A Transformer-Based Autoencoder with Isolation Forest and XGBoost for Malfunction and Intrusion Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks for Forest Fire Prediction

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) play a critical role in environmental monitoring and early forest fire detection. However, they are susceptible to sensor malfunctions and network intrusions, which can compromise data integrity and lead to false alarms or missed detections. This study presents a hybrid anomaly detection framework that integrates a Transformer-based Autoencoder, Isolation Forest, and XGBoost to effectively classify normal sensor behavior, malfunctions, and intrusions. The Transformer Autoencoder models spatiotemporal dependencies in sensor data, while adaptive thresholding dynamically adjusts sensitivity to anomalies. Isolation Forest provides unsupervised anomaly validation, and XGBoost further refines classification, enhancing detection precision. Experimental evaluation using real-world sensor data demonstrates that our model achieves 95% accuracy, with high recall for intrusion detection, minimizing false negatives. The proposed approach improves the reliability of WSN-based fire monitoring by reducing false alarms, adapting to dynamic environmental conditions, and distinguishing between hardware failures and security threats.