HydroSense: A low-cost, open-source, hydroclimatic monitoring system Edward R. Prescott1, Alan M. Marchiori2, Benjamin R. Hayes3, Sean P. Reese3, Zhengri Fan2 1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2Department of Computer Science, 3Watershed Sciences and Engineering Program, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837

INTRODUCTION & GOALS

The reliance on costly industrial equipment and the

lack of an affordable data collection network are

inhibiting the widespread deployment of

hydroclimatic monitoring systems.

This project’s goal is to enable the creation of a

grassroots wide-area wireless network for

reporting hydroclimatic data. The project is “open

source”, giving the world full access to the hardware

and software of the system.

Bucknell University, located on the banks of the

Susquehanna River, provides an excellent test bed for

scalability of a low-cost hydroinformatic system.

CONCLUSIONS

Professional systems offer many conveniences, however:

• A low cost radio network can eliminate many inconveniences

involved with retrieving data from a remote site.

• The HydroSense System costs 1/10th that of a commercially

available system.

REFERENCES

[1] Czaja, Z., “A microcontroller system for measurement of three independent components

in impedance sensors using a single square pulse,” Sensors and Actuators A: Physical,

(2012).

[2] Hicks, S., Aufdenkampe, A, Montgomery, D., "Sensor Networks, Dataloggers, and Other

Handy Gadgets Using Open-Source Electronics for the Christina River Basin

CZO,” American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting, December 4-10, 2011.

[3] Keyi Zhang, Alan Marchiori, “Extending Semantic Sensor Networks with QueryML,”

Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and

Communications, Work-in-progress session (PerCom), 2015.

Raspberry Pi is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Arduino is a trademark of Arduino LLC.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funding for this project was provided by the Bucknell University

Watershed Sciences and Engineering Program and a grant from the

Susquehanna River Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies.

2. HYDROSENSE DATALOGGER

The Hydrosense Datalogger is fully compatible

with the Arduino Integrated Development

Environment (IDE) and is designed to easily

interface with the Hydrosense OpenSonde and

Hydrosense Wireless Link. Features include:

• Integrated Arduino Leonardo

• Arduino shield compatibility

• Ports for most standard weather sensors (e.g.

Davis Brand)

• SD card for persistent storage

• 12V battery with solar charger

• SDI-12 interface

• General purpose IO ports for connecting

additional sensors

• Very low cost (~$80)

Developed Components

The HydroSense system includes 3 hardware components and 2

software components:

1) HydroSense Wireless Link, a 915MHz long-range radio for

communication

2) HydroSense Datalogger, an Arduino-based datalogger with support

for hydrological and climatic inputs

3) HydroSense OpenSonde, an Arduino-based multiparameter water

sonde

4) Open-source software libraries for Arduino and RaspberryPi

5) Communication and cloud-based infrastructure to easily publish sensor

data from any Arduino or RaspberryPi

1. HYDROSENSE WIRELESS LINK

The 915MHz HydroSense Wireless Link radio

couples the Texas Instruments CC1120 narrow

band radio transmitter and CC1190 RF range

extender to enable communication up to 25km.

Features include:

• GPS receiver for time synchronization and

positional awareness

• Real time clock to maintain accurate time

• Arduino and Raspberry Pi connectors, allowing

the board to operate as a gateway to the internet,

or as a sensor node

• Status indication LEDs

• Arduino library for communicating with a

cloud-based backend for storing and accessing

large amounts of data [3]

Hyd

roS

en

se

Op

en

So

nd

e

(3.)

HydroSense

Datalogger

(2.)

Raspberry PiThe Internet/

Cloud

HydroSense

Wireless Link

Radio Transmitter

(1.)

HydroSense

Wireless Link

Radio Transmitter

(1.)

Proposed Coverage of the

Susquehanna with 4 Gateways

FUTURE WORK

• Deploy 3 HydroSense Stations on the

Susquehanna River in proximity to

Bucknell

• Better characterize market segment for

a low cost water quality measurement

system

• Refine low cost measurement

methodology

• Design a cheap, highly manufacturable

enclosure for OpenSonde

3. HYDROSENSE OPENSONDE

The HydroSense OpenSonde utilizes off the

shelf sensors, a simple enclosure, and a

custom circuit board to dramatically reduce

costs. Features include:

• Integrated Arduino Leonardo

• SDI-12 Interface for power and data

• PH Sensorex General Purpose Electrode (0-14pH)

• ORP Sensorex Laboratory Electrode (+/- 2000mV)

• DO Sensorex DO1200 Probe (0-20mg/L)

• Conductivity[1] Sensorex CS150 Probe (0 – 2000uS)

• Temperature Atlas Sci. ENV-TMP (-20 – 133°C)

• Pressure Atlas Sci. Ixian Probe (0 – 100PSI)

• Ports for 3 Atlas Scientific EZO Sensors

• Low cost enclosure (~$120)

• Validate data collection relative to a commercial water sonde

• Publish designs on official webpage (HydroSense.net)

Status LEDs

GPS Receiver

Radio Transciever

Real Time Clock

Raspberry Pi Header

Arduino Shield

Battery and Solar Connections

Weather Sensor Connections

Embedded Arduino Leonardo

SDI-12 Connections

Weather Sensor Connections

MicroSD Slot