Protecting cultural heritage tourism sites with the ubiquitous sensor network

Abstract

Cultural heritage tourism resources are vulnerable to natural and human disasters: once damaged or destroyed, it is hard to restore them to their original condition. This study examines an online and real-time early fire detection system, using advanced information technology and a ubiquitous sensor network to protect cultural heritage tourism resources. It notes the danger of accidental and deliberate fires being started by cultural site visitors, as well as natural fires from lightning strike or nearby forest fires. The system architecture, sensor and network design, and software design of the fire detection system are presented, based on experimental work at the Bulguksa temple in South Korea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lessons learned from building and operating the Ubiquitous(U)-Bulguksa system are presented to provide guidelines for applying ubiquitous sensor networks to protect other cultural heritage tourism resources.

Keywords:

• cultural heritage tourism resources
• Bulguksa temple
• fire detection
• ubiquitous sensor network

Notes

1. RFID is an automatic method identifying unique objects using radio frequencies instead of the existing system of bar code.

2. USN is an infrastructure having capabilities to provide services and information anytime and anywhere by making wireless sensor nodes collect and transmit information about their surrounding environment.