Odisha Boys Catch NASA Eye With Their Forest Fire Detecting Device

Bhubaneswar: Two Odisha boys have given the US just what they need, especially after the raging forest fires in California. Pratyush Mallick and Pramit Kumar Bhuta have designed a device, which will help monitor forest fires quickly.

Their device that can detect early signs of a forest fire, was among the first 25 projects selected by US space agency NASA’s iTech Cycle.

Pratyush 22 and Pramit 21, are final year students of Instrumentation and Electronic Engineering in the College of Engineering and Technology (CET), Bhubaneswar.

“Our instrument can read three parameters – temperature, carbon monoxide and humidity of the forests. With the help of these parameters, we can know the possibility of a fire in the forest. When a forest catches fire, our instrument will inform through a message on the mobile phone or a computer through internet within 15 minutes,” said Pratyush.

Explaining the project, Pratyush said, “Our instrument is a wireless system. It has harvest energy from microbial fuel cells to monitor forest fires quickly. Earlier, we had used solar panels for this model. But we could not succeed, as the device did not get much light in the dense forest. Solar panel also needs maintenance frequently, which is not possible in the forest.”

The microbial fuel cell can harvest energy from the earth, he added.

“The device needs maintenance after two years. We can check the humidity and temperature of the forest in every 15 minutes through our device, whereas, through satellite, we receive information only after one or two hours,” said Pratyush.

“As the device has a sensing range of one km, we have to place more devices accordingly in the forest,” he added.

“We have completed this project in one year. The Uttarakhand forest fire in 2016 had inspired us to do this project. We have also seen the Amazon forest fire recently,” he said.

The device, called ‘Jewel Beetle’  was first displayed at the Sankalp Hackathon-2019 held at Kolkata in January 2019. The name Jewel Beetle signifies the forest insect that is prompt in detecting forest fires.

Pratyush belongs to Rourkela, while belongs to Paralakhemundi.

“Our family members are very happy with our achievement. I have a got a job through campus selection and Pramit is preparing for Gate examination. We will plan a start-up in the future,” said Pratyush.

“Now we want to patent our idea and device,” he said.