VIGIA

Inspiration

Wildfires remain one of the most destructive environmental challenges, especially in Portugal, often being detected only when they have already reached a critical scale. In large and remote forest areas, human surveillance and traditional monitoring systems struggle to provide fast and localized detection. VIGIA was inspired by the need to shift from late reaction to early prevention, by detecting fire at its earliest stage before it becomes uncontrollable. This idea emerged during the early phase of the hackathon, inspired by our personal connection to nature. As a team that enjoys hiking and wild camping, we are directly affected every summer by the impact of wildfires in Portugal, which motivated us to research current limitations and design a simple, scalable, and energy-efficient solution.

What it does

VIGIA is a concept for a distributed early wildfire detection system based on a network of small, autonomous sensors deployed across forest areas. Each sensor monitors its local environment and, when detecting abnormal conditions associated with the early stages of fire, sends an alert with its location to a central / receiving platform. This enables faster and more targeted responses by emergency services and first responders.

How we built it

At this stage of the hackathon, the project is in the ideation and conceptual design phase. We developed product sketches, system diagrams, and defined the overall architecture of the solution. The concept is built around ultra-low-power sensors, long-range wireless communication and a centralized monitoring platform for receiving and visualizing alerts. The main focus so far has been on technical feasibility, scalability, and energy efficiency, before moving towards any functional prototype.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges was balancing early detection with very low energy consumption while maintaining high reliability. In natural environments it is critical to reduce false positives without delaying detection. Another challenge was defining a realistic strategy for locating and maintaining a large number of sensors deployed in difficult-to-access forest areas, while keeping the system simple and low-cost.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• A clearly defined real-world problem with strong environmental impact. • A scalable system concept suitable for large forest areas. • Strong focus on energy efficiency from the earliest design stage. • A realistic approach to sensor localization and maintenance. • Clear alignment with current wildfire prevention challenges.

What's next for VIGIA

Next steps include validating the concept, refining detection logic to minimize false alarms, and evolving towards a low-power functional prototype. In the medium term, the goal is to test the system in real environments and explore ways to further increase energy autonomy.