the concerned
When there is a fire/smoke/pollution incident, the recipient, and extinguish the source of the fire before
microcontroller initializes the SIM808 module and the occurrence of such hazard, thereby proffering an
waits for it to acquire the network, then forwards the eventual prevention of fire outbreaks and its
programmed SMS to the assigned Response Center fatalities, hence, saving lives and properties. During
numbers, repeating the message once just in case the implementation of this project, the problems and
weaknesses of earlier similar systems were reviewed
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