IoT technology in Manu National Park in Peru to preserve species

Peruvian engineers together with the RFID companies Radical Solutions and Libelium have carried out a project on environmental monitoring based on connected sensor platforms and cameras to obtain a wide variety of environmental parameters in real time and thus control the species of flora and fauna threatened by climate change..

Declared from 1987 World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve by Unesco, Manu National Park in Peru, is one of the most important nature reserves that houses the greatest biological biodiversity in the world, and that despite the fact that this great variety of plants and animals are protected, are threatened by climate change.

In order to preserve these species effectively, several professional researchers from Peru, directed by engineer Jorge Camus, have led a project with the aim of monitoring the natural behavior of the forest and its habitat in real time with M2M solutions and IoT connectivity (Internet of Things).

To carry out this project, the Peruvian specialist in M2M systems has been counted on RFID Radical Solutions, responsible for installing waspmote Plug systems in strategic locations in the park & Sense! Smart Environment and Waspmote Plug & Sense! Smart Agriculture Libelium, two wireless sensor platforms from which data from different parameters related to water and air can be obtained using the LorRa 900Mh communication protocol, with a high-reach stream linking both platforms.

In addition, video surveillance cameras and about twenty-five wireless sensors have been deployed that, through antennas, broadcast information via the Internet to any part of the world about what is happening in real time in an area of 30 kilometers in the Nature Reserve.

In total, five Waspmote Plug sensor platforms have been used for this IoT project & Sense! Smart Environment to measure different environmental parameters of the Peruvian jungle; three Waspmote Plug & Sense Smart Agriculture, that digitally controls humidity along with temperature, as well as atmospheric pressure with the weather station WS-300, that together with the Pro version. To which is added the Waspmote Plug system & Sense Smart Environment, for temperature measurements, humidity, CO2, NO2, O2, CO, CH4, air pollutants, O3 and atmospheric pressure.

As Jorge Camus explains, project engineer, "this area is really wild, but I have no doubt that it is the most suitable to know how the world behaves in its natural state. That's why, I think it's the best place to carry out a project on environmental monitoring".

Real-time data for research

The objective of this project is to provide information related to the environment in real time so that researchers currently working in the nature reserve can analyze and study it to preserve the species..

All installed devices are powered by solar power supplied by a solar panel installed on each platform. Thanks to this application, the project does not affect the environment of the forest nor the people who live in the surroundings.

"The sensors installed in this area monitor the environment of the biosphere., both flora and fauna -points out Camus-. There was a great need to know different parameters because they are the ones that give us the information that reflects the behavior of nature.. This scientific data will be of important use to researchers around the world and environmental communities.".

For Alicia Asín, CEO of Libelium, "this project allows us to show the capacity of our wireless sensor platform that facilitates the monitoring of caque to monitor changes in biological conditions". The return on investment of this project can be measured in qualitative terms such as time and resources of the researchers since the position and energy autonomy of the devices allows them to collect data that was unimaginable to have until now..

Other articles on Libelium, Manu National Park Peru, RFID Radical Solutions