Communication in rural areas

General Discussions
1

Hi there,

I am building a prototype with temperature and humidity sensors for rural areas and I am trying to determine which is the best way to gather data, since Internet may not be available (no WiFi).

I am thinking about radio frequencies, Bluetooth or maybe a GSM module to send data through SMS. It has to be also cheap.

I am wondering if I could get some recommendations from this community.

Warm Regards, Carlos

2

Are you talking about a continuous stream of data? Or data polling?

The easiest and cheapest of them all is always to save the data to a USB key and collect the USB sticks on a daily basis (or weekly).
If you want remote monitoring, that won’t work of course.

I’ve played with SMS a bit, using Twilio
As for cellular connection, the only one I’m a bit familiar with is the Electron: https://www.particle.io/products/hardware/electron-cellular-dev-kit

Eons ago I was able to make a radio connected network but this takes a license (which I do have but you may or may not)

Cleo
PS. Sounds like a great project that you’re working on!

3

Thanks Cleoqc,

I need to pull information every 3 hours.

I guess USB could work for the pilot project, but it could grow really fast, I am aiming to set 1,700 stations in 4 years therefore USB would be too costly. The best way would be any method that allows me to retrieve info from distance (I would say minimum 500 meters)

Carlos

4

Thanks Carlos

I am not very knowledgeable in this area, others here do know more, but I’m the one who’s online right now. :slight_smile:

I believe wifi would be your best answer. Google “long range wifi” for many products and projects that have been implemented. One project covered over 400 km with only 17 hops !

A quick search gave me this product which claims 1.5 mile range. I do not have any experience with it though.
Cleo

5

Thanks Cleo,

I guess I will try SMS, 433 Mhz transmitter and Wi-Fi and see which one is cheaper in one month.

Thanks so much for the advice.

I will post the results when I have them.

Warm regards from Costa Rica.
Carlos

6

if you need help, I’m always looking for an excuse to finally visit Costa Rica. :slight_smile:

7

Hahahahahaha, I will let you know how the test goes, if we are able to pull it off we will need all the help we can get.

1 Like
8

That is a cool project!!