A low-power IoT device for measuring water table levels and soil moisture to ease increased crop yields

The simultaneous measurement of soil water content and water table levels is of great agronomic and hydrological interest. Not only does soil moisture represent the water available for plant growth but also water table levels can affect crop productivity. Furthermore, monitoring soil saturation and water table levels is essential for an early warning of extreme rainfall situations. However, the measurement of these parameters employing commercial instruments has certain disadvantages, with a high cost of purchase and maintenance. In addition, the handling of commercial devices makes it difficult to adapt them to the specific requirements of farmers or decision-makers. Open-source IoT hardware platforms are emerging as an attractive alternative to developing flexible and low-cost devices. This paper describes the design of a datalogger device based on open-source hardware platforms to register water table levels and soil moisture data for agronomic applications. The paper begins by describing energy-saving and wireless transmission techniques. Then, it summarizes the linear calibration of the phreatimeter sensor obtained with laboratory and field data. Finally, it shows how non-linear machine-learning techniques improve predictions over classical tools for the moisture sensor (SKU: SEN0193).This work is supported by Universidad Nacional del Litoral, research grants CAID 50520190100249LI and CAAT 03012020, and the National Spanish funding PID2019-107910RB-I00, by regional project 2017SGR-990, and with the support of Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya i del Fons Social Europeu.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Información sobre riesgo hídrico en las redes sociales

In this study, an online survey of residents of Santa Fe city, in Argentina was analyzed, in order to know the citizens' vision about the role of virtual social networks on the management of urban water risk in the city. The obtained results show that adults over 45 years of age participate less in networks in general, but share and make visible the problems of the neighborhood more than young people under 30 years do.En este estudio, se analizó la encuesta en línea realizada a los vecinos de la ciudad de Santa Fe-Argentina, para conocer la visión de los ciudadanos sobre el rol de las redes sociales virtuales en la gestión del riesgo hídrico urbano de la ciudad. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que los adultos mayores de 45 años participan menos en las redes en general, pero comparten y visibilizan los problemas del barrio más de lo que lo hacen los jóvenes menores a 30 años