ArduHydro: A Low-Cost Device for Water Level Measurement and Monitoring

Abstract

Abstract ArduHydro is a low-cost device for water level measurement and monitoring designed for a short and long-term employment in controlled and outdoor environments. It measures water level through an ultrasonic sensor and elaborates the signals through an Arduino micro controller. The small size of this device, the low energy required for its operation, its robustness and accuracy make ArduHydro properly versatile for different applications in the field for water control and management. This article describes the design, the components, the costs, and the performance of ArduHydro. Performance was assessed with a laboratory test inside a hydraulic circuit constituted by an open channel flume and comparing ArduHydro measurements with those obtained with a traditional ultrasonic sensor. An example of ArduHydro application for detecting the wavefront evolution during a surface irrigation is presented as well. The results revealed that ArduHydro measurements were on average very consistent with those obtained by the traditional ultrasonic sensor in all different flow conditions (i.e. different flowrate and water depth) demonstrating its reliability and accuracy in the measuring water level. The application of ArduHydro during a surface watering of an agricultural field allowed to obtain important spatio-temporal information about the water depth along the longitudinal direction of the field, paying the way for a real comprehension of the dynamics of wavefront evolution in a real-world case study.