Scatol8® Remote sensing network for environmental and managerial variables
The Department of Commodity Science of the University of Turin, having a huge experience in research concerning mountain regions and integrated management systems, is developing and testing a remote sensing network system in order to measure environmental and management variables, specific for mountain areas. The choice of mountains is related to the importance attributed to that regions and to the peculiar conditions of fragility of that context.
The variables measured at the moment, concerning the natural context are:
1. temperature
2. humidity
3. wind intensity
4. solar irradiation
5. air quality
6. water quality
7. rain and snow precipitation
Furthermore, as that system has been developed in order to assess the environmental impact of human activities and presence (focusing, at the moment, on mountain huts and buildings), some other variables are measured, such as:
1. electric consumption
2. waste production
3. water consumption
Collected data can be stored on a database or they can be sent over the internet, in order to enable at the same time in situ and remote sensing measurements, in consideration of the importance of both kinds of observations.
That system, consisting of a network made up of a microcontroller and a variety of remote sensors, has been developed having a high regard for some consideration concerning sustainability aspects. This results in: (A) preference and adoption of open source codes, (B) preference and adoption of low cost technologies (taking into account the need of resistance to the specific climate conditions of mountains), and (C) use of recycled materials. Thanks to that choice, the system is likely to be further developed and improved (i.e. increasing the number of the indicators or the precision of some measurements) with a very least cost impact.