Monitoring the Venice Lagoon: an IoT Cloud-Based Sensor Nerwork Approach

TL;DR

This work presents SENSWICH, a low-cost floating surface node for autonomous water-quality monitoring in the Venice Lagoon, coupled with a cloud-based data pipeline built on AWS and Grafana. The system emphasizes energy efficiency, electrical isolation, and a scalable deployment strategy across multiple micro-environments, using LoRaWAN for long-range connectivity to shore gateways. Data are ingested, decoded, stored in a time-series database, and visualized in real-time, enabling researchers to track parameters such as pH, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and GPS location. The results demonstrate a functioning end-to-end platform with favorable power characteristics and a clear path toward deployment in the lagoon, with cost and maintenance considerations aligned for wide adoption.

Abstract

Monitoring the coastal area of the Venice Lagoon is of significant importance. While the impact of global warming is felt worldwide, coastal and littoral regions bear the brunt more prominently. These areas not only face the threat of rising sea levels but also contend with the escalating occurrence of seaquakes and floods. Additionally, the intricate ecosystems of rivers, seas, and lakes undergo profound transformations due to climate change and pollutants. Employing devices like the SENSWICH floating wireless sensor presented in this article and similar measurement instruments proves invaluable to automate environmental monitoring, hence eliminating the need for manual sampling campaigns. The utilization of wireless measurement devices offers cost-effectiveness, real-time analysis, and a reduction in human resource requirements. Storing data in cloud services further enhances the ability to monitor parameter changes over extended time intervals. In this article, we present an enhanced sensing device aimed at automating water quality assessment, while considering power consumption and reducing circuit complexity. Specifically, we will introduce the new schematic and circuit of SENSWICH which had changes in circuit and electronic aspects. Furthermore, we outline the methodology for aggregating data in a cloud service environment, such as Amazon Web Service (AWS), and using Grafana for visualization.

Figures (10)

• Figure 1: Lagoon of Venice, NASA, Aug 7, 2017.
• Figure 2: Expected coverage area of three gateways.
• Figure 3: Schematic of SENSWICH with one Arduino (all relays initially are in reset mode).
• Figure 4: Circuit of SENSWICH with one Arduino.
• Figure 5: Cloud architecture used to collect, store, and visualize the data.