CIINDET 2013

X Congreso Internacional sobre Innovacin y Desarrollo Tecnolgico,

13 al 15 de marzo de 2013, Cuernavaca Morelos, Mxico.

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In Situ Sensory Platform for Characterization of Climate
Behaviors on Human Health in Urban Forest Environments
The Case Study on the Maiandeua Island, at Amazonian, Brazil

Almir T.L. Neto, Marcos H.K. Sampaio, O.A. Chase, J. Felipe S. Almeida, Carlos Tavares-da-Costa-Jnior


Resumen: Esta investigacin presenta una plataforma
sensorial desarrolada atravs de l integracin de
diferentes tipos de sensores em um ecossistema com el
fin de obtener alguna caracterstica del clima de la isla
Maiandeua. Esta isla es un estudio de caso de la
superficie forestal urbano, cuyo objetivo es caracterizar
el comportamiento climtico con las variables
ambientales de temperatura y humedad, todo para
identificar los impactos ambientales sobre la salud
humana y la biodiversidad del foresta. El BRASSEN
contiene un agente inteligente especialista para detectar
comportamientos relacionados con el conforto trmico
y el malestar en los seres humanos, y el riesgo o sin
riesgo (seguridad) de fuego o lluvia en entornos
forestales. Los resultados de los experimentos
empricos con esta plataforma se proporcionan. Por lo
tanto, este trabajo considera un novedoso estudio en IN-
SITU (local) tecnologas para las zonas forestales
urbanas.
Palabras Clave: Plataforma Sensorial, Sistemas
Ambientales, Modelizacin Ambiental.

Abstract: This research presents a cyberphysical
sensory platform developed through the integration of
different kinds of sensors on an ecosystem in order to
obtain some climate characteristic of the Maiandeua
Island. This isle is a case study of urban forest area,
whose goal is to characterize the climatic behavior with
environmental variables of temperature and humidity,
all to identify environmental impacts on human health
and biodiversity of the forest. The BRASSEN platform
contains an specialist intelligent agent to detect
behaviors related to thermal comfort and discomfort in
humans, and the risk or without risk (safety) of fire or
rain in Forest Environments. The results of empirical
experiments with this platform are provided. So, this
work considers a novel study in IN-SITU (local)
technologies for urban forest areas.
Keywords: Sensory platform, Environmental Systems,
Environmental Modeling.

Introduction
The cyberphysical systems (CPS) are electronic devices
with intelligent computing and communication
elements are integrated into the physical components of
nature [1]. The focus of this work is developing new
methods in design and construction of sensors based on
cyberphysical concept to the particularities of
ecosystems, especially the Amazon biome [2]. The
BRASSEN (acronym to Brazil Autonomous System
Sensory) is a cyberphysical sensory system built in this
research for monitoring agricultural and antropized
area. The temperature and humidity sensors are used in
data acquisition of environmental variables of the
plantations and forest scenario. The temperature,
humidity and dew point determine the primal
environmental factors, which influence human comfort
and agricultural activities [3]. This study has objective
the use of geoprocessing and remote sensing techniques
in order to map and quantify the climate behavior of
environments, through the use of indexes.
The indexes are based on expert knowledge of
researchers and professionals in agronomy, forestry and
climate change [4]. The advantage of detecting these
behaviors early is so that we can prevent and avoid
possible environmental accidents, so that such
situations do not spread to the urban area and vice-
versa.


________________________________________________________
Almir Tavares L. Neto is a Student of M.Sc. in Electrical Eng. at
Federal University of Para, Brazil, (email: engalmir@ufpa.br)
Marcos H.K. Sampaio is a Student of M.Sc. in Electrical Eng. at
Federal University of Para, Brazil, (email: mhsampaio@ufpa.br)
Otavio A. Chase is a Professor at Amazonian Federal Rural
University, Brazil, (e-mail: chase@ieee.org)
J. Felipe S. Almeida is a Professor at Amazonian Federal Rural
University, Brazil, (e-mail: wirelinux@ciberfisica.org)
Carlos Tavares da Costa Jnior is a Professor at Federal University of
Par, Brazil, (e-mail: cartav@ufpa.br)


CIINDET 2013
X Congreso Internacional sobre Innovacin y Desarrollo Tecnolgico,
13 al 15 de marzo de 2013, Cuernavaca Morelos, Mxico

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The issue of global climate change is increasingly
relevant in the context of a population of over seven
billion people whose activities have been altering the
surface characteristics such as vegetation cover, and
also the concentration of gases that interact strongly
with radiation in atmosphere [5]. According to the
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
report the people who will suffer most certainly will be
the cities in development of countries, especially
tropical countries [6]. In these cases the systems that
can characterize environmental behaviors if they do
very important, because these places dont have
historical data of environmental variables to be used as
sources for prediction models and pattern recognition.

Cyberphysical Sensory Platform
The BRASSEN performs all the functions of a
datalogger and has the task of analyzing climate
behaviors of fire and rain risk in an urban forest by an
intelligent agent, which contains expert systems of the
standards related to environmental variables of
temperature, relative humidity and dew point, an your
relation with urban forests located in the amazon. The
design of such systems, therefore, requires
understanding the joint dynamics of computers,
software, networks, and physical processes [2 - 4]. The
platform (fig. 1) has features like time
synchronization and geographic information system
(GIS) that collects localization and data of platform [8].


Fig. 1 Hardware Core Architecture of BRASSEN

The platform has an embedded computer is a
PIC18F252 8 bits microcontroller; SHT75 digital high
precision sensor of temperature and humidity; The
Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4) module is the wireless
interface channel of communication. The climate
behaviors identified are shown on a map. The box that
houses and protects the hardware has physical
properties for thermal and mechanical shock
absorption.

The Experiment in Maiandeua Island
The investigations took place in an urban area of
Maiandeua Island at Amazonian Region (State of Par
at North of Brazil, 03702.57S, 473207.85O elev
0 to 4m). The fig. 2 presents the Maiandeua Island.
Since the 1980s there has been an increase in
Maiandeua population, which led to the advancement
of urbanization of the island. Also prohibited the use of
motor vehicles, but there is strong pressure from
residents for the initial release for motor-vehicles and
construction of paved trails.
Since the early 2000s, deforestation and urbanization of
some areas of the island has been noticed that these
places there was a rise in temperature and diseases
related to thermal discomfort, such as viral infections,
colds and respiratory problems [7].



Fig. 2 Localization and area of Maiandeua Island

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X Congreso Internacional sobre Innovacin y Desarrollo Tecnolgico,
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The Experiment: The experimental characterization
was organized as follows: 20 places in the island were
selected to be made the data acquisition of temperature,
humidity and dew point. The places chosen are the red
dots seen in fig. 2, this is the area which suffered most
deforestation and urbanization, all this by being near
the sea (Atlantic Ocean) and facilitate transport, trade
and tourism.
In this work the emphasis is on data acquired ate the
Lagoa da Princesa (Pond of the Princess), as shown
in fig. 3.


Fig. 3 Lagoa da Princesa at Maiandeua Island, May 2012.

The fig. 4 shows the BRASSEN fixed at their point in
Lagoa da Princesa for the data acquisition of
temperature, relative humidity and dew point.


Fig. 4 BRASSEN fixed to a tree, in a height of 1.80m from the floor.
Knowledge of Climate Behaviors
The urban forests are more humid even though the
temperature of the dew point and vapor pressure are
approximately equal to the external area (city) [7]. The
risk of fire behavior for example is to detect high
temperatures and low humidity in the forest area; this
indicates a high risk of fire. The integration of
information these environmental variables in a rule-
knowledge is a vital challenge to achieve integrated
information of sensors for use with math an empirical
models of their relationships.

The Angstron Forestry Index: To detect behaviors
related to fire risk is used Angstron index [1]:

) 27 ( 1 , 0 05 , 0 =
a
T RH B (1)

This index (B) developed in Switzerland in the
1950s is based on data mainly air temperature (Ta) and
relative humidity (RH), both measured daily ate 13:00
hours. There is a cumulative index, for whenever the
value of the index Angstron is less than 2.5 there is a
risk of fire, that is, the day the weather will be favorable
to the occurrence of fire.

The Human Health Indexes in Ecosystems: The
human thermal comfort requirements are related to the
functioning of your organism, whose mechanism,
complex, can be roughly compared to a heat engine that
produces heat according to their activity.
The human needs to release heat in sufficient quantity
so that their internal temperature remains around 37C
(homeothermy) with very narrow limits between 36.1
and 37.2C, being 32C lower limit and 42C the upper
limit for survival in a state of sickness. When the heat
exchange between the human body and the
environment, occur without great effort, the sense of
the individuals thermal comfort and your work
capacity is maximum.
However, if environmental conditions cause thermal
sensation of cold or heat is because the body is losing
heat more or less required to homeothermy. This will
only be achieved with additional effort, which
represents overhead, declining work performance and
even problems health.

Human Thermal Comfort Index: The Human
Comfort Index (ICH) was calculated using [7]:

CIINDET 2013
X Congreso Internacional sobre Innovacin y Desarrollo Tecnolgico,
13 al 15 de marzo de 2013, Cuernavaca Morelos, Mxico

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) 10 (
9
5
+ =
a a
e T ICH (2)

To which Ta is the air temperature in degrees Celsius;
e
a
is the vapor pressure can be calculated as follows:

100
) ( RH e
e
s
a

= (3)

Where e
s
is the vapor pressure of saturated air and can
be calculated using the Tetens equation [7]:

|
|
.
|

\
|
+

=
) 3 . 237 (
) 5 . 7 (
10 10 . 6
a
a
T
T
s
e (4)

The table 1 shows the classification of the degree of
thermal confort in the ICH function of the values
obtained.
Table 1: Human Comfort Index (ICH) Classes
Degrees of Comfort Degrees of Humidity
(C)
Comfortable 20 29
Varying Comfort 30 39
Bearable Discomfort 40 45
Unbearable Discomfort 46 OR MORE

Human Thermal Discomfort Index: The Human
Discomfort Index (IDH) was calculated using [9]:

5 . 41 36 . 0 99 . 0 + + =
d a
T T IDH (5)

Where Td is the dew point of the air temperature and
can be estimated according to the equations:

) , (
) , (
RH T a
RH T b
T
a
a
d
o
o

= (6)

) ln( ) , ( RH
T b
T a
RH T
a
a
a
+
+

= o (7)

Where a=17.27, b=237.7 (C) and RH is the relative
humidity divided by 100 (one hundred). The values
ranges of the discomfort index (IDH) concerning
thermal comfort experienced by people are described in
table 2 [8]:
Table 2: Ranges relating to conditions of discomfort thermal comfort
experienced by people (IDH)
Effect IDH Range
Stress due to heat IDH > 80
Uncomfortable due to the heat 75 > IDH < 80
Comfortable 60 > IDH < 75
Uncomfortable due to cold 55 > IDH < 60
Stress due to cold IDH < 55

Experimental Results
The data acquisition was made on May 20, 2012 under
Lagoa da Princesa. The sampling time of acquisition
was set to 1 minute. More than 300 samples (minutes)
were recorded in the database BRASSEN and
understand the minutes range from 11:00AM to
16:00PM, it is during this time interval in which the
diagnostic behavior of environmental variables in
tropical areas should be made to assess levels of risk
and thermal comfort [5][8].
The fig. 5 shows the evolution of temperature e relative
humidity respectively.

0 50 100 150 200 250 300
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
Temperature and Relative Humidity Evolution 11:00AM to 16:00PM
Time (min)
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(

C
)

/

R
H

(
%
)


Temperature
Relative Humidity

Fig. 5 Temperature and Relative Humidity Evolutions.

In fig. 5 it is notable that since the beginning of the data
acquisition at 11:00AM occurs the increasing
temperature and decreasing the relative humidity. This
information is important to generate intuitively
behavioral tendencies of environmental variables.
For example, the data acquisition of this trend
characterizes the climate behavior as a hot and dry day,
as this increases the potential risk of fire or thermal
discomfort. However, if the temperature is decreasing
and humidity increasing, this trend leads to possibility

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of rain or thermal comfort. The figures 6 and 7 shows
the evolutions of ICH and IDH respectively.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
Human Comfort Index, ICH Evolution 11:00AM to 16:00PM
Time (min)
I
C
H

(

C
)


ICH Index at "Lagoa da Princesa", Maiandeua

Fig. 6 ICH Index Evolution.

0 50 100 150 200 250 300
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
Human Discomfort Index, IDH Evolution 11:00AM to 16:00PM
Time (min)
I
D
H

(
%
)


IDH Index at "Lagoa da Princesa", Maiandeua

Fig. 7 IDH Index Evolution.

It is notable in figures 6 and 7 that from 13:00PM there
is an evolution of the indexes of comfort and
discomfort, reaching the effect Stress due to Heat and
the degree Unbearable Discomfort respectively.
On this day at 11:30AM the population was advised to
wear sunscreen and to drink much liquid to avoid
dehydration. The fireman brigade was on alert for risk
of fire, especially between 13:00PM and 14:00PM as
show in fig. 8.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
2
Angstron Index, B Evolution 13:00PM to 14:00PM
Time (min)
A
N
G
S
T
R
O
N


ANGSTRON INDEXAT "Lagoa da Princesa", Maiandeua

Fig. 8 ANGSTRON Index Evolution.

The procedure to detect a risk of fire at 13:00 at interval
of one hour is a standard condition of the atmosphere of
all terrestrial ecosystems [5][8].

Conclusion
The analysis of forest ecosystems (physical
environment) by qualitative knowledge (intelligent
agents) obtained reliable results when compared to
quantitative model of Angstron index. This is due to
this index is not designed for the climate conditions in
antropized areas. When the mathematical model of
climate behavior is unknown, then use indexes models
that are commonly based on empirical knowledge. The
use of indexes for environmental characterization
becomes a reliable and safe solution.
The BRASSEN is distinguished from other solutions in
data acquisition because it contains the knowledge to
analysis of the environment, this is justified by the
interaction that exists between the electronic and
physical layers. The next additions to the sensory
platform are actuators for control of irrigation and soil,
in order to increase the level of interaction with the
environment may act directly in a physical way.
References
[1] O.A. Chase, M.H.K. Sampaio, J.R. Brito-de-Souza, J. Felipe
Almeida., Sensory Platform Architecture Based on
Cyberphysical Systems for Climate Behaviors Detecting in
Urban Forest Environments, IEEE Sensors Conference, p.
1567-1570, ISBN: 978-1424492909, Limerick, Ireland, UK,
2011.

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13 al 15 de marzo de 2013, Cuernavaca Morelos, Mxico

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[2] O.A. Chase, M.H.K. Sampaio, J.R. Brito-de-Souza, J. Felipe
Almeida., Data Acquisition System: An Approach to the
Amazonian Environment, IEEE Latin America Transactions,
Vol 10, No. 2, March 2012, ISSN: 1548-0992, BRA, 2012.
[3] N. Wiener, Cybernetics or Control and Communications in the
Animal and Machine, 1nd ed., MIT Press, ISBN: 978-
0262730099, USA, 1948.
[4] E. A. LEE, Cyber Physical Systems: Design Challenges.
International Symposium on Object / Component / Service-
Oriented Real-Time Distributed Computing (ISORC), May 6,
2008 Orlando, FL, USA, 2008.
[5] INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE
IPCC. Climate Change 2001: the scientific basis IPCC WG I
TAR. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. 881p., GBR, 2001.
[6] U. MELO, Climate Change: Defense and Intelligence,
Brazilian Intelligence Magazine, n. 5, ISSN: 1809-2632,
Braslia-DF, ABIN, BRA, 2009.
[7] V.L. Barradas, Air temperature and humidity and human
comfort index of some city parks of Mexico City International
Journal of Biometeorology, Jun; 35(1):24-8, MEX, 1991.
[8] H.S.P. ONO, T. Kawamura, Sensible Climates in Monsoon
Asia, International Journal of Biometeorology, Vol. 35, n.XX,
pp. 39-47, JPN, 1991.

Authors

Almir Tavares Lima Neto received the B.Eng. degree
in computer systems engineering from the Amazonian
Superior Studies Institute, IESAM, Brazil, in 2009 and
the M.Sc. candidate degree in Electrical Engineering &
Energy Systems from the Federal University of Par,
UFPA, Brazil, in 2012. His research interests lie in
Data Base Management and Embedded Systems.

Marcos Henrique Kumagai Sampaio received the
B.Eng. degree in computer systems engineering from
the Amazonian Superior Studies Institute, IESAM,
Brazil, in 2008 and the M.Sc. candidate degree in
Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of
Par, UFPA, Brazil, in 2012.
His research interests lie in Robotics, Embedded
Electronical Systems, and Artificial Intelligence.

Otavio Andre Chase (S10, M12) received the B.Eng.
degree in computer systems engineering from the
Amazonian Superior Studies Institute, IESAM, Brazil,
in 2007, and the M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering
& Energy Systems and the D.Sc. candidate degree from
the Federal University of Par, UFPA, Brazil, in 2009
and 2012 respectively.
He has been Professor of Systems Engineering at
the Amazonian Federal Rural University, UFRA,
Brazil, since 2010. His research interests lie in
Robotics, Cybernetics and Environmental Complexity.
He was a member of the teams that developed projects
in computer systems, robotics, and forecast sensory
platforms from IESAM, UFPA, UNB, FURG and
UFRA respectively.
He is on the founding member and researcher for
the Centre for Environmental Complexity Synthesis,
CENOSYS, Brazil, since 2011.

Jos Felipe Souza de Almeida (M98) Degree in
physics from the Federal University of Par (UFPA),
Belm, Par, Brazil (1996). Is a member of the
Academy of Sciences of Par (ACP). His master's in
physics (UFPA/1999) and Ph.D. in Electrical
Engineering (UFPA/2004) and participated in the
National Program Postdoctored (PNPD-UFPA/2008).
Link Current: Adjunct Professor II of the
Amazonian Federal Rural University (UFRA),
researcher at the Laboratory of Cyberphysical Systems
(LASIC-UFRA) and founding member of Centre for
Environmental Complexity Synthesis (CENOSYS)
located at the Federal University of Rio Grande
(FURG), Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 2011.
He works in the Theory and Applications in
Telecommunications, Electrodynamics, Electrical
Systems Protection, and Engineering Education.

Carlos Tavares da Costa Junior (M92) degree in
Electrical Engineering from Federal University of Par
(1987), MS in Electrical Engineering from Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro (1991), Brazil. The Master
of the Productique et Automatique Institut National
Polytechnique de Grenoble (1996) and doctorate in
Automatique Et Productique by Institut National
Polytechnique de Grenoble (1999), France.
He is currently Associate Professor at the Federal
University of Par has experience in Electrical
Engineering with emphasis on Industrial Electronics,
Systems and Electronic Controls.
Acting on the following topics: Power Systems,
Turbogenerators, Adaptive Systems, Supervised
Systems and Fuzzy Control.