Design and development of a novel acoustic rain sensor with automated telemetry

This paper presents the recent results of the design of a novel acoustic rainfall sensing system that is low-cost, portable, and easily deployable, which makes use of the recorded sound produced by the impact of the raindrops on the sensor surface. The sensor design allows the gathering of acoustic signal power and sending it to a server after a specified time interval, either through SMS or mobile internet connection. It exists in a weather-proof, standard-conformant, standalone system with its own power supply and telemetric capabilities. These acoustic point sensors can gather rainfall data at high spatial and temporal resolutions. Such deployments can show the variations of rainfall intensities in subkilometer areas, particularly in the tropical regions. Since it is low-cost, it can also improve the density of rainfall measuring devices in an area. Moreover, the reliability is improved by providing near-real time data, as opposed to tipping buckets with manual data retrieval. The prototype sensor system was placed next to standard rain measuring devices and observed during the rainy season. The paper will discuss the design and deployment of the system, as well as initial results of data analysis and comparison with standard rain measuring devices

Design and Development of an Integrated Web-based System for Tropical Rainfall Monitoring

This study is about the design and development of an integrated web-based system for tropical rainfall monitoring. The system gathers data using a network of low-cost, Android-based acoustic rainfall sensors, a nationwide infrastructure of 5 GHz wireless broadband links, and remote weather stations. The low-cost Android-based acoustic rainfall sensors are deployed at high densities over a local area and the 5 GHz wireless broadband sensors gather rainfall information on a nationwide scale. The sensor network provides information about spatial-variations that are characteristics of tropical rain rates, and complement data from the scarcely deployed remote weather stations. Gathered data is then processed and displayed on a web interface

Design of a Remote Real-time Groundwater Level and Water Quality Monitoring System for the Philippine Groundwater Management Plan Project

Recent technological advances allow us to utilize remote monitoring systems or real-time access of data. While the use of remote monitoring systems is not new, there are still numerous applications that can be explored and improved on, one such is groundwater level and quality monitoring. In the Philippines, the extraction of groundwater for both domestic use and industrial use are manually monitored by the government’s concerned agency and is done at least once per year. With this current setup, the real and significant state of the groundwater is not reflected in a way that is most valuable to the government and to the community. This project aims to design and develop a remote real-time groundwater level and quality monitoring system. It is intended to provide quantitative data for policy makers in addressing recurrent water shortages in the Philippines. This paper discusses the designed system composed of three modules: power module, sensors and control, and data visualization. These three modules provide real-time data from far-flung locations while being energy-sustainable. Dry runs of the system in a controlled environment yielded excellent results — average data accuracy of 96.63% for all six (6) groundwater quantity and quality parameters namely: pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and static water level (SWL), and 90.63% data transmission reliability. Initial deployment of the system on one of the groundwater monitoring well in Metro Manila, Philippines returned a 91.16% data transmission reliability. The system is currently installed in 20 groundwater monitoring sites all-over the Philippines and is scheduled for more installations

Software and Data Visualization Platform for Groundwater Level and Quality Monitoring System

Rapid urbanization and increasing population come with the increased extraction and use of groundwater resources. To track the effect of these activities on groundwater level and quantity; a system for real-time monitoring is devised. In this paper; we present a software system design that enables a locally-developed groundwater level and water quality monitoring hardware setup to gather water quality parameter data; send it to a cloud server; and present organized data for better visualization. The hardware setup consists of an Arduino microcontroller. Upon deployment; the hardware setup is linked to an Android application that connects to the web-based platform

Presence or Absence of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 (TR4) Classification Using Machine Learning Methods on Soil Properties

Soil health is an integral part in agriculture. In order to have a good production, plant pathogens and diseases should remain low in soil. However, Panama disease have been a threat in the production of Cavendish bananas in recent years. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 (TR4) produces chlamydospores in soil which germinates and infect the banana plant and eventually kill it. This study aims to develop a model using pattern recognition in soil parameters that will identify the predisposition of soil to existence of Panama disease in an area. Soil parameters have been selected as input since these indirectly affect the potential for biological suppression of plant pathogens

Comparison of Novel Acoustic Rain Sensor Field Data with Co-located Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge

Gathered data on novel acoustic rain sensors deployed from June to November 2017 in four sites in the Philippines were analyzed and compared to co-located tipping bucket rain gauges. The behavior and performance of the acoustic rain sensors vis-à-vis the tipping buckets were understood through visualizations of the acoustic power levels and computed rain rates, and omnibus and post-hoc tests i.e. one-way ANOVA and Tukey test. Mean acoustic power levels were shown to have positive correspondence with rain intensity, but is subject to ambient noise and automatic gain control (AGC) in certain rain events. The findings of this study forwards recommendations on design improvements for future iterations of the sensor development and field deployment

Design and Development of a Wireless Sensor Network Framework for Water Quality Remote Monitoring

This study involves the design and development of a wireless sensor network (WSN) that integrates several sensing modules into a fully-functional system. The overall system is composed of a remote server, a controller node, and several sensing modules. The controller node is implemented using an Android mobile phone with Bluetooth and 3G capabilities. Bluetooth is used to communicate with the various sensing modules; while 3G is used to relay data to the remote server. The sensing modules utilize an Arduino Mega 2560 (with the sensor circuits) and a Bluetooth shield. Test results show that this framework is a viable design for WSN systems and can be used for remote installations that can be continuously upgraded over time

Rain-Induced Disaster Alarm System Using Microwave and Acoustic Sensing

This paper focuses on the design and development of a rain-induced disaster alarm system based on three years\u27 worth of wireless and acoustic measurements of actual rain events. A hybrid wireless network involving a 26 GHz microwave backhaul link, the transceivers of which are 4 km apart, composes the integrated rain measurement via the received signal level (RSL). Point sensors in the form of acoustic recorders are strategically deployed along the 4-km link on one data set and on a 3×3 grid 100 m apart on another data set, measuring the signal power of the rain as it approaches the ground. The collective analysis of the parameters under monitoring leads to the establishment of appropriate rain-related disaster warning

Design and Implementation of AquoSense - a Water Quality Sensor System

Aquaculture has become an effective breeding and farming method for aquatic plants and animals, but is also rendered vulnerable by increasing weather fluctuations and unexpected environmental changes that affect water quality. Real-time detection of fluctuations in water quality parameters is important for executing appropriate and timely operational responses to minimize losses, say, due to fish kills or a collapse of a harvest cycle. This necessitates continuous monitoring which, at present, is mostly done manually, aperiodically, inconsistently, haphazardly, and oftentimes reactively. To address these pain points, the proponents have designed and developed AquoSense - a low-cost and easy-to-use water quality sensor system. AquoSense can be automated or pre-programmed to regularly measure parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), and temperature; and monitor the derived parameters salinity, total dissolved solids (TDS), and specific gravity (SG). Tests done for pH and EC sensor probes revealed that it can be comparable to a commercial-grade water quality measuring device. AquoSense can store data locally, and/or transmit these to a local mobile device or to the internet cloud. AquoSense comes in two versions: handheld and submersible, and both have been tested in the laboratory and deployed in aqua field conditions

Patient-centric medical database with remote urinalysis test

Personal health is a world-wide issue which poses a lot of problems especially for those who live in developing countries where quality health services may be scarce. In addition, it becomes difficult for the poor to be proactive in maintaining and monitoring their health if access to their own medical records and lab tests is inconvenient and expensive. Thus, a patient-centric medical database with an integrated urinalysis test was developed to help solve the above mentioned problems. The patient-centric medical database called ECMED (electronic medical database) is a patient owned repository for medical records which is made accessible via the Internet and/or the GSM network (using low cost mobile phones). The database stores important patient information as well as laboratory test scores and reports for electrocardiogram (ECG) and urine analysis (UA). Using an automated urinalysis test, the database receives multimedia messaging service (MMS) images of urinalysis strips and automatically processes the images to get urinalysis scores. The patient can also use short messaging service (SMS), more commonly known as text messaging, to report urinalysis scores. In addition, urinalysis testing and record updating can also be done on-line