A team at the University of Canberra are using Internet of Things (IoT) technology to help monitor soil conditions and assist in the management of the forests at the National Arboretum Canberra.
The group was led by University of Canberra Assistant Professor of network engineering Kumudu Munasinghe and Research Associate Adrian Garrido Sanchis. They designed and installed an IoT network of wireless sensor nodes to monitor conditions at the growing Arboretum.
Currently, staff at the Arboretum have to manually test and record soil conditions across 104 forests of native and exotic trees spanning over 250 hectares. As the IoT network is rolled out, it will replace this manual testing. The sensors will be able to detect and wirelessly transmit data about temperature and volumetric water content (i.e. soil moisture) to an online database which will provide real-time updates.
Dr Munasinghe and his team also developed advanced analytics from the sensor data to deliver environmental knowledge of forests over time.
The sensor nodes are internetworked using an advanced wireless mesh networking backbone that connects to the Internet to allow the Arboretum staff to access the information from mobile devices anytime and anywhere via the cloud.
With the information being hosted in the cloud, staff can access it via any device, whether they are in the forests, or at an off-site location.
The first nodes were installed at Forest 9, among the Chinese Tulip trees. This increased the frequency of the information collected, from once a month, to four times a day. Forest managers now have access to near-real-time critical soil condition information, helping ensure the trees grow and develop in the most ideal circumstances.
The data generated from the Arboretum could be used for many purposes besides the management of the trees, Dr Munasinghe said. For example, the soil moisture information could be used for better event planning, or to help staff guide visitors to avoid water-logged areas after heavy rain.
The Arboretum is already considering a further expansion of this bespoke IoT technology across the other 103 forests at the Arboretum.
The mesh network will also assist the National Arboretum in its commitment to generate research and new knowledge about its rare, endangered and symbolic trees; the forests and their ecology.
It will aid horticulture staff in monitoring and researching how the trees grow and how they can be affected by the seasons, weather, soil, water, nutrition, aspect, pests and diseases.
[Image: The team (Kevin Ngov, Dr Kumudu Munasinghe, Adrian Garrido Sanchis, Scott Saddler and Kefu Li) stand on the balcony of the Arboretum's village centre. Sanchis holds one of the wi-fi nodes.]