A Low-Cost IoT Architecture Based on LPWAN and MQTT for Monitoring Water Resources in Andean Wetlands

This paper describes the development of a monitoring system for water sources in the Tres Lagunas Andean high-altitude wetlands ecosystem (Ecuador), utilizing LoRa technology. The system design primarily involves an ATmega1284p microcontroller, LoRa transceiver, and physicochemical sensors. Data collected from the study site are transmitted to the server and then forwarded to the Node-RED platform using the MQTT protocol. Additionally, a graphical user interface has been created to facilitate the analysis of the data related to temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), oxidation–reduction potential (ORP), and hydrogen potential (pH). Additionally, an analysis of LoRa parameters was conducted for the rural area and the wetlands, where SF9 and SF10 show a packet reception rate higher than 97%. This is complemented by an energy assessment in relation to the LoRa interface, obtaining proper operation of the node. This scheme arises from the work developed in González et al. (Smart Cities: 5th Ibero-American Congress, ICSC-CITIES 2022, Cuenca, Ecuador, November 28–30, 2022, Revised Selected Papers. Springer, 2023), and due to the satisfactory results, the data collection is further explored, and its behavior is detailed. In this sense, a comparison of the prototype’s measurements with a commercial equipment was performed, the experiments indicate that the temperature and pH sensors provide comparable data with the commercial equipment. The primary achievement of this study is the development of an affordable, portable, and open-source prototype aimed at transmitting hydrological information from Andean high-altitude lakes using IoT technologies. © 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.