Rockfall Monitoring Using Multi-Technological Wireless Sensor Network

Rockfall phenomena are caused by the exposure of rock masses to weather and erosion. Over time, a rock or boulder can become unstable and fall along a slope. To monitor these gravitative elements, several methodologies based on sensor networks have been developed in recent times; among these we find geotechnical monitoring Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The flexibility of these structures makes them a well-suited solution. In this paper, a multi-technological rockfall-oriented WSN is presented; this system is composed of several Long Range (LoRa) based sensors that retrieve various geotechnical parameters, along with other cellular based nodes for rock impact monitoring. Sensors of different technologies are integrated in the network to obtain a wider spectrum of monitored events in order to enable a complete observation possibility for the status of the rock formations. The entire system follows an Internet of Things (IoT) scheme, where data is accessible anytime from an online platform. The experimental system is installed in the locality of San Demetrio Ne’ Vestini, Italy, in particular at the Grotte di Stiffe site.