Low-Cost, Low-Power Sensors Everywhere: The Arduino Revolution.

The Arduino processor platform has the potential to revolutionize the field of soil physics and hydrology due to its low cost, low power requirements, and ability to interface with a wide range of environmental sensors. Sensors now available for the Arduino platform can measure properties such as humidity, water level, turbidity, soil water content, and distance, while often costing just a few dollars each. In this presentation we highlight some of our recent work to develop environmental sensing applications using Arduino systems, focusing on 1) using turbidity sensors to determine particle size distributions and monitor erosion in the field; 2) tracking the movement of dissolved organic matter in soil water using an optical meter; and 3) measuring erosion rates and changes in micro-topography using a newly-released scanning LiDAR for Arduino. We conclude our presentation by discussing tradeoffs between sensor accuracy and affordability, while also providing recommendations on ways to maximize signal and minimize error for these types of sensors.