Author(s): DANIEL A. SEGOVIA-CARDOZO , LEONOR RODRÍGUEZ-SINOBAS , SERGIO ZUBELZU & ANDRÉS DÍEZ-HERRERO
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: calibration; precipitation; soil moisture content; hydrology; meteorology; Arduino
Abstract:
Currently, there are a large number of commercial technologies and sensors for hydrological and meteorological monitoring in the market; for the management of resources, especially water management. However, despite that in recent years new technologies have been developed, that have increased sensors’ accuracy, but their cost is usually high. Thus, monitoring is frequently carried out on a huge scale in large river basins and to a lesser extend in countries that cannot afford these investments. This work is aimed at developing and programming low cost sensors based on free software-hardware Arduino, and cheap hardware for hydro-meteorological monitoring in small basins. Thus, it would extend these technologies for monitoring and management of water resources and hydrological extremes. The sensors developed deal with precipitation, soil moisture content and water depth. All of them were tested and calibrated in laboratory conditions, showing a promising performance. Then, calibration equations were developed to increase the accuracy in field measurements; they were validated in lab conditions resulting in: R2 =0.99 (water depth); 0.98 (precipitation) and 0.84 (soil moisture content). Future works will address their validation in field conditions, identifying their weaknesses and adapting them to real conditions.
Year: 2019