About the Project:

I developed this module to simulate wildfire spread as a helper tool for one of the projects I worked on during university. The project involved using Lloyd's deployment algorithm to optimize how a bunch of drones can optimally fight a wildfire. In order to test if our algorithm works or not we had to find some way of simulating a fire. Finding an existing real wildfire progression data and loading it proved a difficult task. Even then, we would have to find numerous datasets that test our algorithm in various fire spreads. Therefore, I decided to write this module to stochastically model fire spread, allowing us to test the algorithm in very randomized scenarios.

Technical Information:

I developed the module in Python. The fire spread is based on cellular automaton concepts. The area of spread is defined as a matrix. Then a few overlapping matrices are defined to indicate each cell's vegetation, moisture levels, and population density. These factors impact the intensity of the fire in different areas as it spreads, creating more parameters for our algorithm to optimize where to fight the fire from. I also added wind speed as a parameter as well, which adds another layer of randomness for the fire spread.

Status of Project:

The simulation obviously misses a lot of real factors that impact fire spread. One thing that I wanted to add is a dynamic wind vector field that changes over time instead of a constant wind direction. Another major missing component is some sort of elevation to the terrain of the fire. I am not sure if I will revisit the project anytime soon but will I hope to get the opportunity to reuse this module and improve it for a future project.