Environmental NeTworked Sensing (ENTS)

Sensors for Everyone

The ENTS (Environmental NeTworked Sensor) project is a low-power, customizable platform that empowers farmers and researchers with a user-friendly solution for large-scale environmental monitoring. The ENTS hardware is designed to capture a variety of sensor signals, creating an affordable, energy-efficient alternative to proprietary technologies. The collected data are transmitted to a software platform, allowing users to visualize trends and analyze key metrics such as soil moisture and temperature in real-time. By seamlessly integrating robust hardware with an intuitive software dashboard, the ENTS platform provides a comprehensive solution that empowers sustainable agricultural practices and enhances environmental research.

The core of the ENTS node consists of a STM32 microcontroller for managing peripherals and sensors, an ESP32 for wifi, and a Wio-E5 for LoRa. Sensing is accomplished through an extensible interface consisting of an analog sensing circuit for analog sensors and a variety of protocol interfaces such as SDI-12 and I2C for other sensors. The STM32 uploads its sensor data via the LoRa channel, and can also be controlled or updated by either of its wireless channels. Currently, we are progressing through prototypes of the ENTS node and are expanding the node’s analog sensing capabilities, sensor interface options, and integrated battery + solar circuitry.

The ENTS backend cloud component complements the ENTS node hardware by providing a real-time data visualization platform for sensor monitoring. Built on a Flask-based REST API and hosted in Docker containers, ENTS backend efficiently manages the data coming from multiple sensors, ensuring seamless scalability as the number of sensors and data grows. The frontend, developed using React and MUI, offers an intuitive, user-friendly and mobile-friendly interface for researchers and users to view, analyze, and filter sensor data in real-time. With charts powered by Chart.js, ENTS backend dynamically visualizes trends such as soil moisture or temperature. The site is designed to handle the increasing load of new sensors while maintaining responsiveness, making it continuously adaptable. Additionally, ENTS backend is in active development, with new features constantly being added to enhance usability and functionality. Together, ENTS backend and the ENTS nodes form a comprehensive system for agricultural and environmental data collection and analysis

2022 ENSsys Paper
ENTS-Backend Repository
ENTS-Firmware Repository
Google Summer of Code Project