Remote Location IoT- Turtle Nesting Research
Devices World and The University of Malaysia Terengganu’s (UMT) Sea Turtle Research Unit (SEATRU) collaborated on this project, which focused on remote location IoT and how to efficiently perform iSCADA in this environment.
Challenges
Certain terrain and climate may not be economically viable to send groups of researchers.
There is a large delay between data collecting and data analysis, which had a negative impact on the research’s flexibility.
There are a lot of different inter-related variables that would inform research that needs to be monitored and tracked.
The Key Components of iNEST
Sensors: Temperature and vibration sensors are placed at 3 different levels of the sea turtle nest: top, middle and bottom.
Solar Panel:
A solar panel connected to an environmentally friendly battery is fixed atop each junction. Solar energy is used to generate sufficient power to run the system and for daily activities.
Junction:
The iNEST system consists of 7 junctions that houses the various sensors. It is designed to accommodate 4 different types of sensors: light, humidity, vibration, and temperature.
ZigBee:
ZigBee is a wireless networking standard that is aimed at remote control and sensor applications. It is used in iNEST as it is suitable for operation in harsh radio environments and in isolated locations.
Master Panel:
The Master Panel on the beach collects data from every junction and transmits it to the mini server laptop in the cabin that is connected to the satellite.
Satellite:
The satellite system connects to the Internet via a mini server laptop, enabling both real time monitoring of the iNEST system at any location and data transfers to and from the iSCADA server. Communication is also possible between the team on the island and mainland.
The study was conducted on Talang-Talang Besar Island nesting beach at Talang-Satang National Marine Park, Sarawak, Malaysia. Five platinum PT100 RTD sensors (Minco Products Inc, USA) were placed at the nest-bottom, nest middle-center, nest middle-side, nest-top, and sand at 15 cm below the surface, in a Chelonia mydas nest (1º44´N, 109º46°E). Sensors were factory calibrated to ± 0.1°C (N.I.S.T., USA) from 15.6 to 43.3 °C. Air temperature and humidity were measured with two other sensors (model HS-200V, Precon, USA) placed 1m above the nest. All seven sensors were wired to a weatherproof solar-powered data acquisition system comprising a datalogger with built-in embedded Internet gateway, a global system mobile modem, and a GSM signal booster. iSCADA was the hosted data acquisition service used for the duration of this study.
Talang-Talang Besar Island
The steadily increasing global temperatures as a result of climate change and factors contributing towards global warming may change sex ratio output of hatchlings from beach hatcheries. This may have long-term conservation implications, hence our interest in monitoring nest and beach temperatures at the ‘in-situ‘ turtle hatchery at Chagar Hutang, Redang Island using the iNEST system.
In the past, beach and nest temperatures were monitored by inserting thermostat or thermocouple probes and the readings manually gathered at regular intervals throughout the incubation. This was very laborious and also not as accurate compared to the iNEST system. So, the introduction of the iNEST system automates this monitoring with the ability of sampling more regularly 24/7 and accurately and delivering the data in real-time.
Chagar Hutang
