Low cost rain gauge prototype for studies and monitoring of precipitation in anthropized watersheds

Abstract

The acquisition of climate data is essential for understanding the environment and is fundamental in many human activities. One of the problems is the high cost of this equipment. This paper describes the development of a low-cost rain gauge prototype using the Arduino platform and presents the validation of the records against reference data. Therefore, a period of 5 days of observation was selected. Statistical methods of PEARSON and ANOVA were applied in order to verify the consistency of the prototype rainfall data with those of the USP reference station in Itirapina, SP. The results were satisfactory, and the prototype can be considered reliable since the data analysis showed equivalence with the rain gauge and the reference rain gauge.