On the Architecture of a Meteorological Station based on the Internet of Things (IoT)

The state of Zacatecas, Mexico, has a territorial extension of 75,275.3 km² and is located in the center-north of the country. The climate of Zacatecas is classified as arid and semi-arid. However, in recent decades, the climate in the region has changed, making it necessary to observe, predict, and determine which renewable energy source would be ideal for supporting the metereological sector, depending on the region. Agriculture and livestock farming are also affected. For this reason, the description of a portable prototype that is designed, developed, and implemented to measure meteorological variables and obtain indirect variables is presented. A microcontroller from the Arduino family was used for this purpose. The variables of temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure were measured. The variables of the UV index, thermal sensation, dew point, altitude above sea level, and air density were measured indirectly. An interface was created to check the data in real time via the Internet. The information can be checked from a cell phone, an electronic tablet, or a computer using a program developed in the HTML language. The information can also stored on a micro-SD memory device. The first results were collected over 45 days. The sampling of the data that were read by the system took 10 seconds. The data were compared with those obtained from a commercial meteorological station, which produced similar results. The design of the meteorological station will be further improved by adding new measurement variables and setting up a series of portable stations in different regions of the state.