Abstract
The paper describes a system to automate the monitoring and recording of rainfall using cellular network infrastructure. The paper describes the hardware and the software components and the data communication aspects of the design, and their integration as a complete system. Ancient Sri Lanka had been proud for centuries, of a very successful agricultural economy. Today, even though Agriculture still plays a key role in the Sri Lankan Economy, the agricultural sector has failed to keep up with the adoption of advancing technology and has thus fallen behind many other developing nations. Weather information such as rainfall is critical for successful agricultural activities. Unfortunately present methods of monitoring such information utilize manual observation and recording of data which is highly error-prone. Automation of these monitoring methods can not only increase the reliability, but also improve the timely availability of data, and hence contribute significantly to the betterment of agriculture in day-to-day activities as well as to long-term planning. The system consists of rain gauges with wireless interfaces and a central station. The rainfall information is transferred via SMS (Short Message Service) messages to the central station via a GSM cellular network. The information is received in a database at the central station and can be accessed via the Internet, and the data analyzed.
Highlights
For centuries Sri Lanka was a very flourishing Agricultural Economy
Rainfall is monitored via raingauges interfaced to a GSM radio module which can send the rainfall information embedded in an SMS (Short message Service) to the central station
An Automated rainfall monitoring System is a more reliable and accurate way of monitoring the rainfall at any area compared to existing manual systems
Summary
For centuries Sri Lanka was a very flourishing Agricultural Economy. In the recent past, this economy has faced severe drawbacks due to poor use of technology. The automated rainfall monitoring system addresses the need for obtaining timely, accurate information which is critical for the agricultural sector, using a widely available communication technology, the cellular network. Rainfall is monitored via raingauges (remote stations) interfaced to a GSM radio module which can send the rainfall information embedded in an SMS (Short message Service) to the central station. The data transfer is initiated either by the remote station or by a request from the central station. There can be a large number of remote stations communicating with the central station. The data received is extracted, sorted and saved in the central database. By using the existing cellular infrastructure, the rainfall data communication inherits its reliability and coverage, which greatly simplifies the design. (Ms.) Shamnli PKA Gunawardena, Bsc (Eng) Hans in Electronics and Telecommunication.
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