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Low-Cost Sensors for Environmental Monitoring
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Low-Cost Sensors for Environmental Monitoring

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 10354

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lorena Parra

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Institute for Integrated Management of Coastal Areas (IGIC), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46730 Grau de Gandia, Spain
Interests: environmental monitoring; precision agriculture; image processing; crop management; smart cities; physical sensors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Maria-Teresa Sebastia-Frasquet

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Environment, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera; s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: environment management; water quality; coastal water; water quality monitoring; wetland; environmental monitoring

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Developing low-cost sensors with enough accuracy and robustness is necessary to ensure efficient environmental monitoring. Ecosystems are characterized by their high spatial and temporal variability, which is especially high in the case of coastal ecosystems. So, to develop a sensor net that can represent a synoptic view, it is necessary a high number of sensors. Moreover, the sensors in the environment can be damaged or lost and need replacement quite frequently. Therefore, the cost of the sensors is a limitation in the deployment of environmental sensor networks. The low-cost sensors are generally based on sensing variables based on physical parameters and can be combined with remote sensing tools. The application fields of the environmental monitoring systems might include agricultural lands, marine and coastal regions, rivers, wetlands, forests, soil and subsoil, atmosphere and urban areas.

This Special Issue aims to collect original research and review articles on recent advances, technologies, solutions, applications, and new challenges in the field of the low-cost sensors.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

  • Optical sensors
  • Magnetic sensors
  • Acoustic sensors
  • Chemical sensors
  • Water sensors
  • Soil sensors
  • Gas sensors
  • Sensor design, development, calibration, and testing
  • Network deployment
  • Smart monitoring
  • Remote sensing

Dr. Lorena Parra
Prof. Dr. Maria-Teresa Sebastia-Frasquet
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sensor networks
  • physical sensors
  • sensing devices
  • node
  • monitoring systems

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 10661 KiB  
Article
Local Weather Station Design and Development for Cost-Effective Environmental Monitoring and Real-Time Data Sharing
by Antonio Rivera, Pedro Ponce, Omar Mata, Arturo Molina and Alan Meier
Sensors 2023, 23(22), 9060; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23229060 - 9 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4347
Abstract
Current weather monitoring systems often remain out of reach for small-scale users and local communities due to their high costs and complexity. This paper addresses this significant issue by introducing a cost-effective, easy-to-use local weather station. Utilizing low-cost sensors, this weather station is [...] Read more.
Current weather monitoring systems often remain out of reach for small-scale users and local communities due to their high costs and complexity. This paper addresses this significant issue by introducing a cost-effective, easy-to-use local weather station. Utilizing low-cost sensors, this weather station is a pivotal tool in making environmental monitoring more accessible and user-friendly, particularly for those with limited resources. It offers efficient in-site measurements of various environmental parameters, such as temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, carbon dioxide concentration, and particulate matter, including PM 1, PM 2.5, and PM 10. The findings demonstrate the station’s capability to monitor these variables remotely and provide forecasts with a high degree of accuracy, displaying an error margin of just 0.67%. Furthermore, the station’s use of the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model enables short-term, reliable forecasts crucial for applications in agriculture, transportation, and air quality monitoring. Furthermore, the weather station’s open-source nature significantly enhances environmental monitoring accessibility for smaller users and encourages broader public data sharing. With this approach, crucial in addressing climate change challenges, the station empowers communities to make informed decisions based on real-time data. In designing and developing this low-cost, efficient monitoring system, this work provides a valuable blueprint for future advancements in environmental technologies, emphasizing sustainability. The proposed automatic weather station not only offers an economical solution for environmental monitoring but also features a user-friendly interface for seamless data communication between the sensor platform and end users. This system ensures the transmission of data through various web-based platforms, catering to users with diverse technical backgrounds. Furthermore, by leveraging historical data through the ARIMA model, the station enhances its utility in providing short-term forecasts and supporting critical decision-making processes across different sectors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Cost Sensors for Environmental Monitoring)
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22 pages, 3953 KiB  
Article
Use of Digital Images as a Low-Cost System to Estimate Surface Optical Parameters in the Ocean
by Alejandra Castillo-Ramírez, Eduardo Santamaría-del-Ángel, Adriana González-Silvera, Jesús Aguilar-Maldonado, Jorge Lopez-Calderon and María-Teresa Sebastiá-Frasquet
Sensors 2023, 23(6), 3199; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23063199 - 16 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2037
Abstract
Ocean color is the result of absorption and scattering, as light interacts with the water and the optically active constituents. The measurement of ocean color changes enables monitoring of these constituents (dissolved or particulate materials). The main objective of this research is to [...] Read more.
Ocean color is the result of absorption and scattering, as light interacts with the water and the optically active constituents. The measurement of ocean color changes enables monitoring of these constituents (dissolved or particulate materials). The main objective of this research is to use digital images to estimate the light attenuation coefficient (Kd), the Secchi disk depth (ZSD), and the chlorophyll a (Chla) concentration and to optically classify plots of seawater using the criteria proposed by Jerlov and Forel using digital images captured at the ocean surface. The database used in this study was obtained from seven oceanographic cruises performed in oceanic and coastal areas. Three approaches were developed for each parameter: a general approach that can be applied under any optical condition, one for oceanic conditions, and another for coastal conditions. The results of the coastal approach showed higher correlations between the modeled and validation data, with rp values of 0.80 for Kd, 0.90 for ZSD, 0.85 for Chla, 0.73 for Jerlov, and 0.95 for Forel–Ule. The oceanic approach failed to detect significant changes in a digital photograph. The most precise results were obtained when images were captured at 45° (n = 22; Fr cal=11.02>Fr crit=5.99). Therefore, to ensure precise results, the angle of photography is key. This methodology can be used in citizen science programs to estimate ZSD, Kd, and the Jerlov scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Cost Sensors for Environmental Monitoring)
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20 pages, 5493 KiB  
Article
Analog Sensor Interface for Field Mill Sensors in Atmospheric Applications
by Zoi Agorastou, Thomas Noulis and Stylianos Siskos
Sensors 2022, 22(21), 8405; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22218405 - 1 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3022
Abstract
An overview of the electric field mill sensor specifications in applications related to the measurement of the atmospheric electric field was conducted. The different design approaches of the field mill sensor interface are presented and analyzed, while the sensitivity-related parameters of a field [...] Read more.
An overview of the electric field mill sensor specifications in applications related to the measurement of the atmospheric electric field was conducted. The different design approaches of the field mill sensor interface are presented and analyzed, while the sensitivity-related parameters of a field mill are discussed. The design of a non-complex analog sensor interface that can be employed for the measurement of the electric field in both fair and foul weather conditions, such as thunderstorms, is implemented using discrete components for experimental validation and is optimized in an integrated version in terms of noise and power consumption. Advanced noise simulations are conducted in a 180 nm CMOS process (XH018 XFAB). The energy-autonomous operation of the sensor for extended periods of time is made feasible due to the low power consumption of the front-end circuitry (165 μW at 3 V) as well as the proposed intermittent style of operation of the motor. The total sensing system is low power, and its realization is simple and cost-effective, while also offering adequate sensitivity (45 mV/kV/m), making it comparable to the existing works. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Cost Sensors for Environmental Monitoring)
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