FLOOD DISASTER EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

1S. Vinoth John Prakash,

2 P. Chandrasekar,

3Suresh.MN,

4Rajkumar. S,

5Rajesh. P

Veltech Dr.RR & Dr.SR University, Avadi, Chennai, India. 1svjprakash@veltechuniv.edu.in,

3Suresh_mn78@yahoo.co.in, hodeee@veltechuniv.edu.in

Abstract: In this paper, water level in the river, lake and

streams are measured, sharing water level information to

people through IoT (Internet of Things), which is

different from traditional method. Before the flood

disaster the very important things are early

communication to people, especially low lying area,

which will help them to decide on evacuation from the

place and could able to save their lives. Here a water

level sensor is placed in the river or lake. To prove our

concept we designed a micro kit with a water level sensor

& the water reaches cautioned limit will give analog

input to Programmable controller board (Arduino Uno

Micro controller). Arduino Uno micro controller send

this information to Mobile phones transmitted via

Bluetooth & to Laptop through GSM Module, So the

users can monitor the water level in the river/lake

continuously. This concept of micro kit tested and

satisfactory results are obtained.

Keywords: IoT, Disaster warning system, GSM,

1. Introduction

There are several type of natural Disaster and one of the

most vulnerable is Flood Disaster. A flood is caused by

heavy rainfall causing river/lakes to overflow their banks.

Flood have large consequences for individuals &

Communities. Dissemination of warning to the right

people/right communication system is required to avoid

human lives & their properties. The important of having

effective flood warning system is widely accepted as one

component to manage disaster risk.

Our motivation to take this project is damages caused

in our state capital (Chennai) last year (2016) due to

flood, caused many people lost their properties and

belongings. The lesson learnt from last year flood was

early communication not shared with people whoever

were living in low lying areas & sides of river banks.

Also they did not have enough time to evacuate from

their areas.

This year 2017 also forecasted as possibilities of flood

in Chennai. This encourages us to researching &

developing preliminary solutions for an early warning

system to alert them before the flood.

It is very much important that the deficiencies in the

process of existing water level measuring system.

Presently there are four methods for measurement. One is

that water level is monitored & recorded manually by

ruler in some sections of lake/river and then

communicated through telephone. This requires

professional person in duty. In this method the accuracy

of the data’s are less accuracy. In the second method

water level gauge is used but this needs calibration &

Manual operation. The method is installing the water

level sensors in fixed locations & the monitored values is

being transferred to control centers through internet. The

collected data’s are being stored & analyzed and used

during flood period as reference. The fourth method is

the GPS Real Time kinematic method which measures

automatically and transfer through telemetry system in

real time.

In the first two method it is required a professional on

duty and less accuracy instruments. In the third & fourth

methods are automatic but needs internet connection to

transmit & very expensive. The above deficiencies are

addressed in the proposed system.

2. Background

Very recently the IoT is the concept very popular in the

Wireless Technology field. IoT refers the

internetworking of devices, embedded with software,

sensors & network connectivity to collect & exchange the

data’s [1] [2] [3]. The IoT allows the object to be sensed

and/or controlled remotely & direct integration into

computer based systems, which improves economic,

accuracy & efficiency[4] [5] [6]. So IoT offers as very

advanced connectivity devices which beyond the M2M

(Machine to Machine) communications [7]. “Things”

means sense & collect the data and send to internet.

Earlier to IoT some solutions have been proposed for

disaster solutions [8] [9]

[10]

[11].

Things oriented vision

works [12] [13].

Uses RFID technology. Another

Example found in ALERT [14] systems. In this system

various sensors have been used to transfer information to

centralized system. The current Disaster recovery system

& Emergency management system involve such as

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communication infrastructure & an information

management system [15].

Forecasting of flood by

overflowing of rivers able to process, analyze and data’s

sensed through remotely to detect the occurrence of

flood. This is a very good solution but expensive.

Extreme rainfall is more often because of climate

change and it is necessary to focus on the river banks &

lakes water level continuously & constantly, for this

measurement must be safe manner & reliable sensor.

To know the water level in the river/lake water level

measurement is must and to know in which level it is

going to dangerous because of overflow & cause flood.

Better to save the water levels for analysis so that helpful

for predictions for future levels.

B. Water Level Meters

Different types of water level meters are used in practice

which are shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 &4.

1). Level Measurement by Ruler: Rule is a

measurement scale which is fixed in the River/Lakes

used to read the water level fluctuations. (See Fig. 1)

Figure 1. Ruler Measurement

2). Mechanical Float Meter: A mechanical float placed

in the container and based on the water level float moves

up & down and the exact water level in the container can

be measured in the outside graduated scale. (See Fig. 2)

Figure 2. Mechanical Float

3). Digital Water Level Indicator: A mechanical float

placed in the container and based on the water level

output converted into digital and displayed the digital

value. (See Fig. 3)

Figure 3. Digital Water Level Indicator

4). Radar Water Level Indicator: A water level sensor

wired type fixed in the container & converted as digital

value. The digital value of water level transmitted as

wireless. (See Fig. 4)

Figure 4. Radar Digital Water Level Indicator

3. System Design

We have created a micro model to test the performance

of early water level alert system as a prototype. In this

way we can test our kit instead of waiting for torrential

rain and to watch how the water level increases in

river/lakes.

Basically this micro kit has a function be an early flood

alarm system, this consists of water level sensing probe.

When the water level reaches the probe the alarm is

triggered to Micro controller board. So this information

sends from container to a web server and smartphones as

well.

As mentioned there are several types of water level

sensors in the market but here we are using a simple

circuit, when the water level reaches the open probe and

circuit closes when in contact with water.

A. System Design

To validate our concept, designed a micro model system

which consists of water container, Electronic probe

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sensor, Arduino Micro controller, Blue tooth, a laptop

and smart phone.

For a testing purpose we have been using the probe for

water level sensing, but in real scenario have to use the

step level sensor with wireless transmission which will

give stage level measurements.

B. Materials & Equipment’s

To design our prototype the following were the

equipment’s & materials used. All the elements are

shown in Figure. 8.

1). Water Level Sensor – Senses the water level once

circuit closed and sends the information to Arduino

Micro controller.

2). Water Container – Enabling the controlled water level

environment.

3) Arduino Uno Microcontroller (See Fig 5) - This is a

powerful single board computer & can write program and

create interface to read switches & other sensors.

This board has the following features.

• AT mega 328 Microcontroller

• Operating Voltage – 5V

• Clock speed – 16MHZ

• Digital I/O -16

• Analog Inputs -4

• Flash Memory – 32KB

• SRAM/EEPROM- 2KB/1KB

4). GSM SIM900A (See Fig 6) - This is a complete quad

band GSM/GPRS module which can be embedded in to

customer application. This board has the following

features.

• Dual band GSM/GPRS -900/1800MHZ

• 3V3 & 5V interface for direct communication

with MCU kit

• SMA connector with GSM Antenna

• SIM card holder

• Inbuilt powerful TCP/IP protocol

• Wireless Sensor Network

5). Micro USB cable (1m) – To program the Arduino

micro controller.

6). HC 05 Bluetooth Module (See Fig 7)- used to

interface with VCC,GND,TXD,RXD & KEY pin. This

board has following features.

• Bluetooth connection status LED

• Base plate anti reverse diode

• Standard baud rate 4800bps-1382400bps.

• Unpaired – 30mA & Paired – 10mA.

7). LCD Display – Display the status of Flood

(Normal/Abnormal).

8). Water – To fill the container

9). Laptop- A computer to execute the status of flood &

programming the microcontroller.

10). Smartphone- To receive the flood status.

11). SIM card – To communicate with web

Figure 5. Arduino UNO Microcontroller

Figure 6. GSM SIM 900A GPS/GPRS Module

Figure 7. HC 05 Bluetooth Module

C. Block Diagram & Architecture Design

Our Architectural design as shown in figure 8.

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Figure 8. Block Diagram

The architectural design is shown, the water level

sensor senses the water level and transmit the water level

status to Arduino Micro controller in Analog pin “A0”.

The digital output from Arduino from pin 7 to GSM

module “RX”. Similarly the RX pin of Arduino

connected to Blue Tooth Module”RXD” for transmitting

the data to both smartphone & Laptop. The LED in

Bluetooth device gives the status of water level

normal/abnormal. In the GSM module an SIM card is

inserted to transmit the status of flood to the designed

website through GPRS. In parallel we can check the

flood status in LCD display connected. So here we can

check the status in 3 elements. (1).Smart Phone, (2)

Laptop (3) LCD Display. The program to Arduino board

by the USB cable. The programming coding can be done

in Arduino software 1.0.1. The power supply to the board

can give through the 5V power supply or the USB cable

from laptop or the 9V battery.

4. Testing and Implementation

The Arduino UNO board was programmed through the

language C/C++. The Arduino software 1.0.1 can be

downloaded from Arduino website in Windows and can

coding the program. The same program can be uploaded

to microcontroller through USB cable.

After programming in the Arduino board, take the

water in container to teste our micro kit.

Figure 9. Sensor working & Alert message to

Smart Phones

Testing Prototype

As mentioned water level sensor was placed in the water

container filled with water, the prototype kit sending

Alert message to smartphones and laptop as well.

The testing prototype is described in detail as follows,

1).The sensor was placed and removed in the water

container.

2). Immediately the computer program installed on the

laptop trigger an alert and the same time status of flood

displayed in LCD display and Smartphone as well. See

Figure 10a.&10b.

Figure 10a. Flood Level Normal message in Laptop

Figure 10b. Flood Level Normal message in

Smartphone

3). When the sensor inserted into the water container

immediately the smartphone, laptop & LCD display

shows abnormal.

Figure 10c. Flood Level abnormal in LCD display

4). When the “abnormal” condition arrives people from

that area to be immediately evacuated from their place.

5).When the sensor removed from the water container

immediately changed to “normal” mode in all the

displays.

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6).The status of flood alert in smartphone each a

minute updated and the status was displayed.

In this way our micro kit was tested by placing into the

water container & removed from container, if the water

level reaches the maximum height the alert message sent

to laptop & smartphones and in LCD display as well.

5. Conclusion

As per the definitions of IoT the sensor as an element of

IoT, which communicate the current status and published

in internet & smart phone as well.This confirms our

proposal of early warning to the people before flood is

intended.

This prototype kit confirms our proposal and the same

can be deployed in lakes/rivers for real scenario, which

will help the people about the status of water level and

before the danger level this will give abnormal to people

through web, Smartphone & LCD display as well.

Based on the status the low lying area & river/lake

surrounding people will get the pre warning to evacuate

& save their lives & belongings.

In this type we have used only two status of water level

but in actual scenario we can deploy water level sensor as

low, medium, high & danger level which will help people

to plan during the danger situation.

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