Electronic rain meter for mobile sensor node using law of Torricelli

Abstract

Abstract Rain in a city can cause material damage and risk for the population, hence the importance of implementing prevention and mitigation measures. These measures must be taken based on the analysis of the data collected by networks of environmental sensors. The rainfall-meter is one of the instruments used to measure rain, these are designed to operate at a fixed point. Coverage of the entire area of a city requires the installation of several of these elements. This paper shows the development of an electronic rain gauge that can operate in motion applying the principles of fluid dynamics. Two stages are proposed for its elaboration. The first step is the design, construction and testing of the sensor and transducer for the rain gauge. In the second step, the rain gauge communication is implemented. For this, the internet of things technology is incorporated, and the network is designed to provide mobility. The main result is a prototype mobile electronic rain gauge with a measurement error of 8.5%. Besides, mathematical model for the sensor, algorithm for the transducer, and communications architecture are obtained. It can be concluded that, rainfall can be monitoring in a city with few sensitive units in motion.