ArduHydro: a low-cost device for water level measurement and monitoring

Abstract

In this paper, we present ArduHydro (AH), a low-cost device for water level measurement and monitoring designed for employment in controlled and outdoor environments. It measures the water level through an ultrasonic sensor and elaborates the signals through an Arduino microcontroller. The small size of this device, its robustness and accuracy make AH properly versatile for different applications in the field of water control and management. This article describes the design, the components, the costs, and the performance of AH. The performance was assessed with a laboratory test inside an open-channel flume and comparing AH measurements with those obtained with a traditional ultrasonic sensor. Furthermore, an example of AH application for detecting the wavefront evolution during surface irrigation of a maize crop is presented. The results revealed that AH measurements were, on average, very consistent with those obtained by the traditional ultrasonic sensor in all different flow conditions. The application of AH during a surface watering of an agricultural field allowed us to obtain important spatiotemporal information about the water depth along the longitudinal direction of the field, paying the way for a real comprehension of the dynamics of wavefront evolution in a real-world case study.