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Internet of Things for Urban Microclimate Monitoring

As part of the 'Internet of Things (IoT) for Creating Smart Cities' project, the University of Melbourne, ARUP and the City of Melbourne council (CoM) have done a pilot deployment of IoT networks in Melbourne city for monitoring environmental parameters. One of the aims of the research was to develop new systems and algorithms that can help City administrators remotely monitor, understand and interpret real-time information on urban environments. The environmental sensors, measuring light levels, humidity and temperature, were deployed at Fitzroy Gardens and Library at the Docklands. The data collected was used and analyzed to better understand the impact of canopy cover on urban cooling.

Visualization-1: In this visualization video, information about the tree species, canopy cover percentage and the numeric value of sensor readings (humidity, temperature and light) are displayed. This helps to relate different canopy cover and tree species with the climate parameters. Canopy coverage is also shown using a shadow of the tree that changes its width/size depending on the percentage of coverage. A sliding bar is included, for the user, to vary the data/time manually and visualize the micro-climate at that instance. Click on the image to watch the video.

Visualization-2: Air temperature and relative humidity are also affected by wind speed and direction. More sensor nodes can also be deployed incorporating additional sensors for measurement of wind speed and direction. This video shows the visualization of real-time wind speed and direction measurements (tree leaves movements direction and speed) that may contribute better to simulate the tree microclimate in advanced level. Click on the image to watch the video.

Visualization-3: This visualization video shows the estimated parameter values (temperature, humidity or light) at a selected location pointed/selected by the cursor over a spatial region, where the sensors are deployed.