IoT-Based Environmental Monitoring System for Brunei Peat Swamp Forest

Brunei Darussalam is largely covered by the tropical rainforest. Around 16% of Brunei total land area is Peatland. This peatland is under the protection of the Heart of Borneo initiative. This peatland forest plays a very important role in the region's rainforest ecosystem. However, this type of forest is vulnerable to fire outbreak, and hence the forest needs to be sustained. By using an Internet of Things (IoT) -based remote monitoring system, peat swamp forest areas can be monitored for long term management and short-term natural disaster preparedness. The proposed monitoring system is a solar-powered system equipped with built-in Long Range (LoRa) network to allow the data collection via a gateway. The system is designed to measure environmental conditions such as soil and water temperature, soil moisture, water level, wind direction and atmospheric humidity and pressure. The data collected by the system is programmed to be displayed on a dashboard which can be viewed remotely by respective agencies. The proposed system has been lab-tested on various conditions of peat soils giving measurement results which are usable for data reference.