A low‐cost IoT network to monitor microclimate variables in ecosystems

Abstract

Abstract Microclimatic and macroclimatic data differ, and microclimatic data are most useful at short time intervals (30‐min scales rather than daily/monthly scales). We developed an end‐to‐end system to acquire such data at a high temporal resolution, transfer them to a server through an Internet of Things network using low‐cost technologies, and make them available with dynamic graphical visualizations and download capabilities. The system has been used for 2 years to monitor environmental variables in contrasting agroecosystems in France, Bolivia and Kenya. It has been proven to be reliable and supports the mismatch between macro‐ and microclimates. This low‐cost Internet of Things system can capture the microclimate in contrasting environments with accuracy comparable to commercial solutions, and great flexibility in data processing. It thus constitutes a possible solution in an academic context and has the potential to be used by a broad audience of scientists interested in capturing environmental variables in real time and at a high temporal frequency.