An IoT Based Real-Time Environmental Monitoring System Using Arduino and Cloud Service

Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to play a major role in our lives through pervasive systems of sensor networks encompassing our environment. These systems are designed to monitor vital physical phenomena generating data which can be transmitted and saved at cloud from where this information can be accessed through applications and further actions can be taken. This paper presents the implementation and results of an environmental monitoring system which employs sensors for temperature and humidity of the surrounding area. This data can be used to trigger short term actions such as remotely controlling heating or cooling devices or long term statistics. The sensed data is uploaded to cloud storage and an Android application accesses the cloud and presents the results to the end users. The system employs Arduino UNO board, DHT11 sensor, ESP8266 Wi-Fi module, which transmits data to open IoT API service ThingSpeak where it is analyzed and stored. An Android application is developed which accesses the cloud and displays results for end users via REST API Web service. The experimental results show the usefulness of the system.