Towards Low-Cost IoT and LPWAN-Based Flood Forecast and Monitoring System

The recent floods have shown that the classic monitoring systems for watercourses are no longer adapted because other phenomena such as the insufficient capacity and/or obstruction of drainage networks, the modification of cultivation practices and rotations, the increase in the size of plots linked to the reparcelling, the urbanization of floodable areas, etc. The combination of all these causes, plus the modification of the water regime, implies an increase in the risk of flooding and an adapted monitoring that is no longer limited to watercourses in order to give early warning of the risk of flooding by runoff. The Internet of Things (IoT) and the availability of microcontrollers and sensors with low data rates and long ranges, as well as low-power wide area networks (LPWANs), allow for much more advanced monitoring systems.