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Viçosa, MG, DEA/UFV - DOI: 10.13083/reveng.v29i1.9006 V.28, p.415-424, 2020
DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR WEATHER DATA COLLECTION AND
FORECASTING CLIMATE EVENTS BY MEANS OF RADIO FREQUENCY

Caio César Oba Ramos1 & Mário Lúcio Roloff2

1 - PhDin Electric Engineering, professor at Instituto Federal Catarinense (IFC – Campus Rio do Sul/SC) and member of INOVA Research Group.
email: caio.ramos@ifc.edu.br
2 - PhD in Automation and System Engineering, professor at Instituto Federal Catarinense (IFC – Campus Rio do Sul/SC) and member of INOVA
Research Group. email: mario.roloff@ifc.edu.br

Keywords: ABSTRACT
Automation The weather forecasting method is based on the analysis of data collected to support decision-
Decision making. This paper describes the development of a weather station (prototype) to assist in
Forecast monitoring plantations and forecasting extreme weather events. The strategy adopted is to use
Meteorology a set of stations connected via radiofrequency forming a communications network to better
Radiofrequency understand and anticipate such events. The weather forecasting method is based on analysis of
Station data collected to support decision making. The laboratory tests were successful, but field tests
had several difficulties and unforeseen events that will be described at the end of this paper.

Palavras-chave: DESENVOLVIMENTO DE UM SISTEMA AUTOMATIZADO PARA COLETA DE

Automação DADOS METEOROLÓGICOS E PREVISÃO DE EVENTOS CLIMÁTICOS POR
Decisão REDE DE RADIOFREQUÊNCIA
Estação
RESUMO
Meteorologia
Previsão O método de previsão de eventos climáticos é baseado na análise de dados coletados para
Radiofrequência dar suporte às tomadas de decisão. Este artigo descreve o desenvolvimento de uma estação
meteorológica (protótipo) com o objetivo de auxiliar no monitoramento de plantações e na
previsão de eventos climáticos extremos. A estratégia adotada é utilizar um conjunto de estações
conectadas via radiofrequência formando uma rede de comunicação para melhor entendimento
e antecipação a tais eventos. Os testes em laboratório foram bem sucedidos, mas os testes em
campo tiveram diversas dificuldades e imprevistos que serão descritos no final deste artigo.

_____________________
415
Recebido para publicação em 30/09/2019 . Aprovado em 11/08/2020 . Publicado em 08/12/2020
 RAMOS, C. C. O. et al.

INTRODUCTION acquisition and transmission of weather data,

producing hardware and software tools for the
Monitoring the atmospheric condition is of provision of alerts and meteorological information
interest to all areas, whether for the population, in a contextualized and automated way to prevent
industries or trade. However, monitoring the disasters caused by extreme events
weather is very important for farmers, especially
the small farmers, since an unexpected rain or MATERIAL AND METHODS
drought can cause the total loss of the plantation
(FIELD et al., 2012). The occurrence of extreme events has been
In addition to directly interfering in the crop increasing due to climate changes, mainly related
production, with periods of drought and rain, the to the rise in the global temperature. Further
weather also has na indirect influence, promoting projections released by the Intergovernmental
an environment for the proliferation of a certain Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show that these
pest in the plantation due to a sudden climatic events considered extreme will be more and
change (MENDELSOHN et al., 2004). more common and intense (FIELD et al., 2012).
Thus, it is important for farmers to constantly The increase in the human vulnerability to these
monitor the climatic conditions, even by taking events due to the global population growth and
some of their time and often causing them to spend the consequent increase in the occupation of risk
on pesticides at inopportune or late times as it areas also leads to a greater occurrence of natural
may result in a certain harm on the harvest and, disasters. Natural disasters cause not only great
consequently, less profit or even losses. losses of human lives and properties worldwide,
As technology is always evolving, tending but they also impact natural ecosystems, farming,
to make life of the farmers easier, a weather coastal areas, water resources, cities and public
forecast is easily found, either on TV or via the health. These extreme weather events are
Internet. However, many of them do not concern responsible for financial losses, deaths and injuries
the microclimate of a city or region, and may not (FIELD et al., 2012).
cover the area of such farmers. A possible solution Despite its small territory in comparison to
is a small weather station, installed close to the other states of Federation, Santa Catarina is one of
property or even on the farmer’s field. This station the states with records of several extreme events
collects the weather data of the microclimate in (example of hurricane Catarina and the recent
the vicinity of the crop, indicating the results meteorological tsunamis on the southern coast of
and forecasts obtained. This would help farmers Santa Catarina (PBMC, 2016).
to monitor their planting and establish the best Weather monitoring through stations is of great
management decision, appropriate to each situation importance in the understanding of atmospheric
Combined with this system, a program is added phenomena and their influences in several
to interpret the data, providing more accurate sectors, considering that the most perceptive of
weather forecasts and, adapted to the needs of the problems are the high impact climatic events
each farmer, it provides data regarding alerts s resulting from long-term climate changes.
and recommendations for the use of pesticides, An automatic weather station is defined as a
artificial irrigation, among other preventions and station whose observations are made and transmitted
necessary care to a crop. With prior notice, the automatically (INMET, 2011). Meteorological
farmer can apply phytosanitary products in the first observation is carried out using specific tools. In
period of pest attack, minimizing losses as much the acquisition model for high impact climatic
as possible, either by preventing the pest, drought, events, a set of stations must operate in cooperation
or in moderating the use of agrochemicals, using and quickly in order to predict their formation and
them only when there is a greater need. indicate possible behaviors.
The objective of the paper is to present the Mendelsohn et al. (2004) point out that weather
development of a complete platform for the stations, mainly in Brazil, are more efficient

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when compared to meteorological satellites due due to the low resolution of the data for each
to the more accurate collection of data such as region. According to Herring et al. (2015), the
precipitation, indispensable for farming planning. determination of the causes of droughts are still
According to Inema (2011), the implementation complex, where several parameters such as lack
of weather stations in much of the country, arose of rainfall, temperature, evaporation rates and soil
from the need for institutions and companies in the moisture must be analyzed.
climate analysis and modeling. Climate changes are highlighted in the
The use of weather stations with conventional report by the American Meteorological Society
communication systems can lead to delays (HERRING et al., 2015); also taking into account
and dependence on third-parties, making the the impact of water use and population growth
monitoring process slower and more expensive, as responsible for the drought in the state of São
and the detection and monitoring of severe Paulo (OTTO et al. 2014), thus, the point to be
weather events requires fast processing and with addressed is still the monitoring of water reserves
no interruptions of sensors. Moreover, the best and weather in order to obtain more concise data
knowledge of climate change depends on the on the real elements that cause this type of event.
dispersion in the space of the stations, something Considering the achievement of the collection
that is hampered, in extreme conditions, with the of more accurate data for climate monitoring,
transmission technologies available in the market, we sought to develop versatile systems for the
usually satellite and / or cellular (MENDELSOHN acquisition and transmission of meteorological
et al., 2004). and hydrometeorological data in a contextualized
A critical point of data acquisition is in and real-time manner, serving as a mechanism
communication, which uses satellite at a high to mitigate extreme climatic events through
cost per station and another decision-making alerts, tool for communication during this type
process based on the models and the information of event and database in the mesoscale model for
generated. Data cannot be transmitted in real further analysis of the impact of climate change,
time, being compiled and sent at intervals of one integrating the concepts of radiofrequency and
to three hours. Mendelsohn et al. (2004) point the acquisition of weather data with the objective
out that despite making accurate measurements, of a system of data acquisition in time real that
weather stations are still expensive for extensive functioned independently of electric power and
application, mainly preventing the monitoring in telephony, ensuring the obtaining of information at
the agricultural environment anytime and anywhere.
The need for collection and transmission of data Radio-frequency is the only means of
is demonstrated by a project using data from the communication able to operate in extreme situations.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration In such cases, the information is transmitted by
(NOAA) that by using real-time data collection radio amateurs or public agents (such as civil
systems, the number of stations to cover the same defense) to emergency centers and decisions are
area is minimized (HERRING et al., 2015). This taken based on this information that sometimes
information about data collection points to the may not satisfactorily reflect the dimension of the
absence of accessible systems and operation in event. Likewise, Multi-agent Systems (MAS) are
real time, which allow the issuance of reports of systems composed of a set of software agents that
sudden changes in the climate, as well as data interact with the objective of reaching individual
collection at regular intervals for further analysis or collective goals (DEMAZEAU, 1995)
by an intelligent and autonomous system. MAS form a subarea of Distributed Artificial
To determine the origins of the impacts on water Intelligence (DAI) and focus on the study of
reserves, it is necessary to analyze a large amount of autonomous agents in a multiagent universe. For
data in order to characterize anthropogenic actions MAS, the term autonomous designates the fact
and climatic anomalies (OTTO et al., 2014). The that agents have their own existence, regardless of
lack of stations results in more inaccurate analyses, the existence of other agents. Overall, each agent

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has a set of behavioral capacities that define their is the absence of distributed, interconnected,
competence, a set of objectives, and the necessary intelligent and efficient climate monitoring and
autonomy to use their behavioral capacities in communication systems in extreme situations,
order to achieve their objectives. An agent is a therefore, the contribution of this paper is to
computational entity with an autonomous behavior present a proposal for a microclimate monitoring
that allows it to decide its own actions (ALVARES; network with weather stations interconnected via
SICHMAN, 1997). The decision of which action radio frequencies that they collect, making them
to take is determined by the agent, considering the available to assist in decision making in order to
changes that have taken place in the environment inform, alert and minimize financial or human
in which it operates and the desire to achieve its losses.
objectives One of the differentials is the assurance of
The main idea in a multi-agent system is that the data transmission service even in situations
na intelligent global behavior can be achieved where the electricity and telephone network are
from the individual behavior of agents. In relation inoperative, in these situations the amateur radio
to MAS, it is not necessary for each agent to be is the only efficient and effective communication
individually intelligent to achieve intelligent global mechanism, that is, when everything else fails, the
behavior. The metaphor of intelligence used by radio is still operational. Another differential will
Multiagent Systems is the intelligent community, be a system based on agents, autonomous software
that is, the social behavior that is the basis for the entities capable of making decisions, which
intelligence of the system. The metaphor used by based on the collected information will be able to
classical Artificial Intelligence (AI) is basically of inform about likely extreme events in formation
psychological origin, while the one used by DAI or occurring and to foresee their trajectory and
can be of a sociological or ethological nature. A impacts. The constitution of this network of
sociological / ethological approach is interesting equipment and software will support studies
when it is desired to solve complex problems, to improve the understanding of the physical
which require knowledge of several domains and phenomena involved, increasing the ability to
which may involve physically distributed data. forecast extreme events and to promote prevention
Thus, a monitoring network distributed and adaptation actions so that these events do not
geographically, which can have a varied number become natural disasters
of entities, whose data can arrive at random, in a
dynamic environment and with different actions RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
for each scenario, where decisions need to be
taken at all times and with various possibilities, DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEATHER
MAS assists the monitoring and decision making, STATION
meeting the fundamental requirements to operate Figure 1 shows the constituent elements,
in this dynamic environment. represented by numbers of the weather station
The system is used for the acquisition of developed for the project, where the sensors
meteorological data by sending alerts in real time, in it collect the data, later treated and used for
without the need for any type of communication interpretation, considering each parameter to draw
with the internet or the electrical network. Several a conclusion about what is happening in the time of
market segments can benefit from the system, the the specific location.
most important of which is public security, which For the adequate functioning of the station, it
need accurate information for better prevention was used some sensors, which obtain values based
and relocation of personnel and the agricultural on wind speed and direction, temperature, air
sector due to the lack of weather coverage in much relative humidity, rainfall, atmospheric pressure,
of the country and the state, hindering crop and solar irradiation index and battery voltage.
planting planning. The anemometer (“1”) is one of the instruments
The main reason for the lack of prevention used for this weather station. It is used to measure

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the speed and direction of the wind and it is located interpreted, is identified as number “7” in Figure 1.
at the top of the station, for a better data collection Regarding the sensors, it has to be considered
The temperature and humidity sensor (“2”) the issue of the unit of measurement for each one
measure the temperature and air humidity. of them which are listed below
The rain gauge (“3”) is a type of sensor which • The temperature is measured in degrees
measures local precipitation. It has a nozzle to Celsius (° C);
collect rainwater to obtain the necessary data. • Relative humidity is measured in percentage
It is placed at the top of the station, below the (%);
anemometer. • Atmospheric pressure is measured in
The atmospheric pressure sensor (“4”) measures hectopascal (hPa);
the local atmospheric pressure. • Irradiation is measured in watts per square
The pyranometer (“5”) measures solar radiation meter (W.m-²);
The energy required for the operation of the • The wind direction is measured in degrees (°);
weather station is obtained from solar energy, so a • Wind speed is measured in kilometers per hour
photovoltaic plate (“6”) was used. (km.h-1);
The plate for communication between the • Rainfall is measured in millimeters (mm); and
station and the gateway, where the data are • The battery voltage is measured in volts (V)

Figure 1. Weather station developed for the project

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The readings of the sensors are displayed based This tool features a programming based on
on the use of a graphical interface of the Node- nodes, or modules, which makes it simpler to
RED framework (Section 3.2), demonstrating each program, but without losing functionality. Because
value, which presents the necessary corrections, on it is an Open Source platform (open source), it can
a website. be used by anyone for free.
As shown in figure 2, on the left side, there
are the options of nodes to be placed, either the
NODE-RED
patterns or those created / imported, each with a
The Node-RED platform was used to integrate,
different function or configuration. In the center of
interpret and display data from the station. Node-
the image there is the code made by the nodes, each
RED is a programming tool for wiring hardware with their respective wirings (left side entrance and
devices, Application Programming Interface right-side exit).
(APIs) and online services. It provides an editor In addition to the advantage of being free of
based on Java code in the browser that makes it costs, it allows developers to make their custom
easy to wire streams using the wide range of nodes modules available for use, with a vast library with
in the palette that can be deployed to its runtime in several functionalities, and its implementation is
a single-click done easily and instantly

Figure 2. Node-RED code in blocks

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GATEWAY transmitted over the internet network to a server

The station could communicate with the Node- in the cloud that will store this data and from that
Red through a device denominated “gateway”. This point the user will be able to access it.
device makes the connection for the transmission The developed network has a structure similar to
of information from the sensors. In relation to the the topology of a tree, where the ROOT has up to 5
communication of the station with the gateway, branches and each branch has another 5, and so on
data are transmitted by means of radio-frequency until the fifth level. Each node sends information to
waves, where in the same gateway, several stations its superior until reaching the ROOT, however if a
can be wired considering its range of 18 km of node disconnects, all of those below it will also be
radius for the connection to the stations. Regarding cut off from the network. The generated system has
the communication between the gateway and a program to circumvent the loss of a node in the
Node-RED, this is done over the internet, via WI- network, in case one node is disconnected, the other
FI, and information can be sent from the many nodes will rearrange themselves in the system so
stations connected to the gateway, if the machine that all of them remains connected (figure 3). The
using Node-Red supports it. stations communicate with the gateway via radio
The gateway can be the station itself shown in frequency and the gateway communicates with the
figure 1, as one of the future goals of the project Node-RED framework via WI-FI (figure 4).
will be the creation of a collection of stations for
a combined monitoring, using an approach based
on a MESH-type network, where the stations
exchange information via radio-frequency. Thus,
the project was based on a network architecture
where each station is represented by a node and
all nodes communicate with a ROOT station
(which transmits to the internet), which in turn is
responsible for sending information to the internet
via a WI-FI or GSM data network.
The node measures the values of the sensors
connected to the microcontroller at the station.
The microcontroller then converts each signal
into data, and these data are transmitted to other
controllers until they reach the ROOT station,
which then transmits that signal to the Node-RED
where the data is stored and can be viewed from
any environment with internet.
For a convenient installation of the sensors,
the entire system of the stations used was of the
wireless type, which allows its installation in an Figure 3. MESH net
open field with only access to a ROOT station
for internet connection and data storage in the
cloud that can be easily placed in any room of a
residence. Apart from the gateway (ROOT), the
complete system runs on batteries that provide
good autonomy for microcontrollers and do not
require constant changes.
For the transmission of information on the
weather, the Mesh network is used, where the nodes
read the sensors and transmit the information to the
node directly above it, and so on until reaching the
ROOT (gateway), all by means of radio frequency.
After reaching the Root, the information will be Figure 4. Communication

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NODE-RED-STATION WIRING in the Node-RED UI. Currently, programming

The Node-RED that is used for the station only separates the data individually and displays
is currently running on a machine within the it in real time, in addition to assembling a graph of
cloud server services Amazon Elastic Compute. the data versus time, presenting only a few simple
This service was chosen because it offers a free- operations with the data, for the conversion and for
of-charge server that can remain continuously the real-time display.
connected, and in this way, both the station data The graphical interface of the electronic
and the programming by Node-RED, can be address that offers the information already treated
accessed from any machine, as long as there is an is represented in figure 5.
internet connection.
The programming was done as follows: the data SYSTEM OPERATION
arrives at the machine that is running Node-RED The result for the functioning of the entire
via gateway (that is, Node-RED is connected to developed system worked very well in the
the gateway); within Node-RED programming, all laboratory, proving to be a solid and efficient
the information arrives together and in one line, so system, considering that the collected data seemed
that information is broken and separated into lines, to be correct.
and again it is broken and separated in JavaScript For the experiments carried out in the field,
Object Notation (JsON), which basically breaks the developed weather station was installed in a
the information received in separate classes for community of farmers so that it could assist in the
each type of information. For example: the first best decisions for their plantations. The gateway
step breaks the information into lines and the was installed in a barn, that is, in a covered area
information arrives as follows [temperature: 25; so as not to be exposed in the environment and
pressure: 0.98; humidity: 50]. with internet available. For this experiment, the
The second step transforms the entire text into gateway was developed separately, that is, it was
separate information. As before, the information not a station, since there was only one station to
was only “[data.station]”, then it is “[station.data. be tested.
temperature.]”, and the same for each type of data Therefore, 89360 samples of the station were
received. collected every 1 minute, each sample has the
This allows the exchange of information to information described in Section 3.1, during
be done in a faster and more fluid way, and also the month of January 2019. The data provided
allows each information to be treated differently, by the station were the following: temperature,
as for the display of the current data of the station atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, radiation,

Figure 5. Graphical interface for presenting data collected by the weather station

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wind direction, wind speed and rainfall. for monitoring the collected data worked
As there was much more information about well and proved to be efficient, but, several
periods without rain than periods with rain, it was difficulties and unforeseen events were found
noticed that the data was unbalanced and often when setting up the station for field tests,
incorrect. Difficulties were found in experiments whihc hindered the progress of the project
concerned with the prediction of climatic (Section 3.6).
events, therefore, it was found that the data
• Adjustments have been carried out currently
were inconsistent and did not show consistency
and a new gateway will be developed to test
in relation to the recorded information, which
its operation again considering the experiences
impaired the validation of the collected data,
obtained during the project, enabling the
although the system works correctly.
construction of new stations so that they work
As a result, there was a need to correctly
together and thus assist in the monitoring of
calibrate the sensors of the weather station. The
plantations and in prevention weather events
project proved to be complex and many difficulties
with the data collected in real time.
were found during its execution in the field
ACKNOWLEDGMETNS
DIFICULTIES FOUND IN THE
EXPERIMENTS
Thanks to the farmers who collaborated with
The several difficulties and unforeseen events
the project and the support of the Rectory and the
during the Project execution in the filed were, as
follows: Catarinense Federal Institute (IFC) through the
After assembling the station in the field, the program for granting scholarships and funding to
gateway had to be changed, as it was not collecting promote Local Productive Arrangements (APL) in
the data correctly; the state of Santa Catarina.

• Fixing the station on the ground was difficult

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