This research is spearheading the integration of Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) with Open Source Hardware (OSHW) in the field of agri-meteorology applications to disaster risk reduction, flood and droughts. A Do-It-Yourself weather station based on OSHW standards has been developed from local sources in Sri Lanka, reporting by SMS to tank/reservoir managers when rainfall is higher than 10mm/h. These weather stations are soon going to be reprogrammed to report to istSOS, a FOSS web-based Sensor-Observation-Service compliant system, which will collate live reporting of rainfall every hour and before if intensities are dimmed worrying for flood risks. This is both a scientific, technological, and practical challenge to arrive at a very low cost real time disaster risk notification system in places where climate, economy and maintenance supports are themselves other challenges.

1. Open technologies for
monitoring systems aimed
at disaster risk reduction
Lahiru WijesingheMilan AntonovicVivien DepardayYann CheminMassimiliano Cannata
SUPSI IWMI / JRC GFDRR SUPSI IWMI

2. 2
«Climate change and
environmental degradation
undermine progress achieved,
and poor people suffer the most»
Message from MDGs and the MDG Report 2015

3. altered ecosystems
weather extremes
risk to society
urgent, critical challenge for the global community
Overexploitation of marine fish stocks
Water scarcity and floods
Poor people live in most vulnerabe areas
Image: http://treasury.worldbank.org

4. This report states:
Despite improvement, critical
data for development
policymaking are still lacking
«Large data gaps remain in
several development areas.
Poor data quality, lack of
timely data and availability of
disaggregated data on
important dimensions are
among the major challenges.
As a result, many national and
local governments continue to
rely on outdated data or data
of insufficient quality to make
planning and decisions. »

5. Why do we need to monitor?
«Strengthening data production
and the use of better data in
policy-making and monitoring are
becoming increasingly recognized
as fundamental means for
development»

6. ‘values’ are not enough…
6
Quality
AvailabilityTimeless
Completness
Understand the situation and timely react
« key aspects for wise decisions »

7. Understanding by integrating
multiple data sources and types
7
Phisical
maps
Satellite
observations
in-situ
observations
Socio-
economic
indicators
Properties
and
population
registers
Sectorial
statistics
Political
maps

8. Satellites and in-situ
Andreas Veispak, head of unit for space data for societal challenges and growth at
the european commission.(source: talk at FOSS4G 2016)
http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/misc/openstreetmap/FOSS4G-2016/foss4g-2016-1565-keynote_i_-_maximising_the_socio-economic_potential_of_eo_data-hd.webm

9. Non-conventional sensors
• Data gaps exists in low income
economies due to existing barriers
on:
– Hardware & software costs
– Missing local support
– Inadequate integration
among projects
~ 10’000 €

10. Sharing and capitalizing
experiences

11. The GFDRR challenge fund in
Sri Lanka

12. Give time to reservoir
managers
● When the rain falls upstream
– When it is too much
– If the reservoir is too full already
– Then it should be emptied before run-off
arrives
● Time is of the essence
– 4-8 hours before incoming peak
– Real time info gives time to managers
– Emergency flush of a portion of the storage
– Saves crops, houses, sometimes lives

13. SMS reception from the
station

14. Arduino
Fan
Battery
Weather Shield
GSM Shield
GPS
Data Logger
Solar Charger Fuse Box

15. Happy Building with Lahiru !

16. Athuruwilla Irrigation Field
Office
Approximate cost ~ 300 USD

17. Capitalizing experiences:
from GFDRR challenge to r4D
project
● From 5 to 30 stations in Malwatu Oya
basin
● Densify and extend the warning capacity
● Expand information to internet with
istSOS
● Starting now !

18. Yann Chemin, International
Water Management
Institute, teaches
participants how to build a
mobile weather
stationduring a Focus Day
workshop
UR workshop

19. 4ONSE
4 times Open
Non-coventional monitoring system
for Sensing the Environment

20. r4d: research for development
« Research supports the
management of risks in the global
economy, environment and society.
The r4d programme of the Swiss
Agency for Development and
Cooperation and the Swiss
National Science Foundation
finances research partnerships
between Switzerland and African,
Asian and Latin American countries
in order to provide policy - makers
with scientific and development-
relevant knowledge. »

21. Consortium

22. 4ONSE
MAIN RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Is a 4ONSE system a viable solution to monitor local
phenomena in a sustainable and effective way?
• Does it solve issues found in literature on: data quality,
metadata accessibility and interoperability?
22
METHOD
• Integrate and further develop the available technologies
• Deploy an experimental monitoring system composed of
about 30 stations (SL) + testing sites (PK, ID, CH, others..)
• Analyses in term of: (i) data quality; (ii) system durability;
(iii) management costs; (iv) performances; (v)
sustainability.
• Verify its application in some real cases

23. 4ONSE system

24. Case study

25. Project plan
Mar.‘17
Mar.‘18
Mar.‘19
Oct.‘16
Oct.‘17
Oct.‘18
Sept.‘19

26. Kick-off meeting

27. istSOS challenges
1. Decoupling service from data
repository
2. Big data support
3. Integrating CKAN for reporting
generation and sharing

28. Open data
A recognized pre-requisite to
inclusiveness and innovation

29. Open data for resilience
initiative @ GFDRR
https://opendri.org/

30. What’s next ?
Share knowledge
in
an open community
to
advance in this topic
and
impact the real world
by
supporting the actions
to
increase the resilience
Join us !
«Build your
non-conventional
meteo station»
Workshop in Trento
[late Nov. / early Dec]